#who didn't get a whole alternate universe for him to fix and become a magical revolutionary to fight an enemy who already died in this unive

[lord-squiggletits]

I know I’ve posted about this before but like I actually don’t think that Megatron’s actions in the Functionist Universe make him a hero at all, at least not from a meta perspective. Because all he did was go to an alternate universe and get a free do-over card where he got to live out his fantasy of doing a revolution “properly” and even become a medic like he always wanted to. The only person he lost that was actually from this universe was Terminus-- the other Impactor and Orion were just that, alternate universe versions that Megatron had no real connection to besides “they’re alternate universe versions of guys I was friends/complicated rivals with.” The problem he solved came from a DIFFERENT UNIVERSE ENTIRELY and did nothing to make up anything from his own universe that he actually fucked up and wronged the people in.

If the Functionist Universe didn’t exist (and it only existed due to one guy fucking around with time travel) then Megatron’s actions as a “good guy” would have literally just been killing the DJD, and even that is SUPER lukewarm because 1. Megatron’s hesitation to do battle directly endangered the rest of the crew (people he was responsible for) and 2. He literally made the DJD and then discarded them (especially Tarn) like trash, like they were just rabid dogs he had forgotten to put down until they came threatening his soul-searching journey and his crew.

[misdemeanors-are-stolen]

all excellent points <3

i want to also shoutout the OS theme song because it is so so sick, as a song with such a unique and recognizable sound to it that just sticks in ur brain but ur not mad about it cause it's GOOD

and then all the things they came up with to toss in to the mythos? they didn't just throw spaghetti at the wall, they made a business out of painting walls with spaghetti

not just aliens but magic is real, and ben's cousin can do it if she studies enough. however, werewolves are fake and actually aliens the whole time. crocodile mutants on earth exist and get to enter local wrestling tournaments; ben went in as four arms and nobody questioned him they just let him participate. (cont.)

the fountain of youth is real and this one guy's been living off it to keep it secret for years except he also uses it as a dunk tank. mount rushmore is actually a secret base for the branch of the government that knows about aliens. there is a substance in some galaxy that, when exposed to earth creatures, turns them into horrible monsters that lack all sense of self (this part scared me so bad as a kid i never watched through it all so i have no clue what happened to fix it). the government alien branch is named the 'plumbers' and they flush prisoners and bad aliens into an alternate dimension where everything is red, the entire space is breathable, and feral versions of one of the aliens ben can become lives there. there is also an independent organization against aliens and they all dress as knights and have knight-themed gear and do dealings with minor conspiracy theorists who report they have a frog alien in a jar in their house. some guy has a giant thumbnail growing out of his skull, he is friends with a woman whose hair is prehensile and a guy who can breathe acid that melts cars, and they make their living off circus shows with a guy who can drain people's good spirits; none of these people are directly implied to be aliens or anything, they're just like that. you see a future where slacker-off goofball ben becomes a high-strung world superhero akin to superman who gives himself no time to take breaks or relax or see his family. santa claus is real, as are his elves, and they live in a random magical christmas village in the middle of the desert until ben turns all the elves back into people and three of them are konohamaru and his friends from naruto. part of ben's family tree is an entirely different type of alien than his grandfather got it on with, and they are made of living mud. one of ben's aliens is somehow capable of transforming an entire living human into computer code inside of a video game, inside which all the characters are alive and have their own thoughts and insights, and inside which ben and gwen have sick new designs. every time ben transforms he goes through some sort of body horror within the span of half a second or less that nobody except the viewer ever sees, except that one time he thought he was turning into a werewolf. some random little league baseball manager out there made a whole team of realistic androids to play against real kids, and they have the arm strength to throw baseballs that can go through steel, and nobody bats an eye at this, nor does this advanced technology show up in day-to-day life. ben goes on a road trip across america in the weirdest zigzaggy order ever and somehow manages to encounter multiple of his villains cast multiple times, without either of them really trying to catch up to the other. by the way the omnitrix can accidentally explode the whole entire universe if it stays in self-destruct mode long enough, and easily the whole galaxy or mere planet earth, and ben accidentally turned it on at 10 years old and thought his cousin died to plant aliens. his great-aunt's retirement complex got slowly picked off and replaced with shapeshifting aliens who hiss and recoil from water in 100º+ weather and nobody caught it until ben got there. ben still daydreams about being a superhero called 'ultra ben' that is his own self with a visor and supersuit, after finding the omnitrix and getting to be a real superhero. in one episode cthulhu darth vader (vilgax) contacts ben in a dream, and we have no clue how or why this happened. some random weatherman invented an AI robot to predict the weather that became capable of mutating and gaining powers to control water and weather. the very last episode in the series proper is a what-if that doesn't really happen by the end of the episode.

The wildest thing about Ben 10 is that it took until 2005 for someone to have the idea "what if a kid could turn into a bunch of aliens" like this isn't obviously the coolest and most marketable premise for anything ever. Each design is a new toy. A new powerset. Come on.

But to prove that it wasn't a fluke, they continued to have the best ideas for every aspect of it. How does he transform? A cool watch you can also sell as a toy. That watch's name? Omnitrix. Say it. It's so satisfying. How many aliens? Ten. Nice round number. The kid's name? Ben. The show's name? Ben Ten. His full name is Benjamin Tennyson, a normal, plausible name, but he also turns into 10 aliens.

Bigger brands dream about this synergy. Better writers would kill for this coherence. So holistic. So intuitive. The identity alone!!! The retro alien sound motif? Chilling. The green? Any other color would be wrong. The kirby krackle pattern? It seems so obvious in retrospect. The roadtrip format? Genius. Lesser writers would've done the spider-man high school thing. His arch nemesis being Cthulhu darth vader? Inspired, iconic, intimidating!

The execution has its highs and lows, but the idea??? Game changing. So self-evident that it seems inevitable. If Ben 10 didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent him.

[avenger-hawk]

Everytime I see fans calling Itachi a horrible person, I roll my eyes because they still don't get he was FORCED to do what he did. If he didn't kill the Uchihas, then Danzo would have killed them all anyways without letting Sasuke live.

Same.

Anyway I replied to similar asks here, here, here,  here, here, here, here, here and this is my Itachi defense tag because no one talks ill about niisan.

(pro-Itachi, anti-Konoha, anti-antiitachis, anti-ending, anti-Naruto as a character, anti-new stuff under the cut. same for the links. some are even anti-SNS and they’re ALL anti-SS and anti-kids)

I mean, of course your average tumblr know it all fan knows better, because they’re narrow-minded woke enough to apply 100% real life ethics and politics with bonus tumblr self-care and positivity crap to the story, of course they would have solved a problem that not even in-universe diplomacy could solve, they’re like those self-insert fics where bffs Alex and Keyla magically end up in Naruto world, only in this case they’re much better than that so they’d bring a team of lawyers, a bunch of psychologists, and probably a high school and a club (because why not) so everything can be exactly like real life, becase it’s impossible to imagine anything different and to hell the fact that as sad as it is, some tragedies are needed for the plot, and to make a characters’ personality special and endearing and amazing. Let’s face it, if bffs Sandra and Kat say Itachi is a horrible person, it must be true because they know better, all hail tumblr fans who know everything (except for narratology. but at least they’re not horrible persons).

It’s much better to fix the world’s flaws in the end, showing an improvement from injustice, than showing a world where everything is “healthy” and functioning, because that -shocking news- would be a world where nothing develops and everything is stale and boring kinda like some fans’, that’s why they have these brilliant solutions. If there is only light it’s nothing special and no one will appreciate it. When there’s shadows instead, you’re going to appreciate the light, and not just that, but also the contrasts, and light/shadow playing and mixing with each other.

I don’t go around searching for these people’s opinions as long as they stay in their lane, but it’s pretty obvious that I have a very negative opinion of theirs. They don’t realize that Itachi didn’t do it for Konoha, he did it for Sasuke. He sacrificed his whole clan for his brother’s life. He was well aware of Konoha’s dark sides and flaws but he let his brother live there so that he’d have a stable life, comrades, teammates, teachers, a life as close to normal as he could ever have, considering the circumstances and the tragedy he forced Sasuke to live.

Which, in his mind, no matter how terrible and traumatic and tragic, were still better than being dead, and his way of thinking, was a consequence of his witnessing war at 4, of being a shinobi since his childhood, a tool for the clan and the village. A shinobi, a soldier, to the core.

When Sasuke was born it was as if Itachi’s whole grim world brightened. Sasuke was everything to him, so it’s not strange that he went to such extreme lenghts for him, not even trying to fight back Danzo, or warning the clan or anything. He relied on Shisui to change the clan’s mind but it didn’t work, it’s said diplomacy didn’t work either, and then Danzo made him choose between saving Sasuke and losing him with everyone else. He knew instantly who was more important. Sasuke, always Sasuke. 

Even though he’d be traumatized and scarred for life he’d be alive.

Even though he’d be consumed by hate he’d be alive.

Itachi wasn’t a Konoha dog, a fascist or whatever. Even though he respected Hiruzen which is something everyone did, unfortunately. He had an absolute, singular vision of what should happen, complete with alternative plans and solutions, and he didn’t sway from that because in his mind it was the best course of action. He was a genius and he hated to lose, so he thought he knew better than others, since he was several steps ahead of everyone, yet he made a mistake: he underestimated Sasuke’s feelings for him. 

He assumed that Sasuke would compartmentalize his hate for him and otherwise lead a normal life in Konoha, then he thought that he would kill him and return to Konoha, not realizing that Sasuke lost his will to live after his death, since his whole life revolved around that moment. Itachi also tried to keep him away from Tobi/Obito, and to use Kotomatsukami to brainwash him into returning to the village, thinking that if Sasuke got to know the truth he’d have done something about it. But stil he didn’t realize the extent of Sasuke’s feelings for him.

So in my opinion Itachi’s actions are first and foremost to let Sasuke stay alive, a proof of the extreme lenghts he’d go for him, sacrificing his people, sacrificing even Sasuke’s mental stability, so that he’d be alive, and one of the aspects that make his character so complex, so controversial and so fascinating.

Also, it’s ironic that they’re all against Itachi wanting to brainwash Sasuke into becoming loyal to the village despite knowing its dark sides, but when Konoha manipulates him, starting from N*ruto’s tnJ then his discarding him, then the whole guilt tripping process then the inprisonment and its isolation (for those who consider that episode canon) then the isolation of a long journey, which result into Sasuke being completely brainwashed, apathetic and detached, they’re all like “how selfless N*ruto letting him go on a journey, so caring” and then they’re like “it’s not Sasuke that’s OOC” not applying concepts like brainwashing and manipulation and blaming any character for that, only blaming kishimoto’s writing, unlike in Itachi’s case.