#we can at least start working to treat people better than they're being treated right now!!!

[nientedal]

"but if we abolish prisons, what will we do with violent criminals? should we not lock them up so they can't hurt more people?"

questions for questions. one: are there are people who, given every support and every attempt to rehabilitate, every mitigation strategy, given resources and therapy and money and time, will still choose violence? i don't know. YOU don't know. but anything is possible, and i will freely admit i don't have the answer to that yet.

but also, two: yeah, what about them? because what i DO know, and what i need you to try to understand, is that prison already does not prevent violence. the threat of it doesn't deter violence to begin with-- look around you-- and it doesn't stop violence after the people deemed "too dangerous" are locked up. they simply commit violence against other prisoners instead.

so, the thing you're concerned about losing? the ability to prevent someone from committing violence? that's already not a thing. it is not happening. the thing you're worried about losing HAS NEVER EXISTED. "but how will we stop violent criminals from hurting people" is the first thing out of anyone's mouth in response to the idea of prison abolition, but we already don't have a solution to that! that is NOT SOLVED! you can't see the violence anymore, but it is still happening! at the hands of the guards, if not these "violent criminals" you're so worried about, so the problem of violence IS NOT SOLVED by locking people up, do you understand? no one is locked up to keep them from hurting people, they are locked up to ensure they can only hurt people whose pain has been deemed acceptable.

instead of saying, "we can't abolish prisons because violent criminals will hurt people," please ask yourself: is the current violence against disenfranchised, systemically vulnerable people so much more acceptable to you than violence against the public that you will advocate against helping people, instead of hurting them?

[forgetmynamepleasethanks]

IF YOU write for hazbin x helluva boss could you do a oneshot stolas x raven!reader whos family only recently became royals and are treated as lesser by the other royal families. the ravens arent as fancy as the other families and dont really care about all the royal stuff so they're kinda looked down upon. they meet at some meeting or you can decide. and make this take place after season 2 episode 9 so blitzo and him have broken up at least for now. thank you a ton!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I write for everything. That's why it takes me so long to write because I get a request, watch the entire show/consume the entire source material, then I start writing until I get a new request and the cycle continues. I am the Sisyphus of fanfiction. One must imagine forgetmyname happy. Anyways. Thank you for the request. I needed an excuse to watch season 2 of Helluva Boss. And shoutout to my favorite mutual for inspo for this I lowkey stole major plot elements from your story please forgive me. They're a better writer than I am so if you're interested in reading the inspiration for the latter half of this fic check out this. Also this isn't particularly romantic, just two straight guy cool guy besties (peak reference).

-----

If the parties weren't bad enough, the meetings were. Was being a royal really worth it? Sure, immortality, woo. How nice it is to spend the next ten thousand years sucking up to other pompous avians.

Despite your less-than-enthusiastic outlook on royalty, being the youngest of your brothers made you the prime target for all the busy work one could hope for.

That's why you found yourself here. Due to your family's relative youth in terms of royalty, you're positioned to the very far end of an uncomfortably long table seating representatives from all the royal houses in hell.

What a bunch of pricks.

The etiquette that your parents had drilled into you from such a young age- you truly believe they conceived you to be the perfect little delivery boy to turn errands for them- is the only thing keeping you in your seat and this stuffy cape and outfit on your body.

After a wait that could have lasted from 15 minutes to 15 years, the host of this meeting finally makes his entrance. As much as you like to pride yourself in your blasé attitude, being in the presence of King Paimon is enough to shut you up and sit you down.

"Welcome everyone please stop your yammering and listen to me. God when did there get to be so fucking many of you." Paimon announces as he makes his entrance.

"As I'm sure a few of you know hell is currently experiencing some unfortunate economic... blah blah blah"

Could this get any more boring? As you fight to keep your eyes in focus you notice someone standing by the door behind you. It's one of Paimon's sons. Stolas. Long time no see. You and Stolas used to be close, but the weight of royalty split you two apart.

Wow, he looks just as bored as you. I guess being Paimon's son would mean you get dragged along to a lot of borin- "You! Raven boy. Not to be rude or anything but what do you people even do?" Your internal monologue is cut off by Paimon. You don't respond for a beat, internally laughing at how Paimon literally doesn't know who you are or what your family does but you still have to be at this stupid meeting.

"We keep the humans out of hell, Your Highness." You respond dryly. It takes you a second to even notice that you've responded. The line is so ingrained into your lexicon that it practically says itself.

"Right! That's the totally important job I gave your very... snicker... esteemed family." Paimon snorts out, barely containing his mocking laughter. A handful of other representatives stifle laughs at your expense.

Oh, the joys of being a Corvus Arcana. The least royal royal family in hell.

"Yes well, you're dismissed. You're needed for other important tasks. Prince Stolas will direct you. Thank you for your time." Paimon says with mock sincerity.

Oh. Stolas. Yes. You know Stolas. You're flooded with memories of the two of you back at the old "Center for Princes to be" It was a glorified daycare, really. You two got up to a lot. He taught you a lot about the starts, and bugs, and everything he read about. You taught him how to make spit balls and get out of trouble you put yourself in.

You rise from your seat, flipping your cape as you walk to the door. In royal etiquette flipping your cape at someone is somewhat rude. Exactly what you wanted.

The conversation behind you restarts as you reach the door. Stolas is waiting for you with a nervous smile on his face, almost like he's got bad news.

"Ah, I remember you! I didn't know it was you who my father was talking about! Let's head out, shall we?" Stolas remarks oh so professionally. He's looking right at you, using his eyes to try and convince you he's excited about your new task, but you know him well enough to tell he'd rather be anywhere else right now.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" you respond sarcastically. Both of you know you were chosen for this because of your less-than-stellar family image.

"Ah! Well! You see- You were chosen for your... unique skills and inspired professionalism! Yes of course!" Stolas sputters out trying to respond without admitting that you were chosen because you're the trailer park trash of the royal family.

A smile creeps onto your face at the owl's half-baked response. He was never the most socially perceptive, even in his youth. You follow the tall owl out of the meeting room and down some of the winding hallways of Paimon's manor.

"Well hopefully my 'inspired professionalism' landed me something to do besides sitting in that room. How bad could it be? As long as it's not something stupid like stacking boxes." You respond lackadaisically. You look to Stolas for a reaction but he seems fully focused on looking at some dusty old paintings on the wall.

Then you round a corner into a freshly moved into bedroom. So fresh that boxes are strewn about. You look up at Stolas who's scratching the back of his head and looking anywhere and everywhere but your direction.

"No way. It's stacking boxes." You state dumbfounded.

"If it's any recourse I will be helping you unpack. That's our mission. Isn't that... heh... fun?" Stolas replies. You look him up and down. Both of you know how stupid this is.

You just sigh.

Twenty minutes later you're unpacking boxes. Your cape is discarded on the bed, the effort of moving boxes with both magic and your birdy body causing you to break a sweat, and as promised Stolas is helping. You can't help but sneak glances at him. He really has changed a lot since you were kids. He's a lot taller for one thing. Besides the obvious physical change, he seems to never have really put himself together. You can tell he's struggling.

Ruffled feathers, quick to anger, and somewhat mopey. To an average royal this would seem pretty normal. Royals aren't known for their vigor and lust for life. To you, these are signs that he's not doing so hot. Struggling to lift a white cardboard box labeled "FRAGILE!" the tall owl is surprisingly human- well, demon? Humanized? He seems a lot more likable than the rest of the royals.

You decide to break the silence. "So tell me. What's a big important bird like you doing unpacking boxes with lil old me?" It's almost self-deprecating the way you look down on yourself.

"Me?- Ah of course he means you- My father brings me along as a secretary of sorts to his meetings when I'm available." Stolas responds while trying to not trip over a box of pillows as he places knickknacks he got out of a box around the dresser.

You snort at his response. "I have a secretary but she doesn't unpack rooms." You banter at him. This seems to irk Stolas. "Yes well since my divorce it seems my father can't resist the urge to assign me silly tasks as if I were some child in need of a distraction." Stolas snaps at you. He drops his volume at the mention of his divorce, which has surely affected how he is perceived by the other royals.

Despite how peeved he sounds by your comment, it sounds more like he's disheartened than truly upset.

You had heard of his divorce. You didn't care. Your family was never huge on the whole arranged marriage thing. You weren't even married yet, which for a prince of your age was unheard of in most other families.

You smile, half sympathetically, half filled with schadenfreude. "Join the club." An uncomfortable silence fills the air after your response. Stolas was aware of how your family is treated. It seemed silly to complain about being assigned trivial tasks like unpacking a room to a Corvus Arcana. It's sort of like complaining about a paper cut to a man missing both his arms.

"I apologize," Stolas says.

"For what?" You respond quizzically. "For how the others treat you. Merely because your lineage is young does not justify the lack of respect or meaningful assignments they've received from the other royals." Stolas says.

The uncomfortable silence fills the air once again. Stolas had always been the only person to treat you like a true royal. Back in the day, he was the only one to play with you, share with you, or even really acknowledge you. You two unpack in silence. After another ten minutes of unpacking you finally can't take it anymore.

"This blows. Wanna ditch this stupid "assignment"?" You stretch your arms and let the box you were carrying fall to the ground with a thump. Stolas looks at you dumbfounded.

"Ditch? Like... 'play hooky'? No... I could never! I'm much to old for that type of behavior now." Stolas seems aghast at the idea of offending his father. You turn around and grin at him. "Oh like anyone's gonna miss us! There's a million servants around here that can unpack this dumb room. Let's ditch this. Or are you gonna tell me you're having a blast?"

"That's not the point. I can't just leave!" Stolas retorts.

"You're an adult now. Plus King Paimon clearly doesn't care what we're up to. No one's checked on us. C'mon, we used to do this all the time. It'll be like back then when we used to sneak away from the nannies at daycare." You rebuttal. You can see Stolas fighting with himself over what to do.

The look on Stolas' face is priceless. There's nothing quite like a royal trying to decide if it's worth doing something considered "non-royal".

"I suppose it's okay to leave unannounced... I read something about the human country of Ireland and how its people say goodbye without saying anything and-" Stolas realizes he's rambling. "Ah well... yes. I guess I'd like to leave."

You shake your head in mock surprise at his overly introspective response. "Follow me."

You two walk in silence for a moment. You're spending the quiet time considering your current circumstances. You and the prince of the Ars Goatia are playing hooky from a meeting neither of you were really invited to. Huh. Interesting spot you've found yourself in.

Conversely, Stolas is trying his best to keep his cool. He's not so used to just leaving these types of things. You two have also not spoken much since you were young. There was never any bad blood or anything, being a royal is just time-consuming.

Stolas follows closely behind you as you walk out of the castle. "So... if you don't mind me asking..." Stolas begins, waiting for your confirmation to continue. After a quick nod from you, Stolas furrows his brow, contemplating his words before speaking, "Your..." He pauses, searching for a diplomatic way to phrase it. "casual demeanor seems almost at odds with your status as a royal. It's always been quite intriguing, I must say. Most other royals tend to carry themselves with a certain..." He gestures with a hand. "formality, shall we say. Your informal manner is indeed a rare sight." Stolas asks you.

The owl's attempts at not offending you are admirable. "Well. My family is much younger than yours, as you know. While your family and all the others gained power at the very start of hell my family rose to power a short three hundred years ago. To put it bluntly, we don't really do all the royal stuff." You respond, trying to explain your family's situation.

"I see... fascinating." Stolas offers. The two of you make it out of the castle without another word.

You two find yourselves behind the castle. You hop up on a small ledge to see over the hedges. Stolas, being tall, can see over just fine.

"Well. The world's our oyster." You say. The night is fresh upon you and the city shines spectacularly below you. You look up at Stolas with a mischievous grin. "How quickly would your dad notice if his fancy schmancy car went missing?"

Stolas snickers at your question. "We'll just have to find out I suppose."

-----

I don't really like how this turned out but I also feel like I say that after everything I write. I'm also pretty rusty (and slightly intoxicated). Life has been up my ass for like two years so that's where I've been. Once again, massive props to freakyfrye for a lot of inspiration behind this. I had no clue where to take it but I read their story and it was great! Worth checking out. Anyways I hope you enjoyed.

[luulapants]

So in my home country there's a Fucked. Up. juvenile prison camp system/program being trialed (again. It apparently wasn't catastrophically useless and bad enough last time) and it's going terribly. Out of 10 teenagers forced into this program three months ago, one is dead, one escaped during the first one's funeral, one is already reoffending before the program is even over, and the cops were looking for two more (just found them! Carjacking people while armed with a machete.)

So I would really love to hear about prison abolition because whatever the fuck that was is not working at all, for anyone.

God, that's really fucking awful. I wish I could say I was surprised to hear about it, but I know too much about prison systems for that. Most of my work is with adults, and they break my heart bad enough.

You're absolutely right, though, that the system we have isn't making anything better, and it's almost certainly making it worse. You gotta think to yourself, we wouldn't let these kids sign a contract or make major financial decisions on their own. Kids are legally treated like property, at least here in the US where we don't have a children's bill of rights. How can you hold someone accountable for a crime when they're not allowed any sort of legal agency in their life otherwise?

A prison abolitionist approach to juvenile crime, I think, starts with the Convention on the Rights of the Child or a similar bill of rights, which must be approached in a way that doesn't lead to unnecessary or discriminatory child removal. Giving kids agency over their care means giving them the right to say who they want to live with and under what circumstances.

It involves financially investing in care networks for kids, including providing for families so that poverty doesn't become a reason a child can't stay with family. It involves a robust foster care system with a primary goal of reunification, not adoption. It involves mandatory public schooling with funding for adequate student-to-teacher ratios, nurses, and social workers who can identify and do early intervention when behavioral issues arise. It involves providing educational and career opportunities to low-income neighborhoods to make gangs a less enticing option. It means stricter gun restrictions, because a kid with anger and impulse issues is far less dangerous than a kid with anger, impulse issues, and a gun.

Basically, we need the resources and political will to look at the circumstances that are bringing youth offenders into the situations where the offenses occur, do root cause analysis, and place systemic interventions in place to reduce or prevent those circumstances from reoccurring. It's a huge project, but it has to start with allowing agency and human rights to children.

[shadowmaat]

NeverBidens

We're on a fast track to another Trump presidency. It was already going to be a dicey situation given his popularity among the white power groups, the antiqueer extremists, the misogynists, xenophobes, terrorist militias, and ultraconservative Christians.

Unfortunately, there's another equally large group throwing themselves in the mix. People who claim to be leftists, but whose beliefs align more with the alt-right than anything on the liberals side.

The NeverBidens use Biden's involvement with Israel over Palestine as a rallying cry to oust him. They're furious over the genocide taking place in Palestine and think the only way to "save" those people is to get rid of Biden.

"We need to send a message to Dems!" they claim. This has never worked in modern history, of course, and has led to an increase in suffering when attempts have been made, but that hardly matters. Whether it's refusing to vote at all or wasting a vote on a third party, their goal is the same as MAGA's: get Trump installed as president.

Why? Well, some of them say that Trump can "hardly be worse" than Biden, which shows a significant memory failure, if true. Others have flat-out stated that their goal is to destroy the US: burn it all down and start over from the ashes. This is, they claim, the only way to "fix" the country. I'm beginning to believe that this is what all of them want, no matter what excuses they make or lies they tell themselves.

Some of them may claim that no, this isn't about killing the US, it's about saving Palestinians, but if that were true they'd voting for the guy who is at least starting to waffle a bit rather than the guy who thinks Benji should "finish the job already."

The ones willing to admit they want the violent destruction of the US are also aware that this will lead to countless deaths, both in the US and across the world. It's a "necessary sacrifice" to achieve the "better world" they envision, and they're willing to throw all of us onto the pyre of their beliefs.

This is part of why I say that NeverBidens are a death cult: whether they're willing to admit it or not, they know a lot of innocent people are going to die, and they either want that or don't care as long as they "win." Many of them may not even care what comes next as long as the rest of us are punished: for allowing the country to get this bad, for voting Biden into office in the first place, for not managing to fix everything already.

Do the people calling for the death of the US honestly believe something better will take its place? Or do they just want the country to die and don't care what happens next? Hard to say. I'm sure some of them could probably outline grand plans for a better future, one where everyone is treated equally and nothing bad ever happens and all is wonderful and perfect, but that isn't the same as believing it's possible. And it isn't the same as being able to successfully implement those plans without any hiccups or dissent.

As an aside, I remember reading about a group of disenfranchised fic fans who decided they'd had enough of AO3's lenient content policies and decided to start up their own perfect archive: one where Immoral Content™ was forbidden and all the creepy perverts on AO3 wouldn't be allowed.

Which might have worked well if they had been able to agree on the specifics of the immoral content and where to draw the lines. Except, y'know, everyone has their own opinions on "immoral" and eventually the arguing got so bad that the project was abandoned.

Anyway! NeverBidens are a death cult. A lot of them get angry when you point that out. No, no, they don't want more people to die, they want the Palestinians to live! How, exactly, that's supposed to be accomplished with Trump as president remains vague and undefined. And even if, by some miracle, Trump suddenly decided to stop sending Israel money and weapons, A) I'm pretty sure Benji could continue to cause damage without us (we're his biggest supporter, not his only one), and B) what about the rest of the world? What about the genocides in Sudan, Ukraine, Afghanistan, etc? What about the hellscapes in the DR Congo? Haiti? Nigeria? Mass death and violence is happening in so many places across the world, not just Palestine.

While Palestine deserves to be recognized, so do all the other people who are suffering. And yeah, the US is going to get significantly worse under Trump, too. As is planned. As is desired by certain factions, including the NeverBidens. But hey, a little mass death, stripped rights, global suffering, and terrorism is better than letting Biden remain in office, right?

[justatalkingface]

Let's talk about the Bakugou Problem

Yes, everyone, it's finally time, what is probably my most requested rant: The Bakugou Problem. Or rather, the Bakugou problems, because there's two:

The first is the fact that he's an unrepentant asshole who is only now, at the end of the manga, truly starting to realize basic shit like 'apologizing'. The second is that, for all intents and purposes, the Bakugou the characters seem to interact with is a different person than what we're being shown.

There's been plenty of deep dives on his issues, so I doubt I'll propose anything new, but this should fun anyways, right? Let's start here:

I think, at the core, Bakugou's problem is he just never grew up.

Way, way back early on, we see some flashbacks to Earlygou, and in summary? Earlygou is an ass. Fun fact: for all that it's commonly held that Bakugou grew worse over time after getting his Quirk? He called Izuku Deku before that. He was just a bit ahead of the class, looked at Izuku's name, and saw 'Deku'. Boom, he starts saying it, and it's only further entrenched in his mind as he outperforms his peers physically, while Izuku lags behind.

Then he gets his Quirk. Let's quote what he's told: 'Ooh, another impressive Quirk! You could be a hero with a Quirk like that, Katsuki!'

I know we all think he got coddled for his Quirk, and later on he was, but that? That was just a teacher giving him the verbal equivalent of a gold star. Meanwhile, Bakugou?

'Makes sense. I'm awesome. I'm better than everyone else!', he thinks, while having this look on this face like he's being enlightened to a Fundamental Truth. He took some generic praise and ran off with it.

So yeah, Earlygou was an ass. Here's the thing: a lot of kids are assholes. It can be hard to remember sometimes, but kids, really young kids who don't get how the world works at all, do and think a lot of impulsive, assholish shit, not because they think the world revolves around them, but because they can't comprehend a world that isn't all about them.

Here's another thing: kids grow out of that. They realize, eventually, that other people matter, that their actions have consequences, and all that other stuff that makes people into functioning adults.

I don't blame Earlygou for being an assholish child. I blame Bakugou for never growing beyond that. And it's interesting to think about that, because his parents seem legit. His dad is quiet, sure, but he's solid and down to earth, and while Bakugou clearly takes after his mother, she also seems to have gotten the 'morals' message he didn't, and has concerns that he didn't do the same. They're not poor, and are working in fashion, and implied to be doing well enough that, if they're not rich, they're at the very least well off.

So... school, I guess? Here's one of the times where the setting suffers for its lack of lower level development, because I would love to see what non-Aldera schools were like. Everyone else in 1A seems like they wouldn't have a major problem with Izuku being Quirkless, or at least be mild enough in their prejudices to not spend their free time torturing him. Is Aldera different? Is it an age thing? Are they just the good eggs and would have had assholish classmates who would act like Aldera did? Would other teachers be OK with how Izuku was treated (my limited understanding of the depressing Japanese view on bullying says, 'yes', but fuck if I know, and honestly, two hundred years in the future, shouldn't they be better than modern Japan)? More than that, the public view on Quirklessness is, for understandable reasons (cough cough Bakugou), highly underdeveloped, so we don't know how much Izuku was treated was the normal, but I think part of the reason Bakugou got so bad is that he had Izuku near him, as this convenient target. By pushing down on the 'acceptable' target, all his peers approved him, cheered him on, which both fed his ego and his popularity, and combined with his high-status Quirk, this cycle continued swelling his head until we reached canon Bakugou, king of all he surveys. The kids follow him, the teachers suck up to him, his potential, his future, all are limitless!!!!

...Sigh. Before I keep going, let me touch on one other thing: Izuku trying to save Bakugou after he fell when they were children.

On the first take, it seems utterly unreasonable, how badly he responded to that, right? And the second, and third, it still seems the same.

Someone, somewhere, said this take in a comment in a fic I read and I've never been able to forget it: think about it from the view of a heroic saturated society.

Think about it from the lenses of MHA, where All Might is a few steps short of a god in the eyes of the public. Everyone knows him, everyone loves him, especially the kids, and especially Bakugou and Izuku.

Look at that scene again, how Izuku reaches down for him. Overlay him with All Might.

That is what Bakugou saw: Izuku making himself unto All Might. While Izuku just wanted to save him, of course, somewhere deep in his unconcious Bakugou took that symbolism and ran with it, and reached a completely (ir)rational conclusion: Izuku was looking down on him. It went, I imagine, a little something like this:

All Might is the strongest. All Might looks like that when saves other people, who are weaker than him. Izuku is channeling All Might, therefore he is saying that he is stronger than me.

Bakugou, in his child mind, saw Izuku, not as helping him, but T-posing at him. To him, that was Izuku trying to assert dominance.

And he never got over that. Never grew beyond that impression. Do you want to know the worst part about it, though, when you look at it that way?

Think about Bakugou again, and his motivations, with your Bakugou Logic goggles on: All Might is strong. Bakugou wants to be strong like All Might. All Might asserts his power over others by saving them. Therefore?

Bakugou wants to save people like All Might.

Can you imagine if Bakugou was built of that dynamic? Like, with Shirou in Fate, if that scene was etched in his mind forever, and he was obsessed with remaking it over and over, but on his terms, with him as the savior? Him as the one looking down on the weak?

Still canon-style Bakugou, still an asshole, still lusting for power... but when asked what he wanted to do with it, or why, he would answer: so I can save everyone.

And even if it was for the crudest, most self serving of reasons, even if it was only so he could feel good about himself and lord it over everyone else that he was the one who saved them; it would have been so much better than canon. There's so much fascinating complexity to explore in a character like that, as well as a clear path to redeem him: under that logic, Bakugou would, over time, learn to save people, not for his own satisfaction, but just because it's the right thing to do. Hell, even the way people treat him would make more sense, because even if he was an asshole, if his motivation, which he cheerfully shouts about at any given moment, was to save people, then suddenly his acceptance feels more realistic, doesn't it? Him being compared to Izuku as a rival makes more sense when both of them are in it to save everyone, that core of heroism, but each represent a different part of how modern heroism is expressed, with Bakugou as the corrupt, media saturated part of it, while Izuku channels the original, pure spirit of heroics.

Can you imagine that with me? What could have been in another life? It could have been beautiful.

But, sadly, that's nothing more than a dream, and we should return back to reality (though I might want to expand on that at some point, it really does sound interesting to me).

Change and Improvement. These are words that some hold in the air whenever Bakugou is judged harshly, and they wave them like talismans to try and banish others objections.

Let me tell you a truth: change and improvement are hollow words without context. They are a statement that something has happened, not a measure of how much it has happening. In many ways, this is similar to a unit of measurement, like inches, and a number of inches. If you're talking about something, and you say, 'it can be measured in inches'.... that is generally unhelpful. Saying that it is, say, eight inches long is far more useful information.

Still, these aren't exactly moral statements, and change in particular is distinctly amoral. If something has 'improved a little bit' it, you know that it's better, and generally how much. But is it good now? Was it good then?

Let me put it another way: say that, once a day, every day, I appear to you out of the shadows and force you to eat a cup of shit. Exactly a cup, every day, at 2:30 PM, without fail; nothing you do to protect yourself from me makes any difference, nowhere you go is safe. You can't run. You can't hide. I am inevitable. The shit is inevitable. You will eat that shit, no matter what you think about it.

Then, one day, I come with only a half cup, and from then on you are only forced to eat a half cup of shit a day instead of a full one.

Isn't that both a change and an improvement? It's literally half as bad; doesn't that sound like a lot better? Yet, while that may be true, is the situation actually better in a meaningful way, or it as firmly negative as it was before? Should you be mewling gratefully to me that I'm being less horrible to you, or can you still hold a grudge against me for everything I've done to you and continue to do?

What if I apologized, one day, after forcing yet another half cup down your throat? What if I told you that I shouldn't have done it, but the way you looked, the way you acted, that vapid, cow-like look of joy on your face... it was just so shitty that I had to, that you made me do it? Then I say this changes nothing, and that we're still on for tomorrow for your daily dose at the normal time.

Tell me something: do you feel better? Has my generous apology moved your heart? Are we friends now?

This is Izuku's situation in a nutshell. Bakugou's treatment has changed, has improved even. It's reached a point where there are actual differences in Izuku's daily life. That doesn't mean it's still not shit treatment, and it doesn't matter if it's served in a cup or a tablespoon, shit is still shit. And the thing is Bakugou treated him like shit, and he still treats him like shit.

Context matters. So let's talk about the context. Let's talk about what Bakugou did.

Well, first off, there's the Deku thing, but I feel a lot people don't get how bad that is, so let's spell it out in detail. Once upon a time, as I've said, Bakugou was a little better at reading than everyone else. He looked at Izuku's name and saw 'Deku' in this, and thought it was hilarious, and so he started talking about it.

Bakugou looked at his name, and saw Useless in it. He didn't just call Izuku that, he said, this is in your name, it always has been there, to the point that, all these years later, he physically struggles to use Izuku's actual name.

For Izuku's entire childhood, the one person truly on his side, who truly loved him, was his mother.... who gave him that name.

In other words, every time Bakugou called him that name, with that history behind it? Bakugou was telling him that, when Izuku was born, Inko looked at the child she held in her arms, turned to the nurse, and said, "I'll call him... Useless."

He called him this, every day, every time they talked, for over a decade. Saying that the real meaning of the name his mother gave him was useless.

But it's not just that, even. He led the school, his neighbors, effectively everyone Izuku knew in anywhere near his age group, to call him that. There were probably people in Aldera who didn't know Izuku by any other name. There were probably times Izuku thought of himself by that name, that his name was Useless. It's not that big a reach from responding to it as his name, after all, and by the time the story start's he was well trained in responding to it.

Then, there's the more 'basic' bullying; insults, taking his stuff, breaking his stuff, using his Quirk on him. Again, for years and years, until Izuku is beaten down into terrified compliance, where Bakugou blowing up his stuff, his desk, and him* in front of a teacher isn't something anyone even really notices anymore. And why does he do it? Because it's fun. Because he feels strong breaking things, hurting people, being the big man on campus. Because he wants attention, respect, glory.

Because he can. Because it's fun.

(*And isn't that weird, when you think about it? Bakugou has been hands free with his Quirk on Izuku since they were, what, four? Why doesn't Izuku have burns?

Bakugou uses explosions. His hands can burn hot enough (probably as part of the lighting process) to burn clothes, and that's when he's clearly holding back with it. There's no way he's been careful enough, kind enough to not hit skin with that his entire life. So why doesn't Izuku have burns from all that?

Answer? There is no good reason. You can mention how MHA humans are, well, inhumanly strong, but we see heat resistant Shoto being burned with boiling water; it's not like they're immune to it. More than that, though, Izuku is explicitly Quirkless. He is a mortal in a world of magic. He wouldn't have that same kind of resiliency.

So Izuku isn't burned because, A, Hori didn't want his main character to be scarred over, both for aesthetic reasons, and probably for ease of drawing, and B, because that would make Bakugou look worse. Because even then, back when Bakugou had consequences, that would be too much consequences for him, that he permanently scarred Izuku, since the Heroes Rising was the original ending, and Bakugou was always supposed to be redeemed. Hori probably figured, if he thought about it, that that was too far for the readers to forgive him for, and finally, C, he just didn't think about the consequences of Bakugou's actions.

But let's be honest: Izuku would be burned. The fact he isn't is just the prettying up of the situation.)

This is where Bakugou starts from: abusing Izuku to the point where he doesn't dare protest out of years of deeply ingrained terror, doing his best to systematically destroy Izuku's life, while being careful to avoid going too far and damage his chances for UA, which judging by his comment on smoking, may be the only real internal check he has on his behavior.

Because that's the thing; he's cruel, but calculatingly so. He's not a wild animal. It motivates him, but he can think about his actions, think about the possible consequences of them, how they'll react... and as long as they won't harm him, he's all for it.

Then we go to UA, and when he realizes that 'Deku' has a Quirk? Much less such a strong one? He attacks. Viciously, instinctively he goes into attack. He's stopped, but no consequences are given (more on that later), so he doesn't stop. Why would he? All he's learned is this teacher won't let him attack Izuku without a motive.

And then he gets one. Bakugou walks into the Battle Trial planning what he'll do to Izuku. His first words in there are don't dodge... which is especially bad considering what he'll say in a little bit.

His plan? To beat the living shit out of Izuku, to vent all his frustration on him, but stopping just short of it being bad enough for the Trial to be stopped. And as Izuku defies him (by dint of not letting himself be beaten up), he gets angrier and angrier at him for the gall of it, for the audacity to not lay down and let Bakugou beat him up until he feels better, until it reaches the point where Bakugou brings out those gauntlets of him.

'Dammit, Deku, don't dodge me!' 'He won't die if he dodges!'

Yeah. He says both of these things in the space of the same fight. When Bakugou fires that damn gauntlet of his, he's finally reached the point where, for the first time we've seen, he's no longer thinking of the consequences even a little. He wants to kill Izuku, if only to prove that his Quirk, that he, is better (note this too; we'll talk more later about this) than Izuku and his Quirk.

Well, for obvious reasons, that doesn't work out for him, since Izuku's Quirk is the strongest in existence, and small fraction of it, badly used, is still enough to clap Bakugou's attack, enhanced by support equipment (who the hell approved that, by the way? It literally destroys buildings. It seemingly exists for no other reason than to cause massive collateral damage). Then he's forced into an existential crisis when Deku 'wins'. His arm is broken, he's beat up, but by the rules of the game he won anyways and because of that, Bakugou's world collapses.

This, more than anything, I think is Bakugou's true catalyst for change: not being saved by 'Deku', but losing to him. Granted, being saved is enough to force him to avoid him, but it probably helped that Izuku only bought him moments of air. He may have saved him, but All Might did the work, All Might the strongest, the greatest, his idol.

This though? This was Izuku surpassing him, and all on his own.

And I want to pause to consider something here: something that was stressed since the beginning of the story, and still is, besides the terrible mixed messaging at times, is that being heroic is more important to being a hero than sheer ability. Izuku was heroic with his complete lack of ability at the start, after all, while All For One is one of the strongest beings in the setting, and is the farthest thing from heroic. And when you look at Bakugou, as we're introduced to him? There's not a speck of that in him. There's no kindness, no mercy, no sympathy; Bakugou has no positive aspects to him. He has talent, talent for days, but talent isn't a person, a personality. He is a creature of pure ability, and nothing more, and that makes him a singularly unheroic creature.

But the story continues, and Bakugou is forced to confront his own weakness compared to his classmates... except, you know, he doesn't. Even as he does everything wrong, as picks fight with classmates, teachers, villains he should be avoiding... he faces no real consequences for it.

Because, as I've said? Bakugou used lethal force on Izuku. Knowingly. As a teacher tells him not to. That... that sounds like something that even a normal school would be concerned about, much less this elite school that is focused around being a hero, and whose student body is largely comprised of very lethal people, who they intent to unleash upon the world with minimal restrictions on their behavior.

I mean, forget the school; why is All Might fine with this? Aizawa? Nezu? Any of these teachers? How about all of their fellow students, all of who are heroic, and watched this happen live, and All Might's response, no less?

This is the second problem of Bakugou: what they see, talk to, and interact with, doesn't seem to match with the reality that we see, and these two problems are so intertwined that is hard to talk about them separately.

Because on Day One of school, Bakugou attempts to murder his fellow student, and no one cares. The worst he gets is a waggled finger. The fact that he isn't expelled is mind boggling beyond belief, when you pause for a second and consider that fact.

Aizawa talks like he just rough housed too hard or something, and the worse thing All Might mentions is failing the exercise.

This is something that many people have talked about, and at times have named many different ways. For this, I've decided to call it, 'Bakugou's Tsundere Field', because it makes other people act like Bakugou is tsundere, acting tough but with a kind heart, instead of just... acting like a shit person. You know, like he does.

Like I said, it's hard to realistically seperate that from Bakugou's general behavior, so I'm just going to keep going and point it out as I go along.

Next, let's talk about... the Sports Festival. The Sports Festival is where, if you need the reminder, Bakugou starts things off by insulting everyone else and making them hate his class. Twice.

First, by insulting the, admittedly vulture like crowd gawking over 1A's near death experience (I still don't like that), and the second as the valedictorian, where his 'speech' is his two sentence statement that he's going to be first... and yet, for some reason, Izuku watches this and marvels over how he's changed. Because normally, he'd do this but he'd be gloating. Izuku. Izuku. This isn't some mind boggling big thing to be in awe of.

Actually, let's chat about that a bit, because that's honestly such a big problem it's almost a third concern on it's own right: Izuku is our major narrator, right? So we get a lot of our views on Bakugou from his perspective, and... well, he's very much an unreliable narrator, whenever it comes to Bakugou. Every time he talks, there's this sense of awe in it that's been there ever since he was a child; it taints his narrative every time he talks about Bakugou, makes it always more positive than it should be.

Because, wow, Bakugou, that's different from before, an improvement, right? Well guess what? That shit is still shit, even if there's less of it. Izuku is just so biased, so traumatized, such... an abuse victim, that he he takes what Bakugou gives him and doesn't think there's anything wrong with it, because he, Deku, has no self respect, and Bakugou is the biggest and the baddest, the most beloved of their childhood, and it's something he never seems to get past. Even when he stands up to Bakugou, fights him, he still can't get past staring at him in awe, and barely ever complains about how he's being treated.

And because Izuku is our main viewpoint? This view on Bakugou taints our view on him, and it's easy to look at him with Izuku's admiring eyes.

But I digress. In the cavalry battle, Bakugou basiclly breaks the rules by flying off the horse, but gets away with it because of a technicality, which, you know, is great impulse to nurture: it's fine as long as it's technically legal! Sounds really heroic, right? Like something you want your law enforcement to live by?

Meanwhile, during this same fight, both Aizawa and All Might praises him for his ambition, and I just. Do you know what Bakugou says right before they think about that?

'I'm going to be Number One and leave piles of bodies in my wake!', he screams, while literally throwing a tantrum on national television and hitting the top of Kirishima's head like it's a desk.

...Wow. You know what? Maybe you two are mixing tenacity with bloodlust. That's one of the least heroic things I've ever heard in my life, and yet everyone just falls over themselves to praise him for it just because he's not content to settle for second place.

It's times like that I have to wonder: are they... are they seeing something different than what we do? Are all of Bakugou's most violent phrases and actions edited out for them? Did Hori add them for his fans? Or is it just The Tsundere Field(TM)?

Not even mentioning third stage where: he's praised for taking a woman 'seriously' for no apparent reason, and dragging it out when he would normally, just like he always does, just leap in mindlessly to attack, and this one time he really thinks it through it backfires when Ochaco turns it back around on him, only for him to just... over power it, with no ill effects. This comes with the double plus stupid on his part of him doing that because he's... what, afraid of her touching him?

Seriously? This entire post exists for me to call Bakugou out, but even I can't call him a coward. Every time he fights a villain, all of which want to kill him, and one who has Ochaco's power but lethal, he still charges in. Moreover, all it does it make you weightless; Bakugou's power explicitly gives him a way around that; if she tosses him, he can just fly back to the stage.

So... why is this a thing? This is a thing so, when the heroes, who at this point are symbolizing the audience's discontent with Bakugou, start complaining, Aizawa can step in, verbally slap them, us, and then explain how great Bakugou is, which get magnified by how casually he shoots down her plan at the end.

And here's the super special bonus problem with all of this: a hero's job isn't to protect themselves. A hero's job is to protect everyone else. Even if they, personally, are hurt, a hero is expected to risk their health, and lives, so that the general public is safe. You want to know what the problem is when protecting yourself and allowing the villain time to do things in the process? It means they get to do things. Like, say, set up a giant meteor shower that could cause mass casualties? You know, like what Ochaco actually did as Bakugou held back?

This is that plan that, need I remind you, Eraserhead was defending.

Then there's the fight with Shoto where, under the actual logic of the setting, according to Hori's very notes on how their Quirks work, Shoto should have froze him and thusly stopped him in his tracks, no fire needed, since it would stop Bakugou from sweating. But, instead, Bakugou powers through, somehow, and clinches a win anyways. And then, and this is after he eavesdrops on Shoto's conversation, BTW, which means he knows exactly why Shoto doesn't use his fire, he throws a fit that Shoto didn't use his fire on him anyways (which, considering he sweats nitroglycerin, means he would have exploded).

Now let's look at the Intern Arc, and I'll be honest: no matter how much a non-character Best Jeanist, I'll always be a fan of him for one simple reason:

When everyone else looked at Bakugou, and says, 'This kid is awesome', this is the one person in the entire setting who saw a problem. And as a bonus, he acts to do something about it.

In the same vein, I'll never forgive Hori for making him seem like such a pretentious twit, much less how hard he ends up cheering for Bakugou's every word later in the series. I'm relooking at these manga chapters, and his big attempt seems to be... jelling up Bakugou's hair, and... something like focusing the body and mind via the power of... tight jeans.

Wow. I mean, wow. The one time we get someone honestly, actually trying to change Bakugou for the better, to call him for what he is, and his big plan to do this is apparently giving him a new look.

Really? Like, beyond how much of a failure of an opportunity this is, beyond how it makes Best Jeanist look useless, it can give the reader that the impression that the reason why Bakugou is so wild and untamed is that those who want to reign him in are elitists who are wildly disconnected to reality, that he is right to be this way, because people following the rules are just holding him back.

And we come to... sigh. The Final Exam test. The fact that anyone who has spent five minutes with Izuku and Bakugou thinks that this clustefuck needs to happen is more proof of the terrifying powers of the TF. I mean, I just... when one person is constantly yelling, constantly aggressive, constantly swearing, constantly throwing fits, and this same person is constantly picking fights with another student, who, at worst, defends himself, and and more often just seems to take it..... what do you think they need?

Is it to be thrown together into a teamwork based, sink or swim test with seemingly enormous penalties for failure? Or is it to make one of them get therapy? And also detention?

Well, according to All Might, Aizawa, Nezu, and who knows who else....

*shrugs helplessly*

If only we could use Bakugou's powers for good, rather than making Izuku suffer.

But we can't. So the school locks an abuser and his victim together in a pseudo-deathmatch where teamwork is required to survive, as a form of therapy to treat the lack of cooperation that comes entirely from one party. Wonderful.

And, as anyone could predict, this promptly goes terribly. Bakugou attacks his teammate for the crime of... *checks notes* trying to work together with him against All Might, the strongest being in the setting. This is such a terrible crime because *checks notes again* ...Bakugou can totally take him.

Bakugou Katsuki, everybody. A 'genius' with the brain of a yipping chihuahua trying to fight a mastiff.

Recovery Girl watches this happen live and just goes, 'They're just absolutely the worst team, those two."

And oh, and I'm going to be honest, when you look at Recovery Girl she's kind of a piece of shit. She barely gets any scenes and any time they involve Izuku (a lot of that small amount) they are pure ass. But this? This just takes the cake.

Wow. They're such bad teammates, sure. Such heroic insight. Why, that's like saying putting Muscular on the same team with Kouta would be a bad team! That would have some truly terrible teamwork as well, right? It's something that is technically correct, but is just.... so heinously missing the core of the problem that you honestly have to wonder what in the actual fuck she's thinking. All Might and Aizawa, at least, have the excuse that they don't see that, at least as far as we know, but she deadass watches it happen, what the fuck.

And, as it has often been pointed out, Bakugou passes, after attacking his teammate and being carried out afterwards while Sero, who heroically sacrifices himself for the win and never once attacks his teammate, loses for exactly the same thing.

Simply marvelous.

Now let's move Training Camp Arc... where, when Bakugou is informed in the middle of an attack by villains that he is the target (and oh, we'll get to that in a moment). What is his first response to this? What does he do?

Le-fucking-roy right at them. Here's something that bothers me about how the story talks about Bakugou: he's so intelligent, he's analytical, all this stuff... but every time he gets into a fight? Or near a fight? His response is always, always to jump in. Needless to say, a heedless charge at the problem backfires, and he's captured. Surprise!

And back to Bakugou as target: the League of Villains watch him on TV and the first thing they thought about him is, I like the cut of his jib.

The worst people look at Bakugou and say he's clearly one of them.

This... this is something that's never really discussed. There's a press conference, Aizawa basiclly says he's too heroic to ever join them (ironically, since Bakugou's argument isn't about heroism or villainy, but that they're losers), and this just... never comes up again. There's no doubt in anyone's mind about anything after Eraserhead gives him that support

No one is concerned that, hey, maybe he did actully join them. Or the man with ten-thousand Quirks did something to him, brainwashed him, and honestly? That's not even a reach. That is actually what AFO was planning to do to him. This is a setting, need I remind you, where actual brainwashing Quirks exist, much less whatever the fuck happens to the Nomu and no one is concerned, after they all agree that there is already a mole, that Bakugou could become another mole, or maybe even was that original mole in the first place. No one goes, 'Hmm, well, the scum of Japan think he's one of them, maybe this is something we should be concerned about?'

I mean, fuck, no one just sits Bakugou down and tells him to pull his shit together, your image is ass and the media is probably going to be watching you until you die, ready to stain you with the accusation of villainy, and they can make your life hell if you slip up, and so far you don't seem even seem to care. Also, your heroic career, that you're oh so concerned about, is never going to get off the ground if everyone thinks your a villain, and a villain will never be Number One.

There's just... nothing. Bakugou is made out of warning signs, one the entire fucking setting ignores at times, but this is just... fuck.

Alright. Bakugou vs Izuku Two; Wank Bakugou Harder!

Actually, no. Before that... let's talk about one of the major lead ups to that: Bakugou finding out about OFA. Why? In part to force him into the plot, sure, but a large part of it is Izuku feeling... guilty. He feels guilty for lying to him, guilty for seeming to have a Quirk of his own; I'm not really going anywhere with this, I just want to talk about how fucked up that mentality is, that he felt he owed Bakugou that. He owes Bakugou nothing. Bakugou isn't his friend, isn't even his acquaintance, he's his abuser. Bakugou doesn't treat him in a way that deserves such sympathy, much less information on one of the greatest secrets in the setting. If Bakugou wants to assume that Izuku somehow hid that he had a Quirk for his entire life? Allowed himself to be constantly beat down, insulted, and mistreated, and for what? For this one gotcha moment of surprising Bakugou? Let him. If he's too stuck in his own idiocies to think of anything else, let him wallow in his own ignorance.

Anyways, BvI2: also known as that time Bakugou pulled his frequent victim aside to attack him and both of them got in trouble for it.

And this is billed as this big thing for Izuku, but he fights against Bakugou, metaphorically, all the time, and he's already had this big moment of physical defiance in BvI1. This fight isn't about Izuku, on any level. This fight exists solely for Bakugou. It starts because he starts it, he starts it because he feels upset and violence is apparently how he sorts through his emotions, and he wins it because he needs to.

But not just because he needs to win, oh no, there's more to that. Thematically, you see, this is important for Bakugou's growth. Or rather, the idea of his growth that never seems to persist between his growth moments. You see, thematically, Bakugou stands for victory via force, but him winning this fight doesn't make him right, doesn't give him All Might's approval, and to him, that's almost a paradox; that paradox is needed to move beyond who he is.

But that's the thing though. Bakugou needs it. Bakugou needs to win for Bakugou's growth. This growth is, both literally and thematically, at the expense of Izuku, because Izuku? If he won this, just... out matched Bakugou in a fight, no tricks, no technicalities, no crippling injuries, none of the things from their first fight? That would have been huge for him, for his confidence. It would have been Izuku, heroic Izuku, finally and truly eclipsing his old bully in every possible way, and that would have been great for him, for his confidence, for his self respect. Moreover, though, that still would have been good for Bakugou, because even when he loses, he never loses, and he could use an actual, humbling defeat to help screw his head on straight.

But Bakugou loses all the time, I hear people say? He lost in their first fight, true, but that's a technicality; anyone looking at them would know who won combat wise. He won the Sports Festival, even though he bitches about how it wasn't 'right'. He loses against All Might, sure, but All Might is the strongest man on the planet; that loss means nothing. Moreover, he wins against him through the goal of the exam at the end anyways. He loses to the villains, sure, but it was a bunch of them against him; it wasn't a fair fight, which is the whole reason him picking it was stupid in the first place. And now, here, he could have finally had a real loss to give him some perspective... but he doesn't.

Moreover, Hori just... hypes up Explosion as a Quirk more than it really deserves. Is it a good Quirk? Strong? Sure. But let's be honest here: he sweats nitroglycerin. Literally, his Quirk is his two parents mashed together into the best possible option, and it's basiclly lazy ass chemistry via genetics. There is, by the very definition of the substance that he explicitly makes, a cap to how much it can do with a certain volume; that's why new, more explosive explosives were made to replace it

One For All, all the heroic thematics aside, is literally just pure power. All Might changes the weather with a punch on accident; I'm convinced if he punched the ground and meant it, he could actually fuck up Japan as a island. The cap with OFA is yes. There is no way, under the logic of the setting, that Bakugou can ever contest that.

Like, look at Endeavour: when he wants more fire, he makes more fire. It's bigger. What the fuck is Bakugou going to do, rain his sweat on people? What happens when he dehydrates, because again, this is his sweat, which comes from his body? Cluster doesn't even make sense, really, that he somehow super concentrates it to make it more powerful, and AP Shot is literally him making a circle with his fingers before blowing up a bomb in it, yet somehow it makes, like, a laser?

The thing is that more loose Quirks, like Endeavour's, again, aren't as limited to science as the more 'realistic' Quirks like Bakugou's, so there's nothing really saying he can't just... make more flames. He could damage himself, sure, but since he already pulls that shit out of nothing, Endeavour increasing the volume of his magic ass firebending isn't hard to accept. Hori wrote himself into a hole here because if Bakugou just made explosions by magic? If he just... conceptually made explosions? A lot of this stuff would make sense (except AP Shot; fuck AP Shot), and it feels like that's how he treats it sometimes. But that's not what he did: it was his Dad's Acid Sweat with his Mom's Glycerin which means he sweats explosive sweat. And then, when it's convenient, he has shit like the Gauntlets, and basiclly all the rest of his support gear, that are explicitly filled with his sweat.

Bakugou's powers are basiclly whatever the fuck Hori wants at any given moment, and it's honestly frustrating when he tried to play so much of this setting's powers so seriously at first, and Bakugou's Quirk in particular is explained more than almost anyone else, and yet he tosses it the moment he thinks of something that sounds cool.

...But I've gotten off topic. The point is, OFA is OP and Izuku should have just won that on pure ability alone.

Anyways, after all this, the teachers finally come, once it's settled in Bakugou's favor, and they're both in trouble. For a fight that was 100% Bakugou's fault.

So, throughout all of this, Bakugou has changed, yes, but beyond the first couple of days, the changes have been grudging and glacial, and the reasons why are best exemplified in the License Exam where we find out that, for all intents and purposes, Bakugou is incapable of showing basic empathy. I mean, fuck, he fails to show that when, with any amount of logic, much less that of the genius Bakugou, would say that now is the time to fake it. An actual, factual sociopath would do better than him, purely because they would know to act for their own betterment.

(And the fact that his teachers look at this, explicit proof that he is seemingly incapable of actually trying to save a person, but do nothing with this information speaks volumes.... mostly about how bad Hori is at writing Bakugou and the implications of what he does constantly. Surely there's no way that, without the Author hyping him up, they'd just let that slide, right? ...Right?)

But, then, hope on the horizon! He has a make up exam, and it's apparently centered around pounding basic morals/how to deal with civilians into his thick skull! Surely, this is the time Bakugou will finally, finally, get the point, right?

And that's the thing: he does. There's this, probably to other people, touching moment where he sees himself in this asshole kid and talks about how you can't just look down on people. And it's like... finally. Finally! The switch has finally been flicked! He gets it! Change, improvement, development, fina-

Then the second he gets out of it he promptly goes back to calling everyone extras.

That dynamic in many ways is the perfect embodiment of Bakugou's development, and it's... It's like watching someone fighting off a disease. There's an infection, right and symptoms increase. Sometimes the symptoms appear out of nowhere, sometimes they increase over the span of several days. They peak, finally, then they fall back down, again either dramatically, or over the span of several days, and then you are back to normal.

Bakugou makes changes. He makes realizations. He gets 'humbled'. He has a single moment of heroism that the narrative hypes up, sometimes with a bit of build up before hand for a few chapters, and with people sometimes reacting to it for a few chapters afterwords.

And then it passes, like he's just finished fighting off a case of Morals.

You see, Bakugou is well liked. And, honestly, I get it. The asshole can be therapeutic to root for, at times. The problem is that he's too popular, and that this story is too about people being good. So Bakugou, to keep the fan base, to keep the sales, has to stay Bakugou, stay the unrepentant asshole constantly telling people to die.

But, at the same time, Bakugou is an anti-hero, basiclly, and this is a setting that just... can't handle the complexity of an anti-hero, in how people react to them, what they do and the morality of it, how it would affect society and so on, and so Bakugou can't stay as Bakugou, has to grow and be better and become a hero proper.

So... Hori goes, 'Why not both?' Thus, Bakugou gets his moments of 'development', and a slow, slow, slow trend to the better, and the fans get to see him do his thing, even though he's 'changed'. And it's easy, when you just sit back and accept the narrative, to believe that. But if you don't....

All of that? It makes his character empty because after a certain point, it's clear that Bakugou won't change, in so many fundamental levels, even if everyone around him acts like he does. Like attacking his teammates, like blindly charging the enemy , like constantly insulting everyone around him is just different because he's The New Bakugou now, like it's just fun and games, even when this was a dead serious problem early on. He didn't stop, he didn't change, or dial it back; everyone else just started acting differently when he does it. The same way in day one he attacks Izuku for having a Quirk, far later on he throws his metal... hair thing at him for daring to talk about his Quirk. And it, like, impales him, but haha! It's just funny now, it's so funny, that we can apparently see Izuku's brain! It's funny that, when Izuku is seriously thinking about his predecessors, Bakugou just instantly insults them for not being famous! Look at how patient Izuku is dealing with him as he acts like a bratty five year old child throwing a fit, look how fond All Might is as he insults his beloved teacher that he probably has deep seated trauma about regarding her untimely death!

In the War Arc, where Bakugou 'Rises'? Maybe ten minutes before his 'Rise', he was threatening to attack Izuku for daring to ask why he's following him. In a war zone.

The entire story, Bakugou has been described as a creature of instinct, a natural born warrior with a talent for battle. All of that is to contrast him with Izuku: where Izuku, instinctively, has the urge to save, Bakugou has the instinctive urge to fight. This is fundamental to him, a core characteristic, one of the (many) ways it's explained about how good he is at fighting.

And yet, suddenly, when Izuku is in danger, he moves without thinking (aka instinctively), but it's not attack Shigaraki, which, you know, he was shouting about doing not too long ago, it's to save Izuku.

And. And am I supposed to believe that?

I mean, fuck. In the FInal Arc, he has a Big Speech in response to SFO: about being 'way over fear and rejection since long ago', which SFO was talking in the context of how they create inequality in society, and how he wants to fix it... which, doesn't that mean Bakugou just doesn't care about them? Because being over them doesn't actually solve them, genius, it just means you, personally, are beyond them, and even now, he still treats everyone like they're unequal to him. Bakugou has always been the one to profit from inequality in society, between his Quirk, his talent, his well off family, so honestly all of that rings hollow.

He talks about how he has friends now, who are willing to move beyond them, and OK, that works a bit better, except when he still doesn't treat them like friends, in fact not too long ago he yelled at Momo for getting his stupid ass chuunibyou name wrong.

Or, maybe a minute later, when Bakugou gets a power up and/or realization about how SFO moves or something, and you know what he does? He instantly charges in blindly, alone, and is killed over it. Right after this speech about teamwork, while everyone was just... cheering his determination, and prissy Best Jeanist says, with a straight face and actual awe, 'Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight'.

And then when he sees Bakugou get smacked around, Eraserhead's first thought is to scream, desperately, 'Save him! Save him so he can try and become the Number One Hero!' in the middle of all this shit that is happening.

All of this is presented to us as this... thrilling thing, with music that is going to be swelling in the background when its animated, and everyone cheering him on, right before he's tragically struck down for being too stupid to live (no, seriously, SFO actually lampshades this. Before this big 'dramatic' moment, he says that getting up close to him is pure idiocy, and all that it will do is allow you to get get smashed by an All Might like power. Then, you know, Bakugou closes in, again, because he had bitchslapped Bakugou before, and then a second time during that boast, and it goes exactly as SFO said) and we're supposed to mourn him. Again, actually, even though this is a blatant set up for him powering up, since this is literally the same set up as the War Arc.

All of this work, all of this emotion, and all of it rings hollow because, well, it's Bakugou, and no amount of trying to hype up teamwork battle is going to make it work for me when the second the Big Moment is over he reverts to his normal asshole routine.

That Tsundere Field, guys. Too strong, too broken.

While I'm at it, let's talk about Bakugou being Quirkist, because, well, he is. It's a big part of his early character: the reason he rags on Izuku so hard, so successfully, the reason he's so big and important as a child, is about Quirks. When they get introduced the past users? His first comment is that they have weak Quirks.

Izuku saves him and he still doesn't think much about him; it's only later when he starts actually acknowledging Izuku.

When he has a Quirk.

And it's not just a Quirk, it's more than that: it's a strong Quirk, powerful. Enough for him to defeat Bakugou. All the respect Bakugou builds for Izuku? And while it stagnates for awhile, I do have to admit he does respect Izuku more than he did originally... and it's not because Izuku is kind, or heroic; he still hates that. No, he starts respecting Izuku because he is strong. His respect isn't about Izuku as a person, it's about Izuku's Quirk. All his respect, slowly built up throughout the series, comes from the corrupt foundation that Izuku is worth respecting only because he has a Quirk. Later, this gets worse because he learns about OFA and starts valuing Izuku as important, but it's only because his Quirk is important. It's All Might's Quirk. His second fight with Izuku is because of it's All Might's Quirk. He starts training him (that one time, and apparently never gain) because it's All Might's Quirk. When Izuku goes 'rogue'? And when he heroically goes to hunt him down? One of the first thing he does is talk about how he's so great because he has One For All, and then calls him an All Might wannabie*.

And you know what? I just talked about Class A hunting down Izuku recently, but let's talk about that more, because I hate it so much.

I really, honestly wonder if Hori is blind to the parallel he set up here, or if he invoked it on purpose, to try and show how Bakugou has 'improved'.

Look back at the first chapter, where we first see Bakugou. Think about that dynamic: Izuku, beaten down, on one side, while on the other, Bakugou. Strong, proud, with minions at his back, all of them ready to throw down at his command.

The thing is? The first time is shown as clearly villainous in nature, a cruel bully against someone who is weak but heroic. The second time, everything is the same, but it's shown differently. Bakugou is being shown as heroic for doing this, heroic for leading Izuku's friends to hunt him down, heroic for attacking him.

*And ah, Bakugou the Hypocrite. Let's finish this up by talking about Bakugou's name. When we first talk about hero names, Bakugou's naming sense is much like it is for his final name, and Midnight promptly shoots down every one of them because, well, they aren't heroic, and the story pokes fun at him a little because he clearly doesn't get it.

Then it's the War Arc. Bakugou has 'grown', there's all this hype for his big heroics moments, and he announces his new name... Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight. And I'm just wondering... am I getting punked? This is the the same shit as before! No, actually it's worse than that, it's bigger, longer, and more ridiculous.

The universal response is that it's tacky. Nejire thinks it's disgusting. Mirio literally thinks it's a joke.

But the story itself treats it seriously, and over time? People start accepting it, taking it seriously as well, treating that stupid name with respect. What the fuck kind of hero name has the word murder in it? What kind of hero calls himself a god?

And finally, it's Dynamight. Which resembles All Might, the Greatest, Most Beloved Hero, the one Bakugou has always considered the best and viewed as his goal to surpass.

And yet he says that Izuku, who is calling himself Deku, is the one viewing himself as an All Might wannabie.

[just-jae]

"Apology Tour"

Helluva Boss in respects to the episode "Apology Tour", demonstrates an overt shift in storytelling that not only went far out-of-character, but handled their portrayal of a toxic relationship, ironically in a toxic way.

To start, Im aware that the show has had storytelling flaws, and have since moved on and accepted that it's ultimately unplanned story subject to retconns (Such as with Moxxie, Stella, Octavia and Stolas) as well as just not going in any particular direction sometimes, especially given these are relatively new characters and personalities, and a story started as a small side-project with only one planned season, compared to Hazbin Hotel, who's characters have been in development since Viv was a kid, whom she had a clear and set vision for by the time Hazbin Hotel started production.

That being said, these past few episodes give me an impression that the focus of their story is shifting, due to the lacking cohesion between prior setup and Apology Tour and the one-sidedness in this episode's story, even if we only rely on the show's content for context.

They set up that Blitz is self loathing, having developed a deep-seated self hatred after causing the death and traumatization of people he cared about, internalizing other's opinions, effectively having given up on being the person he wants to be and considering himself a failure in that regard.

But, its not just self loathing, as Apology tour insists so strongly. Its also disillusionment with love. Blitz once knew love in the form of his mother, Fizz his best friend, and (maybe) his sister at least into his pre-teen years. He even attempted to confess feelings for Fizz with a letter on his birthday, and still cares about his sister enough to go look for her when she leaves the insane asylum.

He nearly believes Stolas's texts and his words in Full , because that's who he is at his core, someone who loves and longs to be loved, but convinces himself that Stolas doesn't actually mean what he says, and thus acts accordingly. Somewhere along the line he learned that "It's an act" after being betrayed, abandoned, or otherwise hurt by people he trusted with his heart. People like his father, Fizz, exes, or even people he set up performance act for, whom ultimately rejected him-- hence why he gave up.

"You tried a solo act, it didn't work out so well."

Unlike Stolas, who, since birth has been raised by emotionally distant, fake people who pretty themselves up despite being rotten and who "pretend to want to fuck his scrawny twig-ass" (his wife btw) because they have to. Honestly, I don't know why he'd consider his relationship with Blitz to be any better than his wife's.

Because they were drunk the first time i guess >=>… Seriously was that episode even canon--

Blitz went into the room already certain that Stolas was getting bored and about to cut him off, making efforts to appeal to Stolas-- a guy whom he considers an unpleasant chore to be around, insisting "I can do better". He even begs, that he'll do anything with DESPAIR -- as if expecting to be even more uncomfortable just to maintain their arrangement. And this moment shows clearly that Blitz never wanted to do any of the stuff their "relationship" is built on. He's there because those are the terms Stolas set for being allowed to use his book.

"Once a month, you return the book to me, followed by a night of passionate fornication!" Stolas, as usual conveniently ignores that this is the situation Blitz has been in since they met and proceeds to act like Blitz is the jackass for hating him AFTER ADMITTING THAT THEIR RELATIONSHIP was "NOT RIGHT". Blitz doesn't even initially steal from Stolas (when they're children) because he wants to, but because his dad is making him do it.

In Full Moon, Blitz snaps and goes on a rant about "Everything you've put me through" and how people like Stolas have tended to treat people like Blitz, because just as Stolas feels hurt, Blitz has also been hurt, as much as he tries not to be, such as the sentiment he expressed in "Ozzy's" (Which, btw was their last serious on-screen conversation), that Stolas has made him feel used more than anything. Even if Blitz initiated their arrangement, Stolas trying to make it an emotional relationship feels like a lure to be hurt, and having to reject that offer, especially after seeing a genuinely loving relationship, also forces Blitz to verbalize WHY he rejects the offer, being that at no point has Stolas done anything but sexualize Blitz and disregard his own disinterest and discomfort, which has been apparent throughout the serise.

Blitz has, up until this point, made it blatantly clear that he hates having sex with Stolas, and avoids doing so unless he needs to maintain access to the Memoir.

Blitz has been completely transparent about how he feels about their relationship from the get-go.

ALL that being said, it's becoming apparent that "Apology Tour" marks a noticeable shift in the storytelling style, where the writers are starting to portray specific unrelated life experiences through these characters, even if it doesn't line up with the situation set up by previous episodes.

In apology tour, Blitz not only doesn't take Stolas' breakoff seriously, but doesn't even believe that Stolas genuinely doesn't want to fuck anymore (despite having started the episide thinking he was getting bored, and having a history of breakups). And even exhibits behaviors of being possessive of Stolas, going over to his house to insist on nothing being different, getting angry when Stolas kisses another guy, even claiming that he "Stole" his bird.

In apology tour he's angry at Stolas, not for putting him in an emotionally vulnerable position, but for being emotionally vulnerable and rejecting his sexual advances, which felt not-only OOC as fuck for Blitz but resembled traits of a narcissist more than someone who was self loathing or emotionally insecure. He even says shit like "Stolas always wants to talk to me" as if suddenly he can't fathom that someone doesn't like him or doesn't want to be with him rather than the opposite mindset that's been set up throughout the series.

Apology Tour wants to tell a story of projected self loathing, but uses experiences with narcissistic tendencies to do so, through a character that, prior to this specific episode was anything BUT, and whom specifically had a history of initiating breakups SPECIFICALLY because he didn't think people actually loved him and were just luring him in to be hurt (or because he was predicting things were starting to go downhill and just decided to be to first to jump ship).

I can tell this episode is a depiction of personal experiances with breakups from certain kinds of toxic relationships, but the entire time these characters didn't feel like themselves but other people in their skins.

What bothers me, specifically, is that in sympathizing so one-sidedly with Stolas, Apology tour villainizes Blitz, and disregards the mistreatment HE'S endured from Stolas, suddenly blaming him for Stolas's insecurities and heartbreak when AT NO POINT did Blitz ever pretend to like their arrangement or be interested in Stolas. AT NO POINT were they ever even in a relationship. It was a transactional fucking that STOLAS required for Blitz to use the book. Stolas catching feelings doesn't obligate Blitz to suddenly put his own heart on the line, especially when he's already vulnerable in that he relies on Stolas for his business to operate.

STOLAS HIMSELF admits that their relationship was transactional in FULL MOON. AGAIN, Stolas was the one who made sex the requirement for getting the book in the first place when he could have just been lending Blitz the book without that.

This whole time STOLAS has been the one controlling the terms by which their relationship is maintained, and never made an effort to pay attention to how Blitz felt about it until Blitz actually told him no, even then he completely disregards the obvious vulnerability and fear of being hurt to focus instead on Blitz's self loathing.

"Why cant you just open up to me--someone who's talked down to you multiple times, litterally called you a plaything, needlessly disregarded your boundaries and discomfort, and who exploits your need of me for sex-- and just admit that you hate yourself?? I've tried so hard to be nice to you since the first time you refused to do what I want! Why aren't you giving me what I want?"

Like. TF? How is Blitz the bad guy here?

This could have been remedied just by swapping the character's roles.

Stolas should have been the one portrayed as a clingy, emotionally deaf asshole, (That he's been since his first appearance), who struggles to comprehend genuine love and actually being loved-- as opposed to Blitz who's just afraid of loving and self-punishing.

Blitz should be the one who's catching a break here.

An alternative approach to this story: Blitz realizes there's another way to get to the living world, and warily asks Stolas to help him get it, even offering to keep banging afterward as thanks, or, taking a risk that maybe Stolas genuinely cares about him. Stolas is too insecure to actually choose to give Blitz that freedom and potentially never see him again, and/or take him seriously at first because he's so sure everyone's happy with the current arrangement-- an arrangement that, frankly he's familiar with after living with his wife for years.

Maybe this could reveal that Stolas just felt that, being used/needed (for the memoir) was the only way he was even going to get close to something resembling a relationship and just hesitated a bit too long, causing Blitz to quickly back out and go for the crystal himself. Then maybe Stolas shows up to help anyway and they have a similar conversation as in Apology tour, without the made-up "we all hate this guy, its all your fault, you're the shitty one" party that, if anything just reinforced Blitz's self loathing.

Seriously. The dude's even a better dad than Stolas is-- he actually pays attention to Loona, and is capable of loving her and interacting with her even when she's a dick bc he's used to people being dicks and not kissing his ass when they're not drunk-- unlike Stolas.

So why does Apology tour make the entire situation Blitz's fault and make him soley responsible for their and EVERY "relationship's" failure? Why isn't Stolas made to confront or even acknowledge the way he's treated Blitz up until Ozzy's? (except for some flirting in a filler episode and some texts on a phone)

Why does the show make it BLITZ's obligation and responsibility to be sensitive to Stolas's feelings and vulnerabilities and to be vulnerable to Stolas after a majority of their relationship BY STOLA'S OWN ADMISSION has been transactional with Blitz being the one reliant on Stolas and therefore having an unfair power dynamic?

Because its not their story, they're being used to tell someone else's story.

Stolas sure does prop himself up as making efforts to be kind and loving pretty often. I guess that's why his daughter hates him so much and feels unloved and abandoned, why Blitz never felt loved by him, and why we literally see Stolas abusing and bossing around imps that work for him, if not talking down to them like he does to Moxxie and Millie.

I can accept that the show is veering more toward using the characters to tell personal stories, and that the change is probably going to cause a loss of serial cohesion, but this was such poor way to handle the relationship and dynamic between these two characters and is infantilizing and glorifying Stolas as a pure -of-heart sweetie way too much.

Because we even saw before, that when when they're just cuddling, Blitz adores it. He likes the idea of a relationship, and having someone to hold, in a non-sexual way but can't let himself actually be vulnerable, especially not with people like Stolas who talk down to and take advantage of his reliance in order to maintain access to an asset they need to run their business.

This was careless. It's like watching a truck full of baggage veer across several lanes to make a last-minute exit onto a different highway and spill half of its bags all over the road in the process.

I had a problem before when they tried to portray Stolas as a kind and caring father who's done nothing to earn his daughter or spouse's spite. And I have a problem now when they try to blame and villainize the person who had less power in a relationship and has been shown not only being mistreated and used but capable of loving and respecting others, as shown with his relationships with Loona and Moxxie, and emotional vulnerability even when they don't want to be.

I do appreciate that they're putting in effort to portray painful personal experiences, but for fuck's sake at least review the history of the characters you use to tell the story before you go and blame someone in the LOWEST CLASS OF SOCIETY who RELIES on the other MUCH MORE POWERFUL person for FINANCIAL STABILITY and whom ALREADY PANDERS to SEXUAL DEMANDS AGAINST THEIR OWN PREFERENCE for the failure of a NON EXISTANT RELATIONSHIP and FOR NOT LETTING THEMSELVES BE VULNERABLE WITH SOMEONE THEY ULTIMATELY DONT TRUST.

I was actually rooting for them to finally break tf up because it's toxic af, and they somehow managed to make me hate it.

Literally they could have just swapped their roles and made the story make a lot more sense based on the setup, but No, Stolas is the sweet and innocent romantic one that needs saving and Blitz is the tough, cold hearted, reads hand, clingy jealous ex with narcissistic tendencies… for this one episode…

-----

Okay upon looking into it further it looks like a lot of the mismatch between what Stolas says and what Stolas does is intentionally him being in his own head. I really wish they would make that clear instead of Blitz being portrayed as such an ass-- like more assholish than usual, having an entire party of people who hate his guts in particular as if he's somehow worse than the average hellspawn, and having Blitz not refute most of the criticisms Stolas throws at him.

Like, the most Blitz has to apologize for is blowing up at Stolas for trying to help him, but. That's all he did, yelled. He even waited for Stolas to reply and even tried to apologize. So. Idk, if they're really gonna chalk all this up to "It's Stolas being in his own head" they-- I want them to come down so hard on his ass after this.

[salarta]

Comic Book Fandom and "Got Mine Fuck You"

There's a recurring situation I see way too often with X-Men comic book fandom. As I write this, I know what I'm saying doesn't apply to everyone, or to every fandom, or to every platform. It applies to what I've seen. And what I've seen is abysmal.

Back when the 2020 run of X-Factor happened, I saw a LOT of apologism for the way Polaris/Lorna Dane was treated on that book. Paired with trying to spin her being on the book as good for her.

"Oh hey yeah, the X of Swords issue didn't acknowledge Lorna surviving the Genoshan genocide because... uhh... it was all implied! They didn't just didn't say it explicitly."

Then when the Genoshan genocide took center stage in another comic's story arc a couple years later, with Kitty Pryde as the focus, Lorna acting like she has no history with it and just complaining about a lack of coffee gets painted as "Oh but there's only so much panel space! And they already told Lorna's story with Genosha anyway, this time they're focused on Kitty's story with it!"

Let's also not forget that during the X-Men vote, we had so, so many X-Factor fans arguing for her to lose the vote, and not get to be a mainstay on the flagship book, because "X-Factor is her book and she's getting good use there anyway." As if it would've been impossible for her to be on two books at once. Some of those fans were at least more honest about it, where they admitted the real reason they wanted her to lose is cause they thought the book would die without Lorna to exploit for other characters like Rachel.

And now, we have the current X-Factor. Where fans of Havok, Pyro, the name X-Factor, nostalgia for the 90s, etc have all insisted that forcing Lorna back into "Havok's girlfriend who acts stupid so he can be a big strong man about it" is fine actually. Perfectly cool. The sexism is satire so it's fine, everything's fine, shitty treatment of her is fine. Anything to promote Havok, or Pyro, or X-Factor, or whatever else.

Only for those same people to start crying the instant Havok and Pyro look stupid too. Because you see, they can excuse the sexism and making a woman look stupid and completely destroying her character and development to make her fit a sexist mold for their cis straight Aryan male self-insert.

But they draw the line at their woobie self-inserts looking just as dumb. Stupid and character assassination is for the womenfolk you see, not for men.

What I'm getting at is, I keep running into a brick wall called "Got Mine Fuck You" that's pervasive with too many comic book fans. And while I'm emphasizing this behavior on Lorna, it's not just her. They've also done shit like attack and badmouth another writer for daring to suggest their great golden god Writer Of The Moment could have plagiarized their work. Harassing her, changing her Wikipedia page. Because they care more about salvaging the reputation of their favorite things than about what's right.

It annoys the fuck out of me. Because in spite of all the fanfare about comics being progressive (when it's financially convenient), this is one of the big gaping dark sides.

I try not to be that guy. I can't say I don't fail, but I try to be better than these chucklefucks.

When season 1 of Gifted killed Dreamer off, I had no problem calling out how asinine and insulting their handling of her death was. I COULD have been That Asshole that tries to act like it was a genius decision, all because Polaris was being treated amazingly in season 1 and Dreamer's death could've been leveraged for Pain Points for Lorna. I didn't do that.

Secret Wars House of M also gave Quicksilver and to a lesser extent Magneto a raw deal in characterization. Even as AU characters, it hit very wrong for Pietro to be depicted as a mustache twirling traitor type when there were ways to keep him closer to his core without taking that route. Now I will admit, I had a moment of weakness with this because I loved what it was doing with Lorna. But in the end, I still recognized it was a problem.

Even with the X of Swords issue of X-Factor. There were many problems with Lorna's treatment there, but there were problems all around. Rockslide fans were very upset with it, for good reason. And Rockslide had actual people around who knew him and had closer relationships with him. Why did they get shafted, with Lorna used instead?

Fandom should really strive for better. For all characters. Not just their pet favorites. Fandom should not be eager to throw other characters, other fandoms, everything that means so much to them and resonates with them, under the bus just so their own faves can get a little benefit out of it.

Fans should not be eager to make excuses for shitty treatment just cause that shitty treatment makes their fave look good. Fans should not want to see another character's potential undermined and thrown away just cause keeping that character down allows a book they like to prosper. Fans should not be trying to make sexism out to be nothing but satire just cause they think a female character "deserves terrible characterization."

These fans try to say their fandom is great. But then they act in ways that tell the world it's not.

It would be nice if they had some fucking principles for once.

[silverynight]

Dead end

<---Previous

Part XX

The good thing is that they come back; they're back with him and Tanjirou doesn't want to let them go ever again.

However, they're hurt so Tanjirou does his best to patch them both up.

"You should be resting, darling," Mitsuri mumbles, although she doesn't stop Tanjirou from bandaging her arm.

"Same goes to you," he says, trying not to tear up as he approaches Obanai to clean his wounds. It's nothing actually serious, but Tanjirou is tired and scared because he doesn't want to lose any of them.

There's nothing he wants more than to go back home with all his hashira.

He wants to marry them.

"What is it, Tanjirou?" Obanai asks, wiping one of his tears off with his thumb. He treats Tanjirou like something precious; all of them do that, but sometimes the redhead feels like he doesn't deserve it.

As usual, the Pillars nearby gather around him to make sure he's completely fine, even though he's not the one who came back from a fight against number 4.

Tanjirou is so glad they won.

"Let me go see Hakuji."

For a moment, a lot of eyes look back at him in confusion; it's true, none of them know his real name.

"I mean Akaza."

They start arguing about how dangerous it is to go, about how he can't trust someone who works for Muzan (or used to), but Tanjirou has made up his mind and is sure that they need his help if they want to have a chance of winning.

"I think he's right," Gyomei says then and Tanjirou sighs, relieved that at least one of them trusts his judgment.

Sanemi has Tanjirou in his arms and has refused to let him go since he pulled him into a tight embrace.

"We cannot risk him like this... all of you are crazy..."

Tanjirou has to give him a kiss on his chin (the part of his face he can reach at the moment) to calm him down. It works like a charm.

"One of us will go with you," Giyuu says then and by the way he looks at Tanjirou, he knows there's nothing he can say to make him change his mind.

"Mitsuri," Kyojuro says then. "She was the one who saw you in that House; she should go with you. I think the safest option is to put you back in there."

"I'll do your makeup this time, darling!"

It seems Tanjirou is going to be Sumiko again.

Mitsuri does a better job than Akaza. Although, the Pillars keep interrupting the transformation process by taking Tanjirou in their arms and kissing him senseless.

"You're ruining the makeup!" Mitsuri protests, pouting as she watches Tengen giving Tanjirou a kiss on the lips.

"When this is over, will you dress like this for us every now and then, pretty?"

Tanjirou is so overwhelmed by all the kisses he just nods shyly in response. However, before Mitsuri keeps going he gives a few kisses to Muichiro and Shinobu because they can't move at the moment.

"Last one," Tanjirou promises Mitsuri before going back to her side so she keeps turning him into a courtesan.

"No, this is the last one," Mitsuri giggles, before pressing her lips against his herself.

Tanjirou would like to stay there for a long time; they all are back with him and they're having fun and they love him... but he knows time doesn't stop and they need to end this once and for all if they ever want to have peace in the future.

But he's scared because he doesn't know what's going to happen.

***

They don't exactly walk around the city unnoticed, but at least they blend in. The problem is that being outside and not having the company of different ladies from a specific House makes them attractive to customers.

Despite being usually very sweet, Mitsuri hisses at a couple of men (and some women) who try to buy time with Tanjirou.

"Let's go back to the House I was staying as a courtesan," she says at one point, pulling Tanjirou closer to herself.

Perhaps she's right; Tanjirou doesn't think he'll find Hakuji among all the people there and even though they'll be inside an establishment that's the place he last saw Tanjirou, maybe he'll try to look for him there.

If he didn't do that already.

The woman in charge the House takes them back after listening to a very weird story Mitsuri comes up with; she takes all the blame for "Sumiko" and her own absence and claims she ran away and Sumiko tried to bring her back.

It's obvious the woman doesn't believe her entirely, but she seems glad to have two pretty courtesans back she decides to give them a room to each one.

They need to pretend so they have to stay there for a while, but Tanjirou can tell Mitsuri doesn't like the idea of being away from him.

Curious, Tanjirou immediately approaches the window and tries to look down in case he sees a familiar face.

How can he communicate with Akaza? Is he alright? Does Muzan know he's back with Tanjirou?

Two little girls walk into his room; Tanjirou immediately melts because they make him think about his other siblings (especially Nezuko whom he has tried not to think too much about because he feels guilty for leaving her).

"You're very pretty." One of them says.

"Thank you."

"If you stay here you'll probably become an oiran soon," says the other girl, smiling.

"Is the man in the window someone you love?"

"What?" Tanjirou quickly looks at the window, but there's no one there.

"There's a man who comes from the window every now and then and asks about you."

"He also gives us candy!"

"How do you know it's me he's looking for?"

"Because you're the only courtesan with red hair."

Tanjirou gets slightly nervous; that could be Hakuji... but also someone else. Muzan knows how he looks like.

"Is this why you insisted the woman to give me this bedroom?"

"Yes!" They say at the same time, very happy about it.

"You know what? I have something to do... why don't wait outside for a bit?"

At least they'll be safe that way. Tanjirou gets closer to the window again and tries to use his nose so he could figure out who was–

"I was worried about you."

Tanjirou gets startled, but immediately smiles with relief as soon as he recognizes Akaza.

"Hakuji!"

"I'm so glad you're alright." He mumbles before pulling Tanjirou into his arms.

***

Next--->

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[karlyuchka]

ATLA isn't that great at showing the reality of war and you are ready for this conversation.

You can call me biased for this post, but whatever. I've been silent for too long.

It's certainly better than a lot of other shows, but fans often overestimate how good it actually is. It's excellent at showing more simple things like people getting hurt and traumatized because of war, but when it gets to more complicated things it's not that good.

In the show we got two people opposing to the fire nation. TWO. (Technically more because Jet wasn't alone, but you get what I'm saying). And they're BOTH antagonists. It's great to show that anger can blind you, but couldn't they make at least one character who wasn't somehow affiliated with Gaang who was against Fire nation and was in positive light? It kinda sucks. Also it doesn't make sense that Hama could actually attack military men and she just didn't. Why? She could attack civilians AND military and it could have been much better.

Then we get an entire arc to show that fire citizens aren't that bad, they're also people and they're also victims, blah, blah, blah... And the idea isn't entirely bad, but it was shown like they're just all innocent and can't affect what's happening in their kingdom? If the show authors wanted to show something positive about Fire citizens wouldn't it be better to show that there are some opposition to Fire Lord or something? But no, we get episodes about how the citizens are prohibited to show their true selfs because they can't breakdance and we get propaganda mentioned a little. Obviously it's a kids show and demanding to show 100% how war works is dumb, obviously the writers have to tone it down a little, but it still kinda sucked. This is actually why it's my least favourite season. Like, it looked like literally no one in Fire nation was against war? The opposition wasn't mentioned even in the comics? HUNDRED YEARS war and Fire citizens didn't even try to do anything? This fire school arc just made me despise Fire nation more because it looks like they just don't give a damn. (Don't start on "they're being brainwashed by propaganda". If propaganda is enough to convince you that killing is good than you were never good in the first place).

Jet was portraied extremely weird in Ba Ding Se too. Like... Fire nation is occupying Earth nation, killing and abusing civilians. Jet sees two fire benders in the most secured city. One of them was a war general who actually had this exact city under six hundred days siege. OBVIOUSLY he would try to arrest them. Who wouldn't? Who knows what they're doing there? Why would he believe that they don't want to do anything malicious? But show portraits it like some sort of obsession. Like he was crazy and in the wrong, like "they're not hurting anybody and he's nagging them and wants them arrested for no reason". Jet was being completely logical.

At the end of the show Iroh keeps his tea shop in Ba Sing Se??? What??? The same city he had under siege? And he names it "Jasmine dragon". DRAGON. The literal symbol of Fire nation. HUNDRED YEAR war just ended, I refuse to believe that citizens were completely fine with it.

And in "Legend of Korra" we find out that Fire nation still has an army? It got much smaller, but still it was pretty powerful? After hunder year war? How? WHY?

It's also extremely weird that in LOK they explored goddamn ANARCHISM, but not how Fire nation is treated after the war? It looked like nobody even remembers it. It was mentioned like three times in the series.

Also I read the comics and the creation of Republic city was weird af. Kuvira was terrible, but she was right at one thing: Republic city belongs to Earth kingdom. There was a lot of resistance. In comics this colony was still full of Earth civilians and culture. It wasn't completely mixed. And the argument to not returning the colony to Earth kingdom was literally "we've been colonizing this territory for so long that it can't be yours anymore" wich is dumb. It becomes even dumber when you remember it wasn't the only colony like that. It was mentioned that it was ONE OF THE OLDEST colonies. Which means there were colonies where fire culture was even more integrated. Then why weren't those colonies also turned into "something completely new"? And the resistance stopping resisting was really weird. They were extremely enthusiastic and determined and then just stopped because the Avatar came and told them "protect people, not borders"???

In conclusion: "Avatar" has a lot of flaws which are caused by "love everyone" mindset, wich isn't bad at it's core, but sometimes you gotta hate. And some flaws are caused by writers' inability to understand war and what comes after. The series are amazing, and comics too, but people tend too overlook a lot of mistakes.

Thanks for reading

(no one's reading allat💀)

Also if you disagree, it's completely fine, just know that I will not argue about it. It's my opinion that I thought about for a very long time and I will not change it.

[ghouljams]

First of all, sorry for my English, it's not my first language and I'm still studying it. And straight to the point, I'm a transmasc who dates a cis girl, we were just friends before that, so we had few, almost no conversations about sex, preferences or fetishes. Anyway, shortly before we started dating she told me some of her sexual experiences, and I didn't feel jealous or insecure, I know I can satisfy her. Well, I thought so. She told me about an experience she had with a person with a dick, saying that a real one is infinitely better than a fake one, talking a lot about it, details that, because they are part of someone else's privacy, I won't tell. At the time I didn't care, so when we started dating and naturally became intimate, this became an insecurity, she had said slightly cruel things that day about it that I saw as a preference. She seems to have a lot of desire for me, but she started talking about it... uncomfortable things about it, and before we talked vaguely about the idea of having children, the clear idea of adoption passing through our minds... then these days she said that she preferred a biological child to an adopted one, I stayed quiet, just wrapped in her embrace that seemed to only tighten the thorns that her words threw at my heart. I feel terrible and incapable, honestly, I hate comparing people, but I have had experiences with cis gay men who treated me like a prince in relation to this. Sex and physical intimacy seem to be important to her, and although I'm madly in love with her, since this has become almost a blip in our relationship and I feel extremely insecure, like I can't make her happy, I don't feel like touching her anymore. These days I was crazy and climbing the walls with excitement, but although I masturbated I didn't think about her like before, or anyone else, my mind just went blank. Honestly I don't know, I think this is just a messy rant, sorry.

Hello my darling!

I want to start by saying my heart breaks for you. I wouldn't wish that sort of insecurity on anyone.

There's no easy way to say this but I think it needs to be said anyway. This is not the love for you.

It seems clear to me, at least from how you described it, that your partner is being needlessly cruel to you. This isn't preference, this is just mean. If she is talking a lot about the "real thing" and how she prefers that to anything else, then she doesn't see you the same way she sees other men. If she is wishing for biological children(which you can give her, IVF works) and you're feeling insecure about it then that's just another comparison between you and other men.

If you don't want to have sex with her because of the comments she has made then you need to break up.

You are lucky enough to have had good sex with people who treat you right, why waste your love on someone who doesn't?

If you want to salvage the relationship then you need to have an honest conversation with your partner. This isn't something that is just going to go away. You need to discuss how her comments have made you feel and explain how they hurt you. It shouldn't be an attack on her, but you also need to talk or else it's all going to build until you can't take it anymore.

Love is a choice, it's one we make every day when we wake up and think of our partner. Feelings help, but feelings come like waves, sometimes they're big and sometimes they're small. Madly in love is good. Extremely insecure is not, and if she's contributed to that then you need to talk to her about it. Otherwise your other options are break up or continue in misery.

[dragonotaku-justineverything]

Do you have any ideas for a Flipped Personality Pyrrha? Like how we worked on Flipped Yue, Bluby, and Aiko? The best I got right now is a purple color scheme.

Purple is a good start I think, or just blue even though that is Ruby’s flipped color as well. I think Purple could be a nice unique color to her, at least for her hair.

I looked up what the “opposites” for bronze would be, and this Steel blue popped up, ask well as this sort of purple for the opposite of a brownish color. Then maybe have silver or regular gray steel for her armor, circlet, and necklace instead of gold? And should we change her eye color as well like with Bleiss having red eyes instead of lilac?

Okay so here's what I am thinking are some strong points:

She has hair like the red-violet color hair like in the first pic

Her bronze and brown corset is now steel blue and the purple in the third pic

Her golden accessories (circlet, necklace, and armor) are now silver instead

Blue eye shadow perhaps?

As for flipped Pyrrha’s actual personality itself, I do have some ideas as well:

She is much more arrogant and acts more entitled than regular Pyrrha, fame from being the "Invincible Girl" having long since gotten to her head.

She believes that she is actually better than a lot of people and loves the attention she gets from her fame. This can make her kind of difficult to work with

She show less restraint when fighting and barely any sportsmanship when she thrashes her opponents, gloating in her victory

She's also much more bold and free spoken with people, not too concerned with what people think of doing so because she's the Invincible Girl so therefore her opinion matters most. She'll outright tell someone that they're annoying her or that their ideas are stupid

She's a huntress more to keep proving herself as the strongest rather than to actually help people

Now for her name. On the RWBY wiki it says that "Pyrrha Nikos's "first and last name together are a reference to a Pyrrhic victory, a tactical victory that comes at such extreme cost it is often seen as a strategic defeat" and that ""Pyrrha" is derived from the Greek adjective pyrrhos (πυρρός), which means "flame-colored". Nikos (Νίκος), meaning "victor of the people", is derived from Nike, the Greek Goddess of Victory." So perhaps something else since her hair color is different that "Flame-colored" now and is purple instead as well as a different last name as well to fit her more arrogant nature?

Now, "According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the word “purple” is derived from the Greek porphyra or porphyrous, a seldom used adjective describing “someone that has a purple color.”" and her last name could have to do with hubris, derived from the greek word hybris who was a spirit (daemon) of insolence, violence, and outrageous behavior. Also hubris basically means arrogance, which would fit this flipped version of pyrrha nicely

Here are three name ideas for her that I have from most favorite to least favorite:

Phyra Hybos

Porphyra Hybros

Porpyra Hybos

Super subtle, I know. Or maybe a different combination or alteration of these, but Phyra Hybos is honestly my favorite because it's similar enough and different enough to Pyrrha Nikos in my opinion. So that will be the name I work with for now unless enough people like something else.

Also, I imagine she'd still be interested in Jaune, but for different reasons than normal. Whereas Pyrrha starts paying attention to Jaune because she's like "oh wow he doesn't treat me like a superstar because he doesn't know who I am! Yay!", Phyra Hybos was more like “How the fuck does he not know who I am?!?!” and after having a small freak out do to that, she sets her mind on showing him just who and how amazing she is.

[misery-has-no-company-now]

Hola :3

Ya got any angsty Gov hc’s 👁️👁️ If so may we pls have some 🫴🫴🫴

**you don’t have to**

Hola! Do I ever not have angsty Gov hcs-

(Implied/referenced physical abuse, PA and VA are not nice in this, mild references to trauma and a strong dosage of insecurities)

He's ambidextrous because he was forced to be. He was originally left handed, but thanks to the way things were back when he came into existence, he wasn't allowed to use his left hand. Virginia would tie his left hand to the table or chair so that he wouldn't try to write with it. Gov learned quickly to stop that, though his handwriting was really shaky with his right. When Gov tried to eat with his left hand during one dinner, an already angry Penn took out his anger on him and broke his hand to get him to stop. Even now that the idea has eased out of existence, Gov is scared of doing anything with his left hand in front of Penn or Virginia.

Also, though his handwriting with his right used to be shakier earlier, that has changed and the trauma of being forced to not use his left means that his hand starts shaking terribly whenever he even holds a pen in that hand. He can type just fine with both hands on a computer though, since that he mostly learned himself with a bit of help from Mass, who wasn't really so damn stupid as to stop him from using his left hand. Now, the only hint that he's not naturally right-handed is that he struggles to write his 's', 'z' and 'e' s (since these are tough for because of the angle they're written in, or at least that's the case as far as I know)

He doesn't think he's worthy of anything unless he works. He thinks food is a treat given to those who work very hard so that they can continue to do the same and that sleep is a reward he is undeserving of because it is only for those who don't have as many responsibilities as he does [guess who told him these two things]. He thinks that he can only take a break if it is justified - which means when he has overworked himself to the point of falling sick. He never rests because it stresses him out more to try and relax than to just continue working, since he always feels like he has too much pending incomplete work to not stop doing it - he doesn't actually, those lazy people at the White House just keep pawning off their work to him and he doesn't even realise it. He goes days with only coffee and water since he feels that's all he should get since those are intended to help him work better anyway.

Also - his entire existence has been connected to a use, to a purpose for which he was created. As a result, he feels worthless and useless if he thinks he isn't fulfilling his purpose - which is to work for the people. He's also really scared all the time that if he doesn't reach the high expectations everyone else places on him all the time, he's going to get replaced and thrown away. He's really insecure about this so he keeps on trying to prove himself by striving to do better and better, and falling into a pit whenever he thinks he failed (which is a lot).

He has trauma from all the wars he's been in but doesn't realise it. Nor does anyone help him either. Neither does he ask for it, because he was never taught that it was okay to ask for help. Rather, he was told the very opposite. He gets scared and flinches at sudden loud sounds, and wakes up from nightmares in a cold sweat, but thinks those are completely normal stuff.

When you're born in a fire, you think the whole world is warm. But when you're born alone, you find the fire cold. (I make little to no sense here just ignore this) Gov was born in the middle of a war, and he was left alone to his own devices for most of the time; so fighting is all he knows how to do properly, and loneliness is his closest companion. He doesn't have any friends either; with everyone either seeing him as the people of the government who keep making terrible decisions (and so blaming him for it) or just as someone to use for their own benefits (something which has worsened his trust issues a lot too). But he doesn't think he needs any either, since that's not required for his work, and he's been taught by a less than good at being a parent Penn and Virginia that he shouldn't do anything other than carry out the role he was intended for.

He's also not used to getting anything without working for it. Florida got him a gift once and had meant it as a joke but Gov got so emotional over it and kept asking Flo why he'd gotten him something since he couldn't remember what he'd done to deserve it that Florida started feeling guilty (a rare moment) and just took him to Loui's home for some good food since that's the only way he knew how to comfort him. [He gave Gov a break for exactly 2.4 days]

Speaking of emotions, Gov doesn't know anything about then. He was never allowed to feel, or express his feelings either, and so he never learned anything but anger (directed at him from others) and fear (of others). All the emotions he has learned about over time, he hides behind a mask and a trained diplomatic voice. No one, not even the people who should be able to, can tell when something is wrong with Gov - especially since they all think that he's just always stressed, and any time he shows some other emotion is just a variant of this stress. (NY, NJ, Mass, and Utah eventually realise something is wrong, but that's a long and far way ahead in the future.)

Speaking of stress, that's all Gov knows truly. Stress, coffee, work, and headaches - the four constants of Gov's life, with the added touch of being yelled at by someone for something he isn't to blame for ever so occasionally enough to be daily. That and pain. It's all he's familiar with.

---

I've got many more, but I think this is enough for now so I'll stop here. Let me know if you'd like more though, I'm always willing to answer even if I don't do so until quite a while after you send the ask (but I love receiving them so feel free to send more asks). Btw I think this is the first time in a long while that you've asked me for headcannons without there being an ongoing conversation about these blorbos of us already, so that's there😂 /j. Sorry for the rather long wait to get this answer, but I hope you like it!

[tearlessrain]

Tagged by @dingoat (thanks!!)

3 ships

okay so this is going to be 100% ocs but right now

My Sith Warrior Kalarros and @darth-bagel's smuggler/crimelord Sylvas. look it's basically just canon at this point, I love these two, I love their relationship. it could be argued that it's not really romantic, they're both married to other people and have a few other relationships (all consensually to be clear, they're not having an affair they're both very poly). Sylvas's husband was actually the one who originally set them up for some bdsm shenanigans (because honestly the only reason Kalarros isn't a pro dom is it's never occurred to him to charge for it, and said husband is also a Sith who'd considered Kalarros a friend for years prior to that and trusted him to look after Sylvas and treat them well) and they clicked spectacularly and developed a strong bond over the years. At this point they're so entwined with each other's stories that I've pretty much abandoned my original canon for Kalarros because it's just vastly improved with Sylvas in it lol. they've stuck by each other through some rough times on both sides and consider each other much more than casual play partners by now.

Khatte and another of Bagel's ocs, their bounty hunter Liz. honestly these two are just a lot of fun and kind of happened by accident, we had minimal involvement in this they just decided to develop a mutual crush and now Khatte has firmly entered his femdom era. it honestly wouldn't have worked pre Alliance era, Liz has zero tolerance for his bullshit and Khatte is significantly better at keeping his bullshit in check with some legitimate therapy under his belt. It's fairly casual but probably one of the healthiest relationships he's ever had just because he knows she won't settle for less and he likes her enough to meet those standards. what can I say, Khatte's type is people who could kill him and Liz's type (at least when it comes to men) is "extremely competent but also kind of pathetic" so of course they saw each other and instantly had to fuck.

taking an abrupt turn from SWTOR into BG3, my Durge (or half of my Durge) Ryldimar and @elaphaemourra's Tav Dragonfly. listen I did not particularly even like Durge as a concept until these two happened. [SPOILERS REDACTED I FUCKED UP SOME PEOPLE I TAGGED HAVEN'T PLAYED DURGE YET]

First Ship

I'm honestly not sure? technically this might also be ocs, because I was writing original fiction before I ever got into fandom spaces and even then I've never really actively shipped canon characters from other media that much (I passively ship a lot of things but I don't get that invested yknow?). so it's probably Talon and Iadra, my gryphons from a fantasy thing I started writing in high school and have been continuously developing for the last fifteen years or so. Talon is actually half gryphon, in this world gryphons are shapeshifters and are capable of both assuming a humanoid form and interbreeding with that planet's closest human analog (and also humans, theoretically, though I'm unclear on whether any of them have gotten to earth and tested that, the worldbuilding kind of got away from me and it's a beautiful mess now). gryphons bond for life the way a lot of predatory birds do and these two are completely devoted to each other, and also they have the fun aesthetic element of Talon being about 1/3 Iadra's size when she's in gryphonic form (due to an Incident™, he lost one of his wings years ago and it caused him to be stuck between forms, so he mainly looks like a slightly feathery Guy with a singular wing. about what you'd expect of an oc I made in high school but I love him okay).

Last Song

uuuh the Ken Theriot cover of The Witch of the Westmereland I think.

Currently Reading

honestly I have not been doing a lot of reading lately (been meaning to get back to it but yknow) but I'm in the middle of The Black Gryphon by Mercedes Lackey

Last Film

OG Star Wars, couple days ago my internet went out and that was one of three movies I happen to have on my hard drive (take a wild guess what the other two are)

Currently Craving

Salmon chirashi. I literally always want any iteration of raw salmon combined with sushi rice. fortunately I'm refilling my meds in a few days (to be clear the meds are unrelated to my love of salmon, there just happens to be a really good sushi place within a block of my pharmacy so I get chirashi whenever I need to pick something up)

tagging (only if you want to!): @elvhenyoung, @elaphaemourra, @mercurypilgrim, @darkshadeless, @vampiraptor, @reucrion, @artpigeons, @chaoticspacefam

[helluvabinge]

I saw a post wondering why a super powerful Goetia and a Demonic Prince didn't just bust into Crimson's lair to bust out Fizz (and similarly, why Striker seeks to keep getting the drop on these royals) if they're as powerful as we have been led to believe.

To be fair, we have seen Stolas at least demonstrate some pretty impressive abilities (namely his abilities in Truth Seekers and the fact that he can turn demons/imps to stone just by looking at them). It's unclear how powerful Ozzie is (Crimson does call him the weakest of the 7 deadly sins), but certainly he seems more powerful than the average imp or demon. They should be able to take on pretty much any imp or group of imps and win very easily, so I'm going to need some pretty compelling reasons for why they don't do these things.

Luckily, we get those.

In Western Energy, we see Stolas transform into his more powerful form until Striker lassos him with a blessed rope that limits his demonic abilities. This could feel like a rather convenient and contrived plot point, if blessed weapons to weaken demonic royalty wasn't Striker's entire shtick right from the beginning. But because we got the assassination plot with the blessed gun in Striker's intro episode, it feels entirely plausible that he would have tracked down a weapon like this.

In the latest episode, we are reminded right from the start that kidnappings are a pretty normal thing in hell. This is not the first time we were made aware of this, of course. When Stolas takes Via to Looloo Land, he is very aware of the possibility of kidnapping. (we know it's kidnapping because the imps that actually succeed in swiping him don't try to kill him outright. They just throw a bag over his head and tie him up) Stolas demonstrates at the end of the episode that he was never really in danger of being kidnapped, but we all knew from the start that it was an incredibly contrived excuse to spend more time with Blitzo anyway.

So in this episode, it really doesn't come as a shock that Ozzie is worried about kidnappings. The detail about the city named Ransom just bolsters the idea of kidnappings being normal. It also reinforces the fact that these kidnappings are generally business transactions, especially in Greed. The point isn't to put the kidnapped person in danger. It's just to use them as a hostage to get some money.

Of course, being kidnapped still can't be the safest thing, so it makes sense that Ozzie wants to get him back quickly, but it also makes sense that he and Stolas treat it as a business transaction. Ozzie is worried and impatient, but still fully believes that Fizz will be returned if he just agrees to whatever contract Crimson is presenting.

Now Stolas is a little more cautious. As he tells Ozzie, a deal with a demon as powerful as Ozzie could be everlastingly binding (which has some intriguing implications for Stolas's deal with Blitzo, but that's another topic entirely). He wants to make sure that the contract is clear and fair, but he is also approaching this just like a simple business deal.

And while some people may wonder why Stolas isn't telling Ozzie how much danger Fizz may be in around Striker, I think you could just as easily argue that Stolas is opting to go the route of the contract precisely because he knows how dangerous Striker is. Stolas almost died last time he was in the same room as him. As powerful as Stolas is, if Striker has any blessed artifacts on him (as he frequently has in the past), that's a big risk for both demons. Meanwhile, if they can simply work out a contract for Fizz's return, they may have a much better chance of getting out of this with everyone unscathed. That calculation may have been different if he had known that Blitzo was there, but that was never actually revealed to him.

This show definitely has some plot holes, but I actually don't think Stolas's power level is one of them. They have taken great care to make sure that there is always good reason behind why Stolas doesn't use his powers to immediately get everyone out of any trouble they are in.

[wisegirlandseaweedbrainforever]

Everyone talks like you either believe in redemption or you don't when it comes to villain redemption critiques. But the the thing is as a Christian who believes in redemption for all, I still have a lot against the way villain redemption is treated these days, and it has a lot to do with how redemption is treated biblically vs how everyone likes this gray hero thing. And yeah, I know y'all are going to point out my love of anti-heroes, and we will get back to that. But basically, what I dislike is when we got this villain, they don't change how they act, they feel no remorse for their past actions, but "hey they're on our side now! so it's all good! :D" In christianity that is called a wolf in sheeps clothing, we are told not to even eat with such a one. We are evil wretched and poor yes, but redemption isn't an excuse to keep being evil, it is a call to "go and sin no more". So if your villain doesn't repent and at least try to live more like a hero than a villain, then I am not going to call that a redeemed villain, I am going to say our heroes have no back bone, and now question their morality, and their ability to fight for justice, because they have none within themselves. So now why do I like the anti-heroes and redeemed villains I do? So lets start with an anti-hero like Jason Todd, why he works is that his whole deal is about this exact conscept, he can not stand that certain individuals keep getting let back into the public because they "are bettering themselves" when they so obviously have not, there are "whole graveyards" of proof that they are not. The question is not about the righteousness of Jason's goal but in whether he is going too far in thinking the only way to remove these criminals is through death/manipulation. It's an important thing to ponder whether you can take justice too far, and judge that within yourself. A good anti-hero does that, raise questions on what is good and what is evil, and where we aught to draw the line, and where the line is already drawn, but maybe is taking things too far. Then we have redeemed villains, I going to use the over used and use Zuko as my redeemed villain. Where I feel people get his arc wrong is in saying that the show, showed him as "having goodness already inside him" when that isn't really accurate, what it does do, is start him out as already questioning good and evil, honorable and dishonorable. Yes we see parts of his childhood where he appears "innocent" but I feel that is a missreading of those scenes, where I would say that what we are seeing is him ruminating on both the justice and injustice he'd witnessed in his life and making or trying to make a decision about who is right in them. That is key to us coming round to him being a hero, that is him learning remorse. Then lastly is his actions in the last half of season three, from the moment he leaves the palace onward, everything he does is the opposite of what season one him would do, he trains the avatar so the fire nation can not have him, brings justice for the water tribe as best as he can, and lastly goes absolutely feral when he thinks that the gaang is just going to let the fire nation win/the Earth Kingdom be destroyed. He proves with his whole being season one him/villain him is dead, and the person he is now is someone completely different, he is redeemed. If you want me to be okay with your villain working with your heroes do that, truly redeem them, don't just make them sexy.

[moontheoretist]

Someone just told me I can't criticise Cullen's redemption arc for being too short and not addressing properly the issue with his hatred of the mages, because I need to take into account the context of the time period the medium was made... I'm sorry but did good and not cut in half redemption arcs that fully adress character's journey to become a better person were invented after 2014? Or am I missing something?

Rant below.

And they were literally responding to me saying that Cullen's arc was not fully done in DAI. Which is an obvious statement of an obvious fact that Cullen's arc is cut in half and that DAI is just a start of redemption journey. My critique was of people assuming that it was a full arc and game treating it as if it was a full arc when it simply wasn't. They keep insisting "they couldn't know due to the time period". Like WTF.

2011 - 2014 is not ancient times! Even if they didn't mean that and instead the historical period DAI is set in, it's a bullshit argument! DAI is not historical fiction! And even if it was, critique can be made still!

And told me to "appreciate media as a result of cultural attitudes of its time" which is such a white cis hetero privileged argument I swear. Oh, yes I should definitely appreciate all the media for their racism and sexism and excuse it because "they're just a product of its time" when the only thing it showcases is the bias of the author at worst and author's desire to explore fucked up things at best. No, thank you.

We knew how to write a full redemption arc in 2014 and even long before that! And when I kept repeating my point that the arc was too short and should be longer, that I'm not saying it out of hate but out of love, they literally tried to blame me for "twisting their words" so I can be right. I didn't twist shit. It was them who didn't want to say what they truly mean by what they said to "avoid spoilers" (as it was a convo under a video of someone who never played DAI) with their "context of the time period" point. Not to mention that this point doesn't apply in this situation. I didn't say that, but even if it was applying here it would NOT be an excuse to act as if what is happening in the game and what Cullen says to your mage in DAI was ok. It just reminded me about all those people who say "grandpa doesn't know better, it was different times when he was younger". Like the fuck, it's not an excuse, and it's stupid argument, because people knew bad stuff were bad regardless of the time period. Those that didn't were in the dark about it because they didn't want to engage with different narratives than the ones that suited them the most, and then when they aged they just kept those opinions and refused to budge, even when they were wrong both at the time of their youth and when they were older. Times change, but some stuff are always the same. People not being able to accept that criticism exists and isn't harmful or malicious is just one of them.

And it all started because I dared to say that Blackwall's redemption arc is better. I didn't say it because it's better written (i.e. it has more content inside the game rather than outside it) or was longer. I said it, because the ultimate goal of a redeption arc is to make the character become a better person and Blackwall when we meet him is already way on his way to become a better person. He didn't just start his arc. He worked his ass for years to be where he was during DAI. Meanwhile Cullen is just starting his arc or at the very least in the middle of it if we count from the moment he was traumatized. DAO was his traumatic experience. DA2 was him doubling down on his hatred to cope with his trauma, so at the end he could switch sides. DAI is when he finally properly starts his redemption journey and actively tries to become better. He stumbles and does bad shit during it because it's a start. But it's still not an excuse to what he says and tries to push for in DAI. It just means that his journey will be long and hard. Treating DAI as a full redemption arc is foolish and tells me more than I need to know.