#worst villain ever

[cardinalcyn]

otona precure rant post

spoilers for otona precure if you give a shit

but tbh i don't really care that much, you're better off not watching it

credit to sagiri asuka on pixiv for this cool art!

anyways uh. go under the cut for salt

bell from otona precure is the most terrible villain i've ever seen in a piece of media. ever. EVER ever. bar none, the worst.

i need to explain what i mean here. see, this isn't a rant about irredeemable "complete monster" type villains. i actually LOVE villains who are just horrible people for the sake of it— not all the time of course, but every so often there's a piece of shit so rancid that you just can't help grinning at the thought of the heroes taking them down. AM. william afton. ridley. pennywise. junko enoshima before DR3 ruined her

bell's not that.

tbh i think i probably would have liked her a lot more if she WERE meant to be irredeemable

the reason why she's so terrible is simple: her evil plan is complete nonsense. it's so brain-dead that if i travelled back to the 1920s to call her an idiot, just so that could actually mean something, it would still be an understatement.

if you've never seen otona precure, here's the story. there's some fuckass city with a bunch of ex-magical girls called precure who are all working ordinary adult jobs now (wasted potential but that's another rant). all of a sudden these weird Shadows start attacking people. now the magical girls have to figure out what the fuck's going on before these abominable CGI turds figure out how to move quickly enough to actually hurt something besides the viewer's eyeballs from beyond the fourth wall

bell is the "brains" behind the shadow attacks, and the one summoning them.

do you want to know why this woman is forcibly turning people into ugly shadow zombies?

because climate change.

no that's not a shitpost.

bell saw what happened to the city decades in the future because of climate change TRAVELLED BACK IN TIME TO THE PAST and instead of warning anyone maybe pulling a luigi or two

"here's how i'm gonna stop climate change," says the extraordinary time-travelling angel who can shapeshift and lives in her own personal pocket dimension. "i'm going to turn everyone in this city into shadow monsters so they stop polluting"

BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY, YOU CAN PREVENT THE SYSTEMATIC DESTRUCTION OF THE ENTIRE PLANET BY CASTING A SPELL ON ONE GODDAMN FUCKING CITY. THAT'LL SOLVE EVERYTHING! SOMEONE GET HER A FUCKING NOBEL PRIZE ALREADY!

as if this wasn't already the most colossally stupid thing in all of anime, bell somehow FAILS TO MENTION ANY OF THIS until there's only one episode left in the season, and spends the rest of the time acting like a generic moustache-twirling big bad evil guy and hiding behind cryptic riddles. SHE CAN READ MINDS. IT'S NOT HARD TO TELL THE MAGICAL GIRL WHO JUST TAUGHT HER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE ANIME ITSELF WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO PULL. instead she's like "i'm going to make you lose your will to fight me oooooooooo i'm so evil"

and when she's finally cornered, explains everything, and all the precures are understandably like "what the fuck??? why did you choose to go about this in the most convoluted stupid way possible", she decides the only way to make them realize how foolish and naive they are (holy projection, batman!) is by MAKING ALL THE SHADOW MONSTERS INTO A FUCKING KAIJU AND SICCING IT ON THEM. the kaiju proceeds to go completely berserk and vaporize everything in its path. like, the buildings just vanish into nothingness from one touch.

AND THEN.

WHEN A TEAM OF LIKE 12 MAGICAL GIRLS, PLUS THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP OR WHATEVER, IS FINALLY ENOUGH TO KILL THE KAIJU

BELL'S LIKE

"oh."

"shit"

"i guess i fucked up huh"

"okay i'm good now. im gonna go fuck off to my pocket dimension now"

YOU DO NOT GET TO HAVE A LAST-SECOND REDEMPTION ARC AFTER NEARLY BLOWING UP THE PLACE YOU WANTED TO PROTECT OUT OF SELF-RIGHTEOUS STUPIDITY. WHAT THE FUCK TOEI

oh yeah also there's a stinger scene after the entire rest of the show has wrapped up its dogshit excuse for a plot that pretty much implies the shadows are gonna be a permanent problem now.

congratulations, bell.

now they're gonna have to deal with climate change

AND the monsters you conjured from the depths of your nonexistent grey matter

AT THE SAME TIME.

tl;dr local "guardian angel" causes more problems by trying to solve them in the most stupid and short-sighted way imaginable

[anotherfanaccount]

I'm already pissed off today and I already saw in snippets what goes on in qot so not watching that until Friday.

Fuck you Eun seong. Wait till I get my hands on you. I've a lot of rage rn.

[sapphicgoblinblog]

And the worst villain ever written award goes to...

Gabriel (Hawkmoth) Agreste! He's also won the worst father award.

[dr-chibbers]

If I were a villain, it’d go something like this:

“If you won’t talk, miss, I’m afraid it’s…. THE EEL PIT!”

“No! Please, have mercy on me!”

(Imagines it’s a pit filled with lampreys and sharp toothed eels that’ll very slowly drain them and tear them limb from limb in horrible painful ways)

(Lowers them via chain into…. An ankle deep pool where little fish and some moderately sized eels come and nibble the dead skin off their feet and legs) (it tickles and they have a hard time keeping a straight face) “No, stop!!! Hahaha! This is… hahaha… actually kinda relaxing….”

“Will you talk NOW?”

“never! “

“To the rack, then! And heat…… THE STONES!”

“Please, have mercy on me!”

(They are placed on a device that indeed looks like a rack but with a large pressing element in the center) “now will you talk?!

“I’ll never betray my comrades!”

(The rack begins to stretch jussssstttt enough to pop some joints) “use… THE PRESS!”

(Press comes down and arch’s their back…. And crack their back into alignment) “Now… the HOT STONES!” (Many large and small smooth rocks that have been heated to about 110 degrees are placed on their back and allowed to do their thing) “Will you talk NOW?!”

The captive remains defiant “You can stab me with needles and lay curses upon me!” (Snaps fingers) “Very well… I’ve tried to be reasonable…. Ready the NEEDLE MAIDEN! “No No Wait… I’m reconsidering!” “Too late..” (binds them further and then into a human shaped sarcophagus and slowly closes the lid) (Light screaming is heard followed by an “oh❤️” ) “those needs are placed in SUCH A WAY THAT YOU’Ll never bleed out!”

“And now… my final torture before I send you back as EXAMPLE TO YOUR REBELLIOUS FRIENDS! …. A Curse!” (Blue Mystical Energy surrounds the person and goes into their body) “I curse you… WITH EXCELLENT HEALTH! You’ll never know the pain of chronic illness or acute illness! And you’ll almost inevitably live TO A RIPE OLD AGE!!”

“person still in the afterglow of the “Needle Maiden”) (weakly) “you monster…. I’m going to gather my companions and we’ll show you how we deal with fiends like you…”

“And lastly, I’m sending you off with this promise.. continue to rebel against my ruler ship and I’ll only make things even more Cruel and Unusual!”

(The Rebel flees into the woods. They’ll never forget what they endured at the hands of the evil Emperor Massuse)

[kakushino]

I saw a reel that reminded me of that motherfucker Shou Tucker and I am filled with rage and hatred yet again

[demaparbat-hp]

No war au: first time meeting each other at a diplomatic event. zuko, crown prince of the fire nation kisses the hand of katara chief of the southern water tribe.

Beyond diplomacy.

[wynntermelon]

like what's up binghe !! 🕷️

svsss spiderverse au. because I can

[smolthealmighty]

[mr-malumm]

NASTY SNAKE MAN FOR MY BESTIES DTIYS ON INSTA!!!!!

[thesustainedworldatransverse]

10 years and 430 chapters of MHA in summary:

The "Villains" (actually victims of abuse, neglect, and discrimination): We should improve society somewhat.

The "Heroes": No, all of you need to die so we can preserve the status quo.

[yupuffin]

I think the aspect of the 2.7 story that felt most impactful to me was something that was previously addressed in the Penacony main story, but was reemphasized and expanded upon with Sunday being the narrative focus of this update:

Sunday is scared.

His motivation to protect the people and things important to him -- Robin is an excellent example -- manifests as a desire for control, to eliminate potential dangers. This motivation is based in fear; he's afraid to lose what he has to factors beyond his control, like the bullet that nearly took his sister's life.

And part of the "true paradise" he longs for involves preventing the sense of powerlessness that accompanies that fear. He believes that humanity sleeps because "we are afraid to awaken from our dreams." Indeed, the appeal of the "sweet dream" of Penacony is freedom from the uncontrollable and inevitable tragedies of the waking world.

It's part of what made him such an effective villain in the Penacony arc; even though you may disagree vehemently with his actions, you can understand with and sympathize the rationale behind them. In his mind, absolute control over the Dreamscape -- the elimination of frightening unknowns -- is the most effective way to keep everyone safe and happy. However, this undermines the real freedom and autonomy of the affected populace, many of whom are unaware of the Dreamscape's true nature.

In the 2.7 update, Sunday is "nerfed after turning into a good guy," to use March's words. Previously, he enjoyed immense social status as the head of the Oak Family -- and as the imposing, invulnerable, "final boss"-style antagonist. Now, his role is effectively reversed; he's a fugitive who has to disguise himself to evade the potential consequences of simply being seen.

He's an incredibly vulnerable position.

Not just physically -- as the audience, we also get intimate insights into his feelings and thought processes. Now he recognizes the scope of the harm he was previously willing to cause in the name of absolute control, and shoulders the responsibility of dealing with the repercussions.

His newly evident guilt and shame is emotionally moving on its own...

...and becomes even more poignant when you realize that guilt and shame and vulnerability has been a crucial aspect of his character from the very beginning. After all, so much of his deep-seated fear of the unknown stemmed from him blaming himself -- his lack of control over the situation -- for Robin's unforeseen injury.

I found the scene at the Dream's Edge the most touching in this update. Sunday's conversation with Robin is a bit of a paradox: he is deeply sincere and vulnerable in speaking to his own sister, yet guarded because he must avoid revealing his true identity. And Robin, in turn, directly provides an alternate outlook on Sunday's character, describing him as though to someone who's never met him, as though he isn't there.

And Robin's perspective reaffirms that Sunday's apparent invulnerability was essentially a facade. He may have been the head of the Oak Family, and the imposing final boss, but at the same time, on the inside, he was continually paralyzed by fear.

Sunday has always been vulnerable. He has always been scared.

And I think what makes the conclusion to the 2.7 story so satisfying and triumphant is that Sunday begins to properly address his fear, his persistent guilt and shame. He moves beyond simply acknowledging it, and recognizes not just how indulging his fear can bring further harm, but also what good things (that otherwise wouldn't occur) can happen when he overcomes it -- as it were, when he doesn't let his fear control him.

I'm going to be real, I probably had an intelligent-sounding conclusion for this, but... it took me several weeks to write this and I've forgotten any idea i might have had previously, so let's just say he definitely hit me right in the feels. 🤣

[the-way-astray]

well, sorry fitz *checks notes* exists, alvar. i hadn't realized that the world revolves around you and your wishes

[skyblueartt]

I CANT STOP DRAWING WILLIAM AFTONNNN. Freak guy

[onionninjasstuff]

[lcatala]

the three types of sci-fi: Blindsight: wouldn't it be fucked up if the universe had no meaning? Children of Time: wouldn't it be cool if the universe had no meaning and we get to find our own? Exordia: wouldn't it be fucked up if the universe had meaning?

[baalzebufo]

actually, posting the little commentary clip where alex talks about gideons origins because I want it on my blog haha