#after he clearly showed his potential with the previous murders

[kikizoshi]

I feel like guns should be banned from BSD. We already have cool Abilities and plots. To dilute them with guns is just criminal.

#bsd #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #not even Nikolai gets a free pass with this #I'm still insulted by his lack of creativity in the Atsushi fight #after he clearly showed his potential with the previous murders #and the prison... the prison guns speak for themselves #just absolutely abysmal

[arceespinkgun]

Slowly getting deeper into my reread of MTMTE and man, issue #34 feels like the worst. Not the most incomprehensible or with the most poorly-written dialogue or whatever, but from a thematic standpoint I feel like what it was trying to convey is the most disgusting out of the issues so far. I do remember people being pissed about the character death in this issue, but I feel like it's a lot worse than that, and that it's so bad it ought to be dissected. Rant below the cut:

Okay, so there is some of the usual dumb bullshit and writing oversights that I keep seeing, like how did nobody notice Vos was missing his face until they found it on the floor? Why did First Aid just let Trailcutter start to donate all that energon when he's just said it was a huge risk and that it was a bad idea? Sure, it's Trailcutter's choice, but he didn't even say anything? Was there really a possibility that Rung would sign-off on what's essentially a lobotomy? That seems OOC based on how he's been characterized so far. That message in the flashback over the intercom—does JRo think people say the quiet part out loud to that blatant a degree? And how contrived was it that nobody noticed the electric chair in that pile of stuff and that Kaon just happened to be there to kill Trailcutter?

But all of those are minor issues that pale in comparison to the overall themes here. Trailcutter is demonstrating a belief in the sanctity of life by putting himself at risk to save Vos. This is something I feel like is sorely lacking among the Autobot faction in this continuity and JRo's work especially—a break from horrific war crimes and shit is a relief. Then Trailcutter gets immediately punished for it in a horrifically gruesome way, getting his "brain" and "spinal column" ripped out. Already, I don't like what that's implying from a narrative standpoint.

Then in flashbacks, we see a young Megatron talking to Terminus and then nearly being lobotomized, escaping due to a technicality. I hate this. First of all, JRo tries to sell us on Megatron being sympathetic by suggesting that he was 100% pacifistic and it was Terminus who told him there's only room for one guy at the top and to use his fists and all that. This is stupid for many reasons, not the least of which that this is totally pulled out of JRo's ass and doesn't fit with any previous portrayal of the character, but also, it's a cheap trick and stupid because violent revolution against an oppressive system is not something inherently unsympathetic.

More importantly, though, I hate that these flashbacks are here at all. What JRo is clearly doing is trying to deflect a potential reader response of, "Holy shit, the people who are essentially the Decepticon police force that Megatron personally trained just killed a nice, innocent guy! He needs to answer for this!" by showing us how much trauma Megatron went through in his past. Even aside from the fact that I don't personally care what trauma a guy who committed genocide and ran prison camps etc. experienced in his past, it's not relevant to the horrible thing that happened to Trailcutter in the present!

Even worse, JRo pulled this only like... a few issues after Megatron messed with Trailcutter's mind without his consent and it was portrayed as a joke! It was portrayed as both a joke and a favor because Trailcutter was an alcoholic! Trailcutter even pointed out that he had "rights" in that moment and Megatron explicitly ignored him... as did a huge number of witnesses! So with that context, choosing the issue in which Trailcutter is brutally murdered by the DJD to show Megatron's mind being altered as a traumatic, serious, life-altering event is so fucking gross.

Inconsistent characterization (of which Megatron in this series seems especially affected by, as do Cyclonus and Rodimus so far) also doesn't help, since again, just a couple of issues ago Megatron both said he "trained" the DJD to be "thorough" and that they are "the greatest monsters" of all. It's like JRo can't decide how accountable Megatron is for anything, or just picks an interpretation scene-by-scene based on whatever he wants him to say.

I feel like it's especially bad from an extrinsic perspective, since Megatron is one of the franchise's most prominent characters. In no way was he lacking in any sort of exposure. But you know who is underappreciated? Trailbreaker, a funny, sweet guy with a really cool ability, whose original bio seems to position him as a self-conscious disabled person. He was on the Ark and yet gets almost no attention. And not only did this series really do his design dirty (they took away his dark face and cute stripes!) but it also did this to him?!

Because I read this series back when it came out, I remember that Megatron eventually uses Trailcutter's forcefield ability against the DJD in a later issue. In another context, that might be nice poetic justice. But instead, I feel like it comes across as disrespectful to the guy's memory and like literally stealing from him and using him because of everything I've pointed out. Worse, it became yet another way to make Megatron look "cooler" because I remember that other characters pointed out that you can't just use someone else's power like that, and Ravage is like, well it's because Megatron's just so special, if anybody could figure out a way it would be him. Terrible.

#JRo's work has such horrid messaging and I feel like on Tumblr especially it's often looked at uncritically #Or like... critically but just barely like about only minor things #but it shouldn't just be left unaddressed when it was this egregious a lot of the time! #transformers idw #Trailcutter #Trailbreaker #Megatron #my analysis #negative

[backupblogforjg]

Willow Is Fearless

Since I can never shut up about the characters I love ever, I decided to write another meta. A shorter one this time! ^^”

Ok, so, disclaimer: I’m a Winter shipper. I think they make a beautiful couple, for reasons I’m not going to list here or else we can take the “shorter” word in the previous paragraph and set it on fire.

HOWEVER, this particular meta could be taken as platonic if you so wish, because the point is not necessarily that Hunter and Willow work well as a couple, but that they work well together period. So even if you personally prefer to see them as platonic friends, keep reading anyway.

I tagged it “Huntlow” to come clean about potential biases, but this is a meta about Willow’s character first and foremost, and it works even if you headcanon her as ace.

So. 

A common argument I’ve been seeing a lot on multiple sites is that Hunter and Willow shouldn’t get along so well because Hunter made Willow cry.

The argument goes that Hunter terrorised Willow, made her fear for her life and her freedom, and that’s why she cried.

My counter-argument is that Willow was not scared for her life or her freedom, but instead she was crying out of concern for Hunter.

Here is my evidence.

1) This is Willow while Darius, one of the most powerful agents of Emperor Belos, is threatening her with a scythe.

Note the lack of tears. Note the “fuck you!” expression on her face. Not a trace of fear in her entire being. She thinks Darius is two seconds away from chopping her head off, and she looks nothing but defiant.

2) This is Willow when she gets her palisman.

If Willow has one fear, that fear is to be unable to protect the people she loves.

3) And this is how the scene in ASIAS goes.

Willow only starts crying AFTER Hunter tells her to go.

Not when Hunter reveals his real identity, not when he arrests her, not while she is in prison, not while she is being carried away by Darius, not while Darius is holding a blade over her head, and not while Hunter is in front of her talking to Darius. NO, she only starts crying when Hunter asks her to abandon him.

Willow is the Team Captain. It’s her responsibility to keep her teammates safe. But in this particular situation, she is stuck with a Sophie’s Choice:

#1 Leave, to protect Gus and Viney and Skara, thus abandoning Hunter.

Even though he is the Golden Guard, people in the Covens have already tried murdering him, and Willow knows that because Luz told her of their adventure in Hunting Palismen. 

So Willow has little reason to believe that Darius won’t seriously injure Hunter after she leaves, and possibly even kill him, like Kikimora tried to.

#2 Stay, to protect Hunter, thus endangering Gus and Viney and Skara.

Even though Willow’s “it will be 52 weeks before Caleb’s next day off” clearly shows that she has forgiven him and still thinks of him as a teammate (probably because he has just volunteered to take a scythe to the face to protect her and hers), it’s still the safety of three kids (including a preteen) she has known for a long time versus the safety of a kid she has met today.

Add in the fact that Hunter himself is begging her to go... well. The choice is clear. She has to go. Even if leaving Hunter to face a Coven Head alone could result in him getting badly hurt or killed, she has to go.

THAT’S why she is crying.

#toh #the owl house #toh hunter #golden guard #toh willow #willow park #toh darius #huntlow

[ctheathy]

hello, here my question, what to you think that there's something about knuckles. Do you think it has something to do whit secret history tails?

It is very suspichious

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I would certainly say so!! Not only has there already been confirmed by Mashed themselves that TSAK is connected to TSAA in one way or another, directly validating the idea of the series adding on and looking further into SH Tails’ plan. But evidence has been hinting torwards the exact same thing in the episodes aswell.

It’s the exact same thing, the only thing keeping the two apart being the specific character we’re focusing on here. SH Tails is a very calculating character; it is very much obvious by now he is clearly targeting the counterparts of the team who are at their lowest, making them vulnerable and the easiest to manipulate, and it really shows.

I have already given my personal thoughts on the idea of Tails in TSAK being SH Tails right here. And while my opinion on it still hasn’t changed, I’m definitely open to elaborating a little further on information this time. Keep reading if desired.

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Right off the bat;

I won’t lie, it is very much possible this Miles is really just yet another cover-up for Secret History Tails’ identity theft. He’s clearly done it more than once before and I would vouch for the idea that he’d definitely do so again, with ease nonetheless. But while I’ve once again seen many talk about the proposition of SH Tails having been Masquerading as this counterpart of Miles just like he had done with the one back from TSAA, there’s someone who many are forgetting about if we’re truly down for taking this direct path; Amy.

I doubt she’d let herself be left behind in the multiverse during SH Tails’ absence. Considering the poor state she is in and the amount of time it could take staying in character while observing the current timeline, he’d have to take her with him. But then again, looking at the circumstances of this dimension, with having zero hiding spot opportunities and potential danger lingering at every corner, she’d technically have nowhere to stay at. And it’s important to take note of her having too many physical deformities due to SH Tails’ surgery and holding no shapeshifting techniques like he does whatsoever, it would be close to impossible for her to be playing the role of the other Amy that appeared in TSAK. The amount of medium awareness she’d hold honestly seeming impractical aswell. Though, I mainly believe her to be far too inexperienced and incapable in the manipulation category already.

This is why unlike popular debate and what I believe a lot of people have lacked theorising about; I never even believed the events to take place after TSAA to begin with.

Going back to SH Tails, to think his catchphrase got used again so suddenly and bringing suspicion to the audience surely isn’t a coincidence, but I believe this might all be intentional. It’s connected for sure, but Mashed’s plans on this can possibly not be this simple. Instead, taking a more complex turn; what if the specific sentence had belonged to the original Miles Prower of that universe? [Very much implying that SH Tails is really just an uncreative fu-] It would only be obvious that SH Tails would copy both habits and wording mannerisms of previous Miles’ whom he murdered and replaced in order to impersonate any other of his counterparts better during future occurrences. Which would make perfect sense with the idea that the entire concept of There’s Something About Knuckles is actually a failed mission on SH Tails’ part.

Think about it, other than a few questionable sentences slipping from his mouth, we haven’t seen any direct ill intend from the Tails of TSAK. And his supposedly suspicious choice of wording can easily be explained by living in a literal warzone. He’s paranoid and stressed, individuals do not tend to think clearly when being in such positions, much less about the things they might say that coincidentally may sound sceptical. I know very well this opinion is arguable and easily regrettable aswell, but I feel like as if we’re associating this new Tails with the Secret History one far too rapidly. Especially when twisting his words and the purposes he may have behind his point of view as manipulation. He seems to care deeply about his people and their safeties, and the little scraps left of Sonic just so happens to threaten that piece of him.

This isn’t about him wanting Sonic dead and frame Knuckles for the said plan, it’s about him trying to keep out a fatal and dangerous creation.

Though I understand this theory might pale in comparison to the evidence we’ve gained so far, it is still one that oftentimes lingers in the back of my head, making me wonder if such opportunities remain possible in its entirety. But whatever the storyline ends up being like, it’s important to keep in mind that SH Tails is close by for sure. And we should all be prepared for his reappearance when that time finally comes.

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#the guide’s gabbling #there's something about knuckles #secret history tails #tsak tails #tsak theory #source? trust me bro #ctheathy answers

[coochiequeens]

Ireland …. The had no trouble telling men from women when they allowed the Magdalene Laundries.

An extremely violent Irish inmate who was sentenced after threatening to rape, torture, and murder his own mother has been threatening to rape female officers at the women’s prison he is being housed at.

Barbie Kardashian, 21, born Alejandro Gentile, is considered an extreme risk to public safety. He is serving a 5 and a half year prison sentence for threats he made to brutally attack and murder his own mother. The sentence was handed down he was found guilty of the chargesagainst him during a trial in May of 2022.

Following his sentencing, Kardashian was moved to the women’s unit of Limerick Prison in accordance with his “female” gender identity, prompting prison officials to express concerns about the risk to staff he posed. But less than two weeks after administrators began looking into moving him out of the unit and into an isolated alternative arrangement, Kardashian has targeted female staff.

According to Sunday World, Kardashian threatened to rape members of the prison’s female staff this week after being asked to clean up the area where he had taken a shower.

Male officers had to intervene in order to return Kardashian to his cell where he is being kept isolated from women inmates.

He is now subject to a P19, the prison’s system disciplinary procedure, and may lose certain privileges as a result.

While Kardashian is currently in the women’s wing, he has remained segregated from the general population due to his extremely violent history, including his tendency to target women. While it is unknown where Kardashian will be moved in the coming weeks as prison officials continue to explore their options, it is believed he will have to be held alone as he is not permitted to mix with other inmates.

Kardashian has a long and disturbing history with 15 previous convictions for violent offenses.

During his sentencing on March 16 at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court, Ireland’s National Police told the court that they have “grave concerns” about Kardashian’s potential for violence, and in particular his “motivation to carry out the threats” that he has frequently made against women.

Detective Garda Niall Fitzgerald testified that law enforcement believe Kardashian continues to “pose a significant threat to those she has made threats towards, as well as to the wider public.”

In 2020, the same year that he was granted a gender recognition certificate by the Department of Social Protection, legally documenting him as “female,” Kardashian made multiple threats against his mother. During court proceedings, Gardaí were told how Kardashian had said: “If I got into [my mother’s] house I would run towards her and put the knife into her body; I would want to prolong my mum’s suffering for as long as possible… I would stab her, but not in her heart or neck, I’d want to put her through lots of torture, fear and humiliation.”

At the trial, former Deputy Social Care Manager from Coovagh House gave evidence outlining how, on multiple occasions in 2020, Kardashian had expressed a desire to rape and murder his mother.

“[He] clearly expressed [he] wanted to track her down, identify where she lived and kill her – to murder and rape her,” the witness stated, continuing that on a separate occasion, Kardashian “expressed a clear desire to rape and mutilate [his] mother’s genitals.”

The witness also noted: “It was a clear desire to murder [his] mother, [he] had a plan to do so and was frustrated that [he] no longer knew where [his] mother lives.”

As previously reported by Reduxx, Kardashian has previously been convicted of a plethora of crimes including sexual assault, physical assault, and threats to kill. Several top justice officials, including Detective Garda Niall Fitzgerald of the Roxboro Garda Station and the Gardaí, have concluded that Kardashian is a serious danger to the public.

Kardashian has a lengthy history of being in the justice and social care systems, starting from an early age.

As a child, Kardashian was the victim of sustained abuse at the hands of his father, who also directed depraved abuses at his mother. His father had prevented his mother from breastfeeding or holding him when he cried, and physically and emotionally abused him throughout childhood.

Eventually, the sick man recruited his son to join in on the abuse of his mother.

At age 8, his mother fled with him to a safe house, but Kardashian was already extremely violent and directed much of the abuse towards her. Just two years later, Kardashian was taken into special care after carrying out a brutal attack against his mother. The woman was forced to move to another part of the country as Kardashian continued to express an urge to rape and murder her, including detailed plots of how he’d torture her.

While in care, Kardashian displayed “sexualized” and violent behavior towards female staff.

According to court documents from 2018, at 13 years of age, Kardashian attacked the female driver who had been transporting him from court after appearing on a bench warrant. Without warning, Kardashian grabbed the woman from the backseat, tearing off her eyelids and ripping out clumps of her hair. He later expressed disappointment that he hadn’t been able to murder the woman outright.

In 2019, Kardashian failed to appeal the special care order, but was released in 2020 after turning 18 and aging out of the secure care unit for children he had been held in since he was 10.

At the time, Gardaí issued a nationwide alert to members of the public regarding a “homicidal teenage girl” who was scheduled to re-enter the community, failing to mention Kardashian had changed his legal gender marker just weeks before he was set to be released and was not a biological female.

Even though police were attempting to warn the public of Kardashian’s release, news outlets were prohibited from providing any clarifying details on Kardashian’s identity, and platforms reporting accurate details on his appearance, sex, and history were censored. Gript Magazine, an independent Irish outlet, was forced to remove an article describing Kardashian as male.

Kardashian is currently on a waiting list to be assessed for “gender affirming” treatments.

Ireland’s Eurovision act announced today that they have cut ties with their creative director after screenshots began to circulate showing that he had made a number of critical comments about transgender people and Ukraine. Wild Youth’s song “We Are One” is set to be Ireland’s entry into the upcoming Eurovision 2023 contest.

On Twitter, the group wrote: “Wild Youth is a band that stands for unity and kindness. Our song represents our beliefs as a band. We have cut all ties with Ian bantam and will not have him on or near our team or Eurovision Journey.” 

The group also apologized to those offended by Banham’s remarks on social media, adding that they were “horrified.” Lead singer Conor O’Donohoe commented that he “felt sick” when he saw Banham’s tweets.

Banham’s ousting came just hours after a Twitter account dedicated to Eurovision news posted a thread with several screenshots showing that Banham had made critical comments about gender ideology and the war in Ukraine.

Emblazoned with a “trigger warning” for transphobia, the ESC Discord wrote that Banham’s remarks “contradict the values of the Eurovision Song Contest.”

Among the examples provided of Banham’s alleged “transphobia” was a reply the choreographer made to a tweet featuring a video of transgender Tiktoker Dylan Mulvaney on his “374th day of being a girl.” The original poster commented “I’ve never met a woman who acted like this,” to which Banham said: “That’s because he’s not a woman.”

In another one of his so-called infractions, Banham commented on a post regarding Zara Jade, a violent transgender rapist who was jailed earlier this year after tying up and stabbing another transgender individual. The convict was first reported as a “woman” by the BBCdue to his self-declared gender identity, causing a wave of backlash which prompted them to change the wording of the headline. 

Banham responded to a tweet on Jade, calling the violent convict a “man” and writing: “This clown world is ridiculous.”

In another tweet Banham was blasted for, he quote retweeted a video of a woman who identified as a bird named Horus, and commented “it’s a cult,” using clown emojis.

In addition to his critical comments about gender ideology, Banham made several remarks about last year’s Eurovision result, which saw Ukraine handed victory for their entry in what many perceived at the time was a politically-motivated move.

Banham wrote: “There’s a reason they call it the Eurovision ‘SONG’ contest! Not Eurovision ‘SUPPORT’ contest,” expressing that he believed Ukraine’s entry was not awarded the top spot on its merit as a song, but rather was chosen because of sympathy with the nation due to the conflict. Banham also congratulated the United Kingdom, which placed second, as the “winner.”

The ESC Discord account blasted the tweets as running “contrary” to Eurovision “celebrate[ing] diversity through music.”

ESD Discord shut down their Twitter comment section after a number of individuals rushed to defend Banham and agreed with his statements. Many of the replies expressing support for Banham were quickly hidden.

“Anyone claiming rapists are women is despicable. Your ‘values’ are depraved ESC,” one user responded.

“Your ideology is not my reality. If it’s your reality, then fine, but dont expect me to play along or affirm YOUR beliefs. Sex is fixed. That is factual. Not transphobic. Ian Banham seems clearly rooted in the real world, not ‘identifying’ as a hawk,'” another wrote.

Banham, who has since locked down his social media account, is a well-regarded choreographer and creative director, and has worked in the past with major acts including Kylie Minogue and Lily Allen.

He has also been a choreographer for top reality TV shows such as Dancing On Ice, Got To Dance, So You Think You Can Dance, Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing With The Stars.

#Ireland #Barbie Kardashian is Alejandro Gentile #Men in women’s prisons #Trans identified male with a history of violence towards women #Eurovision #Wild Youth #Ian Bantam spoke the truth #Conor O’Donohoe respects the pronouns of rapists but didn’t speak up against the rapist #Dylan Mulvaney is not a woman #Anyone claiming rapists are women is despicable #Censorship #saying sex is reality is transphobic

[distort-opia]

I remember that you talked about Joker's humanity few days ago and mentioned that two stories in which Joker was nice to kids. Makes me wonder, what father Joker would be in your opinion? If he had kids after his chemic bath and knew about their exist, do you think he would be want participate in raising them? Or at least sometimes sent them gifts or took them to a amusement park or something? Do you think he could hurt or kill them, or this small part of "good" in the Joker would stop him? I love your analyses, by the way and I will be eternal grateful for your reblog of my post about Jack Napier from "Tales From the Dark Multiverse: Batman: Hush", it means the world to me <3

Well. Two stories in which he's a little nice to kids don't really equal him liking them. Joker's moments of humanity are the exception, not the rule.

I will put the rest under the cut because there'll be mentions of child abuse and murder (warning for that). Because... yeah, this is Joker after all.

Canonically, he's killed a teenager (Jason Todd), and the way he handled babies in No Man's Land doesn't really indicate... caring. Pretty sure he's blown up schools or let out Joker gas in places where children were present, and he's indirectly put the lives of children in danger more than once by taking hostages (most recently in Batman: Fortress #1).

Also, this pretty much happened -- Joker finding out he had a kid after his chemical bath. The whole thing is a bit of a mess; in spirit, Anarky isn't actually Joker's son, and the writers intended to reveal this information all along. However, they didn't manage to actually write this in, so... technically, as it stands, Anarky (or Lonnie Machin) is Joker's son? I don't even know. I'm pretty sure though that we're all thinking he isn't, and God knows what New 52 and Rebirth mean for the character's continuity. However, the existence of Anarky does offer us an glimpse into how Joker would react to this scenario in Anarky (1999) #8, if you are interested. Joker clearly doesn't believe that he's got a son. But then he changes his tune, admitting the possibility and manipulating Anarky to make use of his way of escaping Arkham. But when Anarky keeps trying to stop him and other rogues from killing, Joker shoots Anarky without hesitation.

If he found out about a potential offspring of his who wasn't an adult (maybe Lucy Quinzel in the Injustice universe), but still a child... I think it'd depend a lot on the child. If Joker related or not. Because, outside of moments in which he's been forced into sanity by external circumstances, Joker only shows a more humane side to individuals he empathizes with; and in the case of those two stories I mentioned in that previous ask, we're talking about a psychopathic child and a child who's been abused by their parents (things he can relate to). So, if this child of his was also more on the sociopathic, wishing-for-violence, chaotic and troublemaker side, I think there's a chance Joker would steal the kid away and mold them into another version of himself (similar to what he tried with Tim Drake in Batman Beyond's Return of the Joker, or what he tried with 'Ric' Grayson while his memory was gone). He might care, and he might take the kid out on all sorts of activities... but they'd be blowing-up-buildings and murdering activities. So that child would turn out very traumatized, I feel. In general, Joker would have a 'you have to prove yourself worthy of being my child' attitude, and sadly I do think he could kill the kid if they didn't manage to live up to that.

The one kid he wouldn't be able to kill is his son, but the one from before the chemical bath (if the TKJ origin is taken as true). (Batman: Three Jokers has both him and Jeannie alive, so. Sigh. As I said elsewhere, I fully expect DC to bring this up again at some point and in a very badly written way.) But, if Joker were to be confronted with the child he had with Jeannie -- the one he thought dead alongside her, a child that's part of the very trauma that led to him becoming Joker in the first place... that'd be very interesting. It might undo him. (It'd be like someone bringing Bruce's parents back to life and throwing them in his arms.) Joker's whole thing is that nothing matters and that life is absurd; but this would be someone to fight for. If he got his family back, that'd contradict the whole thesis of the Joker persona. Man, it could be really cool to read how he'd handle it, if it just were written well. He'd have such a complex choice to make regarding who he'll be, moving forward. Grr.

I'm sorry for being a bummer! Joker in the comics is especially brutal, and it can't really be swept under the rug. But thank you for the ask, and I'm really glad you're appreciating my analyses! Reblogging that post was my pleasure and nothing to thank me for, I loved finding out about another incarnation of Batman and Joker. Take care <3 <3

#asks #batman #batman meta #joker #joker meta #my meta #abuse mention

[enchantedalyse]

Elite Season 6: Post Watching Thoughts and Season Ranking List (SPOILERS)

After Samuel’s death in season 5 (and therefore the death of my favorite ship) I honestly wasn’t sure if I would continue with the show. I decided to give it a shot since I had some free time, and I’m actually glad that I did. I definitely think season 6 was the best of the post season 3 offerings. It got back to more of the core of what made the show popular. I also liked that the mystery wasn’t as obvious as the previous two seasons. I really loved the increase in friendship scenes as well. It was great to see everyone hanging out and supporting Isadora. So here are my initial thoughts, I’ll probably add on to this after having more time to think it through. Feel free to let me know your thoughts on this season and your season rankings as well!

I wanted Samuel’s death to have more of an impact. He was the main character since the beginning of the show, and they kinda just brushed past it. I wanted to see a funeral, his friends having a memorial for him, or something. I do think the fact that all the original characters/his friends were gone and no longer in the show impacted that choice, but I still wish it was handled differently (and didn’t happen at all). Also the fact that his killer was freed at the end was so upsetting, that man killed someone and he should pay for his crimes, not get his freedom back. Especially since Ari had finally gotten to a place to accept that what her father did was on purpose and not an accident, that if he had gotten Samuel help then he may still have been alive. Why does every character in this show get away with their crimes? Polo got away with killing Marina, Guzman got away with killing Armando, and Benjamin gets away with killing Samuel. No one is ever held responsible.

Isadora has taken the spot of my favorite character this season. I was kinda neutral on her character last season, but the same thing happened with Cayetana (I wasn’t her biggest fan in seasons 2-3, but loved her and her development in seasons 4-5. She became my favorite post Carla character). I think she also got the best storyline and character development this season as well. I really wanted her to get justice and revenge on the guys who hurt her and I’m glad that in the end she did. I also really like her friendship with Iván and hope we continue to see more of it next season. While this show doesn’t have the best track record with relationships (only one couple has ended up happy and together so far throughout the entire series) I did like her budding relationship with Didac and want to see more of it next season. I hope that in season 7 she gets to be happy, because she’s gone through a lot in seasons 5-6 and deserves it.

The final scene. I was surprised that they ended the season on an actual in the moment cliffhanger. I’m guessing that if anyone ends up getting killed it will be Didac’s brother Pau. If someone gets shot but survives, then I could see Didac being an option as well. It could technically also be some random student getting hit as well, since it happened in the school parking lot area. From what we heard/saw this season it seems like whatever business Pau is involved in is probably shady and not on the up and up, and likely the cause of this drive by shooting. Especially with Isadora’s mom originally meeting with him to discuss business, but then had him escorted/kicked out by security and fired Didac due to them being related. Whatever he was proposing she clearly wasn’t a fan of. It couldn’t just be that he was a potential competitor either, since she would have know that when agreeing to meet and talk business.

Lingering Questions/Thoughts:

• Can Iván and Isadora move in together? Iván is now all alone, while Isadora has been alone her whole life. I think them moving in together would be good and beneficial for both of them. I’m also a big fan of the found family trope.

• Why was no one bothered/upset about living or spending time at the house where Samuel was literally murdered? That was your classmate/friend/boyfriend and you’re all totally cool spending everyday and night at his murder site. Umm no, that should 100% bother all of them and they should have moved.

• Will Sara and Raul get away with their crime? Will being around Iván at school everyday lead to her feeling guilty and confess that she was the one driving the car? I don’t really see Raul admitting to anything though, he’d be more likely to put the entire blame/coverup on Sara.

• Who is responsible for the drive by shooting and did anyone get hurt or killed?

• How are they going to write Omar back into the show as a main character while making sure it makes sense to the plot? He won’t be back there to get revenge for Samuel’s death, since none of the Blanco’s are in season 7. He’s also no longer a student, so he wouldn’t be with the rest of the characters at school. He could get Cayetana’s old job as a cleaner there, or possibly work at Isadora’s club I guess.

My Season Ranking:

1. Season 2

2. Season 1

3. Season 3

4. Season 6

5. Season 4

6. Season 5

#Elite #elite Netflix #elite spoilers #elite6 #elite 6 #elite season 6 #Elite s6 #Elite 6 spoilers #elite season 6 spoilers #Elite7 #elite s7 #elite season 7 #Elite5 #elite s5 #elite season 5 #elite s4 #elite season 4 #elite s3 #elite season 3 #elite s2 #elite season 2 #elite s1 #elite season 1 #Samuel Garcia #samucarla #carmuel #isadora artiñán #isadora artinan #ivan carvalho #cayetana grajera

[littlebigmouse]

TMA MAG52 round 2 and also so many theories.

I would have put this in the reblog of the previous post but it uh, got away from me, and the cork board needs its own post.

As I was listening to the story of Robert Montauk, murdered in the dark, it occured to me that this reminded me of the case were a girl's roommate joined a cult - I don't think any lightbulbs blew in that episode, but I think the roommate kept screwing them out, so maybe they would have? Either way. Darkness cult. Robert Montauk got murdered after a visit of a supposed old colleague (if I remember right, Robert's daughter said the guy claimed to be a detective, no?). Montauk somehow got away with 40 murders and didn't have a job for months, if not years, during his killing spree. Which sounds to me like he had help. The episode about his daughter made it sound like the Rayner guy was the boss telling him to kill people, so I assumed Robert was more or less coerced into committing the murders. Which he could have still been, but also given that there was this weird pendant that showed up with his missing wife(?), I feel confident in assuming that Robert was also part of a cult, telling him to kill people, and helping him hide the deeds, either by financial support or cover ups or both.

Then he stabbed an unidentified heart and was probably dropped by the cult, if Rayner's "Did you think you could kill it for long?" (which also, uhm, helllooo???) was any indication.

How he managed to keep his daughter out of the cult is anyone's guess, but that's probably why they had leverage over him in the first place.

So there's this cult. And it commits murders in the dark. And it has showed up in multiple episdoes.

And suddenly I realized how deep that stupid rabbit hole goes. I think I remarked in the middle of season 1 how I'm surprised how many stories ended up connected or relevant to the current plot, but I am only now realizing that it's probably FUCKING ALL OF THEM.

I can probably assume that all the fear factions have their own subplots, but I am unsure how easily seperable/how entertwined these are. I have attempted to name and assign the fear factions to different episodes, usually failing, until now, where we have a clear motive of "getting murdered in the dark", or probably just, "the dark", which is a common fear, so I feel confident with this one (well, and serial killers and cults I guess, but hence the overlapping part, and by inability to assign episodes to categories).

What I can do, however, is group episodes that seem (clearly?) connected, and I will do this properly, with references and all, some other time, but until then, my random stabs in the dark: Robert Montauk's death, his daughter, the darkness cult that that one roommate girl once joined. Potentially related to the girl who got lost in a non-existent graveyard following the rudest encounter with a family at a funeral, mostly because I got cult vibes from the family and both supposed cults met at a chapel, if memory serves right.

Graham and his stalker, the table, Not-Sascha (who seemed to relate to Graham's replacement, so, you know, that's practically confirmed), also the ornamented weird vase that one antiquities dealer tried to get rid of? (the pattern descriptions were similar to the table, I think), which may connect to Salesa, who's also showed up in several more episodes, so he's probably the middle piece there. Or all these subplots genuinely end up forming one giant interconnected story by the end in which case I will scream and seek to buy the board that founded that plot, because it's juggling more pieces than the FMAB finale, my god.

The house on Hill Top Road (?) with the worker who tore down the tree, the priest who ate people and I think the nurse who experienced hospital heat and met Gerard Key Gerard Key and the Leitner books and all cases relating to those Jared the bone-melter(?) who had an encounter with a Leitner and proceeded to melt people's bones, possibly related to other meat-y, gore-y or otherwise body horror related stories, like the one with the guy who kept finding boxes with body parts he then lost, who I think also encountered Salesa?

I swear I remember Jon and Martin had a conversation about the delivery man from episode 2 (feat still my fav survivor through sheer apathy, never change bro), going along the lines of "Can you describe the delivery man" - "looked like delivery man" - "Why does everyone say that" but I cannot remember what they delivered and in which episde, but yeah, these guys.

SImon Fairchild and the guy who almost drowned, Simon Fairchild and the guy who was eaten by the sky, the story of the ship with the antisocial crew that had a member go missing when a sailor discovered their cargo as emtpy, which did not mention Simon Fairchild but I'll go out on a limp here and just assume he has something to do with that one too. I mean, how many ship-related horrors *are there*, really.

Jane Prentiss and everything related to her, potentially tangentially related to Mikey Scissorhands, who helped Sasha that one time, but is probably a more seperate thing, since he made a Real Estate Agent disappear and also Jon got trapped in similar tunnels beneath the archive. Also potentially related to that one cave diver that got lost in a cave system for days and lost her sister? I'm very wonky on that episode, but you know, the difference between total darkness and a tunnel is the light at the end of it, so.

Potentially related to Michael, since her body was found in the tunnels - Gertrude Robbinson, and ... yeah I'm gonna be real I have no idea what she has to do with anything except that one guy who prophecized her death in early season 1 and made Jon freak out about it.

I realize there are many more statements I haven't connected yet (the murder piano, the homeless vampire hunter (miss him!), etc pp, but I'll rest my case for now.

Happy to note that aside from the obvious attack on the institute and the unsolved Gertrude murder, none of the main characters (besides Not Sascha) are clearly involved in one of the subplots. Yet.

#tma #the magnus archives #tma season 2 #tma speculation #jonathan sims #losing my goddamn mind is what's happening. #did robert kill a michael??? #more at eleven

[catboyebooks]

after hinata leaves the last area, kuzuryuu approaches and suggests they all regroup at the vendor street to discuss their findings. (he took it upon himself to gather everyone for this, which really speaks to his character development, lmao.)

everyone minus komaeda (no one's seen him) turns up, and they start discussing their situation. there were clues to be found on this island, sure, but all of it seems like it might be deliberately misleading if not outright made up. general consensus is that the future foundation is behind the killing game, but kuzuryuu counterargues that monomi pretty much admitted to working for the future foundation and she doesn't seem to be on the same side as monokuma. souda's take is that monomi is just pretending not to be on monokuma's side, but nanami says no, they seem to genuinely hate each other. so if monomi is against monokuma, does that mean she's their ally? or is she another enemy?

souda accuses kuzuryuu of being the traitor at this point, since he argued in favor of monomi being their potential ally and therefore appears to be "siding with" the future foundation. before this can turn into a full-blown argument, though, sonia tells him to shut up and proclaims that there is no traitor, monokuma just made that up so they'd distrust each other. of course, komaeda picks this precise moment to show up.

hinata asks komaeda where he's been and komaeda, predictably, responds in an insulting and cryptic fashion. in particular he says they're going in circles, like hamsters, and then wonders aloud if that joke will get him yelled at "by that weakling who dropped out" — interesting phrasing, does he already know they're in VR? i don't remember. then he says he's been looking for someone, but it seems that person isn't here yet. or maybe they're hiding and watching? when asked who he's talking about, he says it's probably a survivor of the previous killing game. hinata thinks maybe this is about twogami, but komaeda's dismissive reaction confirms it isn't. he tells the others that if they think about it, maybe they can figure it out too. isn't it strange that someone who had already survived a killing game would die so early on?

the rest of the group is clearly getting fed up with this attitude from him, and sonia in particular tells komaeda off saying she doesn't like the version of him they've been seeing lately. komaeda laments that everybody hates him but says that it's understandable as there's no way they can even comprehend his suffering. knowing the truth is painful, he says. but he isn't going to tell the others until after they find out who the traitor is. he still hasn't figured it out himself, but he says it won't take him long. he'll "weed out the traitor, even if it costs [him] [his] life," he says. then he asks (in a rather overly enthusiastic way) if wiping out all the despair on the island will make him "shsl hope." everyone's like "okay, now you've for real lost it" and komaeda's like anyway g2g but pass a message to monokuma for me. tell him he doesn't need to provide a motive anymore. komaeda says he's planning to "go all out" and "the next one will probably be the last." then he leaves.

everyone seems to have gotten the pretty clear implication that komaeda is planning on identifying and murdering the traitor. they're worried, but sonia still insists the traitor thing has to be made up. hinata wants to agree with this, but he also worries that maybe komaeda is the traitor, or that someone else here might be the traitor and not remember it thanks to the memory wipe. souda suggests they tie up komaeda again so he can't try any murders and owari volunteers to help. hinata doesn't disagree with this plan, but he is feeling a profound anxiousness he can't shake and which he hopes is just from overthinking the situation.

they wrap up on the final island and head back to the hotel. it's already dark. no free time but we might be able to wander around and chat, i presume

#whew. big scene #kes plays sdr2

[shurisneakers]

shut in [14]

Summary: When your high profile mission goes terribly wrong, you’re forced to hide in a safehouse with a man you’ve never met before. With seemingly nowhere else to go, you’re forced to work together to figure out who is trying to have you assassinated before it’s too late. (Sam Wilson x Reader, Hitman AU)

Warnings: anxiety, violence, guns, death, ptsd, swearing, abuse

Word count: 6.3k

A/N: last chapter you guys :’’’’) im too emo about a fanfic i s2g. there’s an epilogue but this is the official last chapter. 

i really appreciate feedback so if you would like to, please consider dropping me an ask or comment ly guys!

Previous Part || Shut In Masterlist

You had only heard of the warehouse before, never actually seen it.

Its reputation preceded it. It was only mentioned in passing as a place for the worst of the worst.

It was murky and smelled like rust, concrete and rotting corpses. You had no doubt a few of them would be littering the place. A few tube lights shone over you graciously like a spotlight, barely illuminating the area. 

The room you were in was utterly silent. The only exception were noises outside the door; loud shouts and clanging of metal. You assumed it to be people in the other rooms. Your assessment on how tight the ropes were coiled around you earned a few grunts and odd squeaks, but nothing major. 

You were bound to a chair, of course, with knots you had used before on others. It felt like a convoluted form of irony. It was firmly nailed to the ground to prevent you from using it against captors. You were gagged; pretty well, by the look of it. 

A noise from beside you threw you off track. A quick look to your left and you found Sam in a similar predicament. He shook his head slightly, implying that it was useless to find an opening. At least he was alive and breathing. 

“Are you done?” A voice came from behind you, echoing within the four walls. “I really want to get going and you’re taking too long.”

You knew who it was. It was impossible for you to mistake it at this point.

“Don’t mind the noise outside. We’re just torturing a bunch of people to death.”

You roll your eyes out of sheer instinct. The footsteps slowly moved towards the front of the room, heavy and deliberate. The expensive material of his suit shone under the light as he edged in front of you. Only he’d wear Armani to a murder.

The dramatic fuck clearly rehearsed it.

“Hey Buttercup,” Ransone smiled, distinctly proud of himself. Your bite on the bundle of cloth haphazardly shoved in your mouth tightened. “Been waitin’ on you for a while now. Wilson’s no good company.”

You sneak a glance at Sam’s side profile and he looks relatively untouched. There were a few cuts on his face that you could make out under the harsh light but that was it. 

“You can’t get out of those, if you're wondering.” He gestured to your current set up. “I told you, Sam. I save my warehouse for special guests. All your fun tools are gone. Took ‘em when you were brought in.”

As your eyes adjusted to the lighting, you faintly make out the presence of two men in the corners of the room, stiff as cardboard. His security. 

“Oh! Except this.” He brandished the paper airplane you had brought with you in the utility belt. He’d use anything to potentially get a rise out of you.

“Gettin’ sentimental now, are we?” He tested the tip of the plane with his finger. 

You prayed he wouldn’t destroy it. It had more value than he was willing to bet on. 

“You must be asking yourselves why you ended up here,” Ransone mused, looking at the plane from all angles. “No need to worry, I’ll tell you.”

You didn't expect anything less from him. Everything about this felt cinematic; the inconvenient lighting, the men standing in the corner. This man oozed drama over efficiency. 

“When I was just starting out, people warned me. Told me I wasn’t going to get anywhere, that we’d always stay in the same position because that’s how it’s been for all these years.” He tested the plane, holding onto the body sturdily.  

“There were too many big names already. We were one of them, of course. My father did a good job of giving us a solid foundation.” He pulled his wrist back like he was going to launch it, only to never actually do it. He carried it through the air, simulating its flight pattern.

“You remember my father, don’t you? The guy who cut off someone’s finger because they didn’t finish the job.” Ransone really only had one story to tell about his father and he worked it to death. Other than a few handful of times, his father never bothered about his presence much from what you heard. He favoured the ones who were brutal and Ransone- well, he was a glorified theatre kid. 

“Of course you do. He was an incredible man.” He laughed crisply. “But he had no real ambition. No drive. I told him we could have been at the top, the ones parents warn their kids about. He didn’t listen to me. He never really paid attention.”

His tone got wistful in the end, eyes distant like he was living the scene out in his head. 

“So obviously when he died, I had the chance to really make a difference. Really set us apart. Ten Rings and Hydra had their own niche; they had some ties with the military and the government and whatnot. Crazy motherfuckers, all of them.” He shook his dead in distaste. “But Serpentine- that was closer to home. Same market as us.”

You wondered how long he would take to get to the point. The only distraction you had were the noises that continued outside. An odd gunshot here and there really pulled your attention away from the story.

“Serpentine with their stupid code names. They really thought they were all that.” He sounded embarrassingly like a bitchy teenager. “Who do they think they were fooling with the Norse Gods thing, huh? Naming your leader Odin, his wife Frigga.”

“I fucking hated them,” he spat, face twisting into anger. “Told them to watch out, that I’d end their legacy. They laughed in my face.” 

He spun around, a wicked gleam in his eyes as he pointed to Sam, “That’s where you come in.”

Sam looked thoroughly irritated with the show that was going on in front of him. If he wasn’t gagged you had no doubt he’d have a few comments to pass. Ones that would get the both of you killed. 

“I told you to kill their leader. One job. You fucked that up.” Sam recalling the story of his first mission flashed in your memory. “Let that old nutjob into your head and allowed him to escape. We didn’t know where he was for years.”

“I let it go because I thought Serpentine was done for. Radio silence after Odin disappeared. And they were, until a few years ago when I get news that they have a new leader. Odin’s son, the new heir.” He waved around his hands, mocking the last part of his sentence. “Word on the street was that he wanted to kill whoever murdered his mother in front of his eyes.”

“I thought that was hilarious. You know why?” He laughed humourlessly. “Because that was you. You were the one who killed his mother. You remember that? Your big mission?”

“You killed my mom,” he jeered, unmoving.

“I’m sorry. I had to.” Your voice was quiet. Your hand clutched at the hood of the car to keep your balance. “But I don’t want to hurt you. Go.”

“He wasn’t supposed to be there. No one had even heard of him. His brother’s too soft to take on anything like this. He’s some farmer in England now. But he was supposed to be Odin’s only son. Yet somehow, the only person who could have known this other son existed and actually seen him… was you.”

“Turns out he’s like you. A secret adoption. No record of him anywhere.” You didn’t blink, not once taking your eyes off him in case he decided to go wild. “He should have died that day. You were supposed to kill them.”

Only Ransone would justify killing a kid because it fit his agenda. It wasn’t like he hadn’t done it before, and though he tried very hard to shove his ideology onto you, you never complied.

“Goes by Loki now, another stupid codename. Trained by his father who this idiot let go of.” He gestured to Sam callously, “and mad about the murder of his mother that you committed. Serpentine came back pretty quickly after he took control.”

A particularly loud sound of metal slamming would have made you jump had you not been tied down. Ransone swung around in anger, loudly cursing at them for ruining his train of thought. He muttered some more curses under his breath before plastering a fake smile on his face and continuing.

“I’ll admit, he’s a sneaky one. But they grew faster than any other cartel. They somehow knew all our connections, all our targets, our key players. It wasn’t possible,” he shook his head low as he paced up and down slowly. You knew where this was headed. “Unless we had someone giving them information from the inside.”

He stops to look at you.

“I would have forgiven you, Y/N, I really would. You know how I am about second chances.” He looked at you, eyebrows upturned with regretful eyes. “But then you had to go and spy on me for two years.”

You could see Sam turn to you from the corner of your eye, assessing your reaction. You didn't extend the same courtesy to him. You didn’t have any reaction.

“We found out very late, of course. I taught you well,” he chided, his inescapable  narcissism making an appearance once more. “But then we had to figure out why. Why you’d betray me and everything I’ve done for you.”

“I still can’t figure that out.” You wanted to scream at him, everything he had taken away from you, everything he forced you to be. “I treated you the best out of everyone I had. You had the best training, the best resources. You wouldn’t have made it anywhere if I didn’t drag you out of that shithole orphanage.”

You had heard of blissfully ignorant, but he was well beyond that at this point. 

“Didn’t take too long to connect the dots. What, with Wilson’s great act of charity and your lack of better judgement, both of you managed to fuck up enough to screw me over years later.”

“I initially was only going to have you killed, Buttercup,” he admitted nonchalantly, like your life had no value. “But then we found out that Sam’s been lying to me for a long time too. Been hidin’ his friend a few states away.”

“It was meant to be,” he cooed. “Such a similar past. You could have met each other before, you know? Pierce wouldn’t be the first time you were at the same house on the same day.”

You couldn’t help but wonder what it would have been like if you had known Sam earlier. Would you have been friends or would you have been forced to kill each other in his sick ‘survival of the fittest’ game?

“It felt poetic to have you both die together, you know? On a mission gone wrong. A full circle.” God, he spent too long planning something elaborate when he could have just put a bullet in your head and ended you the day he found out. Fucking weirdo.

“Made sure I sent you to the same place at the same time. Pierce was dead long before you came, the poor fuck. But then again, collateral damage. No mercy.” He shrugged. “Had everyone at the ready. You should have died that night.”

“But like everything you do,” his voice suddenly rose like a child throwing a tantrum, “you fucked that up for me too. Escaped with his stupid fucking car.”

“None of those useless agents could find you. How could they?” The beauty was that Ransone must have spent too long looking when you were basically right there, just miles away. “You didn’t go to one of our locations and Serpentine hides their safehouses well.”

You still remembered the relief when the door accepted your fingerprint. 

 It was a long shot but you didn't have anywhere else to go. You weren’t even sure that this house existed.

Another loud crash arrived from the outside with noises that sounded like more gunshots, making Ransone jump this time. Just how many people were being tortured here?

“Keep the volume down, you stupid fucking imbeciles!” he screeched, pounding at the metal door. The decibel reduced, but still continued on.  

He dragged his palm across his face in exasperation, talking under his breath to himself. He shook his head before turning back to you.

"Oh, by the way, don't think about escaping. Got every last one of my best agents out here after that stunt you pulled at Pierce’s house,” he says offhandedly.

He takes a second to regroup, get back into character.

“So we released your pictures to the public. Can’t go very far if people are looking for you constantly. It was the only way we could get you to stay in one place.” Ransone raised his shoulders casually. “We had every lowlife out there waiting for one of you to show up.”

“We eventually had someone report Wilson in a town a while away from Pierce. I was making my way there but then you sent me your location on your own. Had men outside your house that night.” He paused, peering at the plane in his hand.

He finally let it go, watching as it barely went any distance before nose diving to the ground. Your eyes trailed after it, hoping he wouldn’t crush it with his foot.

“This is the worst fucking paper plane I’ve ever seen. The balance is completely off.” He stared at it in wonder, picking it up again and shoving it back into his pocket. You let out a breath you didn’t realise you were holding. “Anyway one of them heard you talkin’ about how you’re leaving the next day so we just got ready at the door.”

“Et voila.” He grinned, spreading his arms. “Here we are. Brilliant, wasn’t it?”

Unnecessarily long, but you weren’t going to complain. 

“Oh, I forgot you can’t talk.” His mouth quirked downwards into a ‘whoops’. 

He took a long pause right in front of you before his hand reached out to cradle your face. “I wouldn’t let those idiots kill you, Buttercup. You deserved better than that.”

He stared unnervingly into your eyes, looking for a hint of anything, any sort of remorse. He wasn’t going to find any. You wished he saw nothing but hatred. 

“It’s why I had to kill you myself.” He sighed when you pulled your face away the best you could from his palm in disgust. “But I’ll do you a solid. I’ll give you a chance to beg for forgiveness. Maybe if you’re good enough I’ll let you go.”

You knew he was lying. He had no intention of doing that. He only wanted you to grovel in submission, plead for your life for a fucking power trip.

He ripped off the tape that was over your mouth, making you flinch at the burn. He pulled out the cloth faster than you could spit it out at him.

“Go ahead,” Ransone said smugly. His ego would outlive all of you. 

“Him first.” Your mouth was dry and your lips felt chapped. You had clearly been knocked out for a while by then. You had no idea how far away you were from the original location.

“What?” His smile dropped to a frown rather quickly.

“Him first.” You mentioned towards Sam with your head. 

“That’s cute.” He laughed, stopping when you didn’t join in. “Oh, you’re serious.”

“I’m not saying shit till he does too.” You were bemused, monotonous. You just wanted to get this over as quickly as possible. 

“Fine,” he huffed when your expression didn’t change. “It’d be fun to watch him beg anyway.”

You hear the rip of the tape from his face, the scrunch of the material before he balled it up and threw it on the floor.

Sam shook his head furiously, forcing Ransone to take a step back swiftly before he hit him. 

“Right.” Ransone clapped his hands together. “Let’s get star-”

He was interjected by another loud bang followed by a series of gunshots. Another victim massacred. He groaned in frustration, stamping his feet at the constant interruption. The universe was determined to not let him finish his monologue in peace, and for that, you thanked her.

You looked at Sam, nodding slightly. He gave you a small smile in return, calming the nerves you were beginning to feel.

“Where were we?” Ransone did not look happy; a vein was dangerously visible on his forehead. Now would not be the best time to do anything that angered him. “Yes, go ahead. Beg.”

“Ransone,” Sam began, exhaling lightly. “We knew.”

The smile on Ransone’s face faltered. “What did you say?”

“He said we knew,” you cut in. “You melodramatic fuck.”

Ransone’s grin faded abruptly and it was by far the most satisfying experience you had ever experienced.

“Yeah, we figured it out ourselves a while ago.” Sam had the slightest smirk on his face. “Y/N did, actually.”

“Fuck,” you cursed.

You could feel his muscle shift as he looked at you. 

“What’s wrong?” 

You opened your mouth but shut it again. How do you explain it to him without sounding utterly ridiculous?

“I need to tell you something and I need you to hear me out before saying anything,” you pulled away from him, shuddering at the sudden cold that enveloped you. 

“I’m listening.”

“I think it’s Ransone. He’s been trying to kill us.”

“Why?” He didn’t sound judgemental, hardly even fazed, like it was a completely plausible suggestion. You couldn’t express how glad you were.

“The guy you didn't kill, if he’s the old head of Serpentine, then... I know his son.” Your mouth was dry as your mind raced to piece it together. “He’s the one I didn’t kill.”

“What?” Sam’s eyebrows furrowed, and you could see him trying to figure out the connection. “How are you so sure?”

You closed your eyes, letting out a deep exhale. “I’m going to need you to not react to what I’m going to tell you.”

“Okay...” he trailed off. 

“I’ve been working with him for two years. Passing information on to him about Ransone.”

“Wait so that means-”

“I’m the spy. And I think Ransone figured it out. He wants to kill me.”

“You knew,” Ransone stated. He looked like he was in a daze.

Sam looked at you once before nodding. “If you would shut up and let someone else talk for once, we would have told you a while ago.”

“It helped that you confirmed details about Pierce’s death without us having to tell you.” The last conversation you had with him replayed in your head verbatim. “There’s no way you would have known he was dead before we got there unless we told you. Or you did it.” 

“We knew you had agents outside the house. Kinda expected that when we gave you the address,” you shrugged the best you could, “Sam’s security cameras got all of them.”

“Made sure that one fuck behind the tree could hear us planning outside,” Sam added. “He wasn’t very stealthy, by the way.”

“Have you decided on a day?”

You nod, looking straight ahead into the darkness. “Tomorrow.”

“You sure? Our timing has to be right.”

“Yeah.” Your voice is coarse. “I’ll have to tell him.”

He nodded, leaning his elbows on his knees. He was too tall for the stairs, almost like he was crouching instead of sitting.

His voice dropped to a whisper like it’s a secret only meant for you.

“You knew you were going to be ambushed.”

“No shit.” You nodded. 

The loud bangs continued outside the door but you paid no heed to it. The closer it got, the more your stomach jumped, hoping that more people you pissed off didn’t storm in. You had quite a list anyway.

“You knew they were coming,” Ransone appeared like he had gears turning in his own head, trying to add everything up on his own. “Then why didn’t you run?”

“Well, we kinda needed all of you in one place.” 

“Huh?” He blinked, not listening to all the commotion that was going on around him. If he didn’t, he was choosing to focus on this instead.

“We had to take out all of you at once,” you disclosed, fidgeting with the rope to see if it would give. “Kinda knew you were waiting to kill us yourself when we gave you the location and nothing happened immediately. You’re too much of a sissy to kill us without backup so we wanted you in one place with the rest of them.”

You tilted your head towards the two men standing in the corner.

“You knew all this while and lied,” Ransone jeered, face twisting into something rather indiscernible; a nice mix of shame and rage.

“Not like we had another choice, man.” You just knew Sam was rolling his eyes. “You think I would voluntarily listen to you monologue like an idiot?”

“You did gag us,” you added, trying to buy as much time as you could. “That’s on you.” 

The ropes were still tight as could be and the chair wouldn’t budge. Even your feet were too tightly tied together to do anything. It was what you expected, but that wasn’t going to stop you.

“Shut up!” Ranone’s face was hideously red.

“You rehearsed it, didn’t you?” Sam called out, taunt in his tone. “With the lighting and shit.”

“He doesn’t have to. He does one a week to some poor fuck who has to listen.” 

You couldn’t believe the both of you were teaming up to bully a man who literally held the fate of your lives in his hands. It was something you never imagined yourself doing.

“How do people take you seriously?” Sam laughed. More than yours, his remarks seemed to be ticking Ransone off. 

Ransone let out a guttural cry, knuckles so white you were afraid they were going to break. He whips around, stomping over to pull the gun from the hand of one of his bodyguards.

“Easy there, DeNiro, that’s not a stage prop.” Sam chided.

The concrete in front of him suddenly cracks loudly. He looked up, slightly taken aback. 

“Next time it’ll be your fucking face,” Ransone snarled, waving the gun around like a maniac. You send a cautionary glance to Sam, telling him to back off. Ransone was volatile. He would act without thinking. 

“Why did you kill everyone I was friends with, Vincent?” you asked slowly, trying to divert his mind. 

He turned to you, a crazed look in his eyes.

“Why did you take everyone from me?” The more you asked, the more it became about genuine curiosity rather than a distraction from shooting Sam in the head.

“Take everyone from- none of them were going to last anyway!” He throws his hands up in the air angrily. “I was saving you from yourself. From the eventual pain.”

His face was desperate, and you for a second forced yourself to think from his perspective. He looked like he truly believed in what he was saying, like he genuinely thought he was supporting you. Like he cared. The thought that maybe he truly wanted to help you was the only way you could comfort yourself for so many years. 

“If you were in pain, you wouldn’t perform. I was only pushing you to your full potential,” he continued, a wild smile on his face mixed with eyes rimmed red like he was ready to cry. 

Your stomach sank, even though you hated it. It wasn’t about you, it was about what he could get from you. 

There was silence. Even the noises outside seemed to have stopped, all waiting for your next move.

“You’re a sick, conniving fuck,” your words waver, and you hope it hits him as hard as it can, “And I can’t wait till you’re dead.”

His face morphed from one of helplessness to slow fury once more. Manipulative prick.

“Do I have to remind you that you’re the one tied up?” He wipes at his nose, voice returning to normal. “The only reason you’re alive right now is because I need to know why you let yourself be captured so willingly.”

Your incessant need to know everything stemmed from him and the paranoia he induced in you from when you were a kid. Everything you thought was wrong about you came from him.

“We told you, you overdramatic fuck.” Sam drew the attention away from you thankfully. You took a deep breath, stabilizing yourself. 

“What, that you needed the team in one place to take us out?” Ransone asked, to no one’s answer. “You and what army?”

“Well, the one who’s been here for a while now,” you pipe up.

No one says anything. Pin drop silence reigns free. 

“You said he’d be here,” Sam hissed at you. “How much longer do we keep this going?”

“He said he would,” you argued back, feeling the heat creep into your cheeks.

“What the fuck are you both talking about?” Ransone asked, but you continued to ignore him.

“What are we going to do if he-”

The door violently exploded off its hinges, sending debris flying everywhere. You clenched your eyes shut and ducked your head to avoid getting smacked in the face with rubble

The dust hadn’t even cleared before multiple rounds were fired. You flinched when your ringing ears hurt more at the sound of gunshots. 

You struggle against your ropes, trying to get to Sam. They only get tighter until suddenly your arms break free. Your neck and legs soon follow as you shrug off the ropes that were cleanly sliced off.

Your ears were still getting used to the chaos when you notice someone humming behind you. It took a second to register that it was a fucking Britney Spears song. 

“What took you so long?” You coughed, waving the air in front of you to clear it as you stumbled towards Sam.

“I wanted to make an entrance,” Loki said dismissively, following you. “I think I may have overshot it by a few seconds.”

You fell to your knees in front of Sam, quickly moving to untie the familiar knots. He lifted his head to look at you, a thin layer of dust covering his face.

“Are you okay?” you asked in concern, simultaneously untying as fast as you could. It was one you had used many times before; a complicated knot that guaranteed you wouldn’t have been able to make it out of the bondage.

“I think my leg’s asleep but other than that I’m good.” 

You give him a small smile, thankful that he wasn’t hurt enough to lose his dry sense of humour. Your hand involuntarily reached up to brush some dust off his cheekbone. The intensity with which he looked at you had you swallowing thickly.

You snapped out of it quickly, working on freeing his legs as Loki took a step behind his chair to cut the rest of him loose.

“This him?” Sam mentioned to Loki, massaging his wrist to return some feeling into it. 

“You can just ask me, you know,” Loki commented, but clearly not taking any offence. 

“I’m sorry about your family, man.” 

You didn’t expect Sam to say that, and from the looks of it, neither did Loki. He stopped for a moment, before continuing to cut the last rope.

“You let my father go,” he said, sawing the last part off, “and although I personally think you should have killed the miserable old bastard, he made it clear that he owed you one.”

The both of you stood up. You glanced around the room, noting how both of Ransone’s bodyguards were on the floor, bullet holes riddling their body. 

He himself was beside them, lying facefront on the ground. Armani suit be damned.

“How many more are outside?” Sam asked, tearing your attention away from the bodies on the floor.

“All taken care of.” Loki put the knife back into its sheath on his thigh. “We made quite a commotion. I’m surprised he didn’t do anything.”

“He’s a little dense,” Sam remarked. Most of the noises you heard earlier weren’t just other victims being tortured, although you knew that it was still a large fraction of it.

“Should we go?” you asked, doing a quick sweep of the room. You found nothing moving among the pile of rubble.

“Unless you got anything else left to do.” Loki gestured to the large hole in the wall where the door was.

“I think we’re done.”

He simply nodded, spinning on his heel to walk out the room when someone yelled from behind you. 

You all halted what you were doing, slowly turning to look at where the noise was coming from.

“Don’t take another step,” Ransone warned, a gun pointed straight at you, barely able to stand straight. He looked worse than you’d ever seen him. His suit was torn and he had a few streaks of blood down his face. His hair was tousled and unkempt, rougher than it had ever been before. “Or I swear I’ll-”

“Oh, shut up,” Loki interjected, firing a shot into Ransone’s stomach before anyone could even react. He returned the gun to its holster that you didn’t even notice was there on his waist. “He talks too much.”

Ransone staggered back until he hit the wall, knees buckling beneath his weight as he slid to the ground. The gun he pried off his bodyguards lay where he was standing previously. 

You ignored Sam’s uneasy questions as you took a step forward. 

You picked the gun up, cautiously making your way to Ransone. You crouched next to his body. He looked at you before looking down. You followed his line of sight, watching as he lifted his hands. They were covered in blood. 

“How’d he know where to find you?” Ransone’s voice was more subdued than you’d ever heard him.

You reached over, slipping your fingers into his jacket pocket and pulled out the paper airplane that was flattened due to the impact.

“Hey, you can put a message in it. Maybe one of those button trackers, a microphone. The possibilities are endless.” He laughed, folding another one out of the limited supply of paper he had left.

You unfolded it, letting a small object, not bigger than a button, fall into your palm. He stared at it before realisation dawned on him. 

“I knew you’d take all my weapons, but you wouldn’t get rid of this,” you disclosed, folding the paper plane back to what it was and gently putting it into your pocket. It was still salvageable. “Not if you could use it to hurt me.” 

You watched him take a shaky breath, flinching when more blood rushed out of him. 

“You can still help me, Y/N. We can get out of here together,” he rasped. “Think about everything we’ve been through. We can work it out. I love you.”

You involuntarily let out a strangled cry at the last part. It was nothing but a last ditch attempt to persuade you, pull you back in.

“Look- look at me. Buttercup,” he croaked when you wouldn’t oblige. “I love you. I’m your home.” 

You finally look at him. Look right into his eyes, red rimmed and fading. You look for it, the adoration he spoke of. The care he promised. Anything to make sense of why he would tear you apart time and time again. The love he had for you.

You find nothing. Gray eyes look back at you blankly, desperately, in pain.

“You never were,” you whisper, standing up abruptly. 

You raised your arm, pointing the gun at him. He sputtered out more half baked apologies, unaware of anything that was coming out of his own mouth.

You clench your eyes shut, pulling the trigger. He lets out a cry when the bullet lodges in his shoulder. 

You take a step back, letting the scene imprint itself in your brain of him powerless on the ground at your will. If you followed what he preached, you’d have ended his life right there. No mercy.

But you weren’t him. And you didn’t ever want to be.

“I need to do something too,” you heard Sam say. You can feel him near you, brushing against you for a moment as he gently reached for the gun you held. You gave it to him, feeling him squeeze your hand in reassurance. 

Ransone looked at Sam as he stood beside you. He fired a single shot into his leg, clearly hitting bone. You hear the same wail from before, mixed with sputtering as blood leaked from his mouth.

“That was from Riley. He says fuck you.” Sam let his hand fall again. “All yours, man.” 

“You already know what this is for,” Loki said simply. 

You chose not to look away as he shot the last round right into his forehead. Ransone’s head slumped over. Dead, glassy eyes stared beyond you. 

None of you say anything. Just stare at the lifeless body in front of you.

“It’s really over, huh?” Sam’s voice is quiet, like he's having trouble processing what just happened.

You don’t answer. Only take a step towards him, and intertwine your fingers with his, continuing to stare at the corpse of your lifelong abuser. 

____

The sun was beating down on you. You didn’t expect it to be evening when you stepped out of the warehouse. 

“Where are we?” you asked, shielding your eyes from the sudden brightness that left you squinting.

“Middle of nowhere, I’d say.” Loki stares with disdain at the old building that looked worse for wear. “Would it kill the man to have a bit of taste?”

That reminded you. “Thanks for the house. And… sorry we showed up uninvited.”

“You didn’t do too much damage to it, I hope.”

You looked at him guiltily, mind flashing to the many bullet holes that decorated the back wall. “I’ll pay for the repairs.”

“Forget it. It’s of no use since everyone knows it exists now.” He dismissed with a wave of his hand. “So, Y/N. I guess that concludes our deal?”

“I guess it does.” You nodded,

Sam wraps his arms around your shoulder and you lean into him with a sigh, allowing the comfort his touch brought to seep into you. 

“How’d you guys make a deal anyway?” he inquired. You closed your eyes, chest rising and falling steadily.

“Well, I was going to kill you at first,” Loki explained offhandedly, gesturing to you. “But then-”

He trailed off.

You remember, clear as day, when Loki confronted you in the early hours of the morning outside the park you went on runs. He had a gun pulled on you before you could fathom what was going on, before you could even realise who he was.

“But then?” Sam prodded.

“Did he make it?”

“He did,” you divulged the information you had found out a while ago. It was a messy confrontation to say the least but you got out unscathed.

“Saw something that I recognised,” he said dryly, eyeing you up and down. “We were both pulled into something we didn’t have a say in. Stuck, you could say. I just thought that it was a win-win situation if we worked together to kill that idiot back there.” 

“So you agreed to spy on him,” Sam concluded. “You got revenge. What was your incentive?”

You look at Loki who just smiled at you. You return one half heartedly.

“I’d say freedom is a pretty big reward, wouldn’t you?” And it was. You couldn’t even begin to explain the weight that would be lifted off your shoulders. “I can’t guarantee you’ll have a perfectly normal life. Might have to change your identity, move around a bit.”

“Everyone’s looking for us as wanted criminals,” Sam voiced everything you were forgetting about in the surge of emotions rushing through you.

“I got some connections,” Loki said dismissively. You peered at him from under Sam's arm. “I can have it traced back to a dead mobster in a warehouse, no problem. If they think it’s a gang war there’s no way they’ll try to get too involved. Consider it a gift from my father.” 

Sam nodded, relaxing slightly now that most things were taken care of.

“That’s sorted then.” Loki examined the barren land that surrounded you. “You’re going to need a ride back to civilization, aren’t you?”

“If that’s possible.”

“I’ll have someone drop you off. You got any place to go? At least to stay low for a while.”

You didn’t have anyone. The only one you had was the man beside you. Nothing was settling in at the moment, and you realised that it would be a long road until it did. But you had a shot. A real shot at something even resembling recovery. 

Sam and you looked at each other before he turned back to Loki and nodded.

“New Orleans.”

Next part

here’s my ko-fi if you’d like to support my writing <3

here’s a list of references/foreshadowing to the end all throughout the series!

#sam x reader #sam wilson x reader #mcu fic #sam fic #sam wilson fic #sam wilson fluff #sam wilson angst #sam wilson series #falcon #falcon x reader #the falcon x reader #hitman!sam wilson #hitman!au #shut in fic #marvel fic #marvel #mcu #sam wilson #the falcon #sam wilson fanfiction #marvel imagine #marvel fanfiction #sam wilson imagine #sam imagine

[ryoryeonggu]

To begin with, I’ve never been related to any characters like Jang Han Seo. It was oblivious that he was suffering from depression, anxiety and PTSD resulting from the abuse that he had been endured at home, but it seemed like he had the sign of social phobia as well. As we could see in the drama, his life completely revolved around his brother, he had no friends, no interested in dating or attracting to anyone (if we can count Han Seung Hyuk as his “friend” since he might be closer to him than anyone other than Han Seok and before Vincenzo). It might be because of the tittle as The Chairman of Babel and being born in a wealthy family which make him aware that people wanted to get close to him only for money or taking advantage of him to get what they wanted. But the things is, he seemed to avoid any chance of building relationships that have the potential to be more intimate or more complex than basic communication, rejecting even the slightest touch, not just with Han Seok - the one he's afraid of but almost everyone else.

For example, back when Vincenzo (the one he became extremely close to later on) was only a stranger and he pretended to be a fan to approach Han Seo. He appeared to be extremely enthusiastic and just only showed the want of touching Han Seo, Han Seo immediately flinched away and made a clearly uncomfortable expression. He looked at his hand like a gun pointing at him. 

Example 2, when Han Seung Hyuk - the one who had close relationship than anyone else besides his brother at that time, just about to go closer to him and he already gave the big “Don’t touch me bitch” energy and make a gesture for him to go away. 

This is the first time he had met his sister-in-law (applying for both his blood and adopted brothers). It didn’t go well.

Han Seo himself had proven to be an extremely clingy person and liked to actively skinship towards the people he was close to, but for others, when being touched, his body will immediately generate rejection and fear as a reflex.

Jang Han Seo had another trait that he was completely used to people ignoring him, not taking him seriously, but if someone liked him, complimented him, spoke well of him, then he didn't know how to react naturally as if his brain was immediately shut down. I totally understand this, because I have the same problem, if someone insults me even with the most hurtful things, I'll be like "you say nothing that I don’t already know. I also insulted myself like that every day so we have the same opinion bro” xD But if people compliment me with kind words, I will be extremely surprised, even scared and panic. I will be worried sick about how to make people continue to think well of me and what if I do something wrong later that makes them no longer like me. But of course, when the anxiety reaches a certain level, my mood will turn into: "Nevermind, let's care about it later. Who give a f*ck if they like me or not" lol But Jang Han Seo wasn’t like that. He remembered and held on to the praises of others stubbornly. Many people think that Han Seo betrayed Han Seok just because of Vincenzo, but in fact, the first person to put that thought into Han Seo's head was Han Seung Hyuk. He did not convince him with the benefits, fame, and money of being the true chairman of Babel, but that how he, on behalf of Babel’s member and as an employee of the company, valued and needed him. He hyped him up as the "sharp, ambitious and not murderous" ideally chairman, the only hope of Babel’s bright future and the only person that the people in the company could depend on. Before that, although he was really angry that Han Seok constantly rejected his offers, Han Seo kept saying "Are you telling me to betray my brother? Do you even know what you are saying?" showed that he completely accepted that he wasn’t able to run the company and continued to live in Han Seok's shadow, until Mr. Han opened a new vision for him. Han Seung Hyuk's words couldn’t tell that he was really meant it or not, and maybe Han Seo already knew he was untrustworthy, but it sparked the thought that he could actually do better than his brother and be capable of turning Babel into something good. When negotiating with Vincenzo, he mentioned not only that he wanted Vincenzo to spare his life but also Babel (not just the company itself or its property, but also the employees whose life depended on the company’s survival) Then Vincenzo came. Before Vin hyung appeared, Jang Han Seok was completely Han Seo's ideal model for him to look up to and learn from. He yelled at people’s face and throw hockey balls to their stomach to show his authority (like how his brother beated the shit out of him with a hockey stick when he messed up in the previous episode), making people afraid so they could listen to him (but most of his efforts failed miserably because he just looked like an adorable bratty angry kitten). Then Vin hyung appeared, encouraged him to study harder and gave him a completely different role model, the man he wanted to become. And that's when he started to change, showing his true self, he let his hair down, started to wear clothes that looked comfortable and youthful, laughed more often and looked more alive. After his brother went to prison, he turned into a friendly, gentle and loving chairman and didn't shout at anyone anymore xD Continued to episode 19, when Vincenzo mentioned the possibility of Han Seok being released from prison early and would come to him first, advising him to fly away to a foreign country, Han Seo, although trying to hide it, clearly shows his fear (of course when you've been terrified of something all your life, fear can't disappear within a day or two), but still refuses to run away because "I made a promise to you." Even when Vincenzo made it clear that "you can keep your promise to me later" and still tried to convince him, Han Seo was still determined to stay and fight to the end. Simply because Vincenzo showed his belief in Han Seo, that he had potential, he could change and become a better person, a trustworthy person that could count on, and because of that, he would do it everything to live up to that expectation (which he has proven he could - or at least tried to - do everything, except murders xD). Others' faith in him is Han Seo's biggest motivation, because he's probably used to being seen as a useless person without any value, a piece of trash that doesn't deserve to exist, not only for his brother, but also for his parents, who see his birth as an accident, a mistake of a casual cheating hook up, not a miracle result of their desire to have a child. That is also the reason why Han Seok completely failed to convince his little brother to betray Vincenzo by promising to give him all of Babel, it could be seen in Han Seo's reaction that there was not a bit of greed or joy, but a complete shock at his brother’s brutal request, and he still didn't move at all. It was only when Vincenzo took the initiative to kneel and asked him to do what Han Seok told him to do, Han Seo finally was able to stand up, and when Vincenzo said "It's okay", implying that he would’ve fully understood if Han Seo had chose to kill him for survival, in that moment he already knew what he had to do, even at the cost of the life that he treasured the most. Because what Han Seo longed from the beginning was never Babel, but rather to become a kind of meaningful existence, not only for others but also for himself.

#jang han seo #jang han seok #vincenzo #jang brothers #the jang bros #kwak dong yeon #vincenzo kdrama #han seung hyuk #vincenzo cassano #jang hanseo #jang han seo best boy #jang han seo deserves better

[the-insomniac-emporium]

Mia Deserved Better: An Analysis of RE8's Themes/Symbolism

Foreword: I would like to thank @lepusrufus for posting about both Mia and Miranda, and at one point directly saying that Mia deserved better, which is a large part of what caused me to start examining her role in the canon story. Now, I will say that this post, like some of my previous explorations of Village (such as my attempt to determine Donna's age), will not be the best organized. My ADHD makes such things rather difficult for me. However, I have tried more than usual, and have broken up this "essay" into several distinct sections. Still, I am worried that my thoughts will not be as concise or coherent as they were inside my head.

Under read-more for length and spoilers for RE8: Village.

Introduction:

Village is, inarguably, about parenthood. Is it a horror game? Yes. Is it also science fiction? Also yes. But is it still, at its core, a story, and therefore contains imagery, symbolism, and themes? Yes. Now, you may be wondering what this has to do with Mia deserving better. My proposal is as follows: While Village is overall about parenthood, it is more about motherhood than fatherhood. Furthermore, Mia's background + actions from the previous game tie her story directly with Mother Miranda's, making their potential interactions massively important to the story... and could have served the theme beautifully. The missed potential in her involvement in the story is honestly a little bit absurd.

Now, let's examine each of the Four Lords + their sections, as the beginning of analyzing the game's theme.

Lady Dimitrescu + Castle:

Ah, perhaps the clearest (albeit unimportant) bits of theme within the whole game. We are immediately presented with another parent, with three daughters she loves very, very much. Initially they work as a team to capture Ethan, easily overpowering him. When they do split up, each still has dialogue regarding their family members. Each of the daughters expresses a desire to be like their mother/make their mother proud. Lady Dimitrescu herself gets very upset every time one of her daughters perishes, and delivers some important dialogue about this in her final confrontation with Ethan.

To paraphrase, Lady D says that Ethan has done something unforgiveable, caused damage that can never heal, and deserves to die before his daughter. That last part is interesting, in the sense that Lady D seems to believe that outlasting your own child is a fate so terrible that she would not wish it upon anyone, including the person who killed her daughters.

Throughout her dialogue and actions, Lady D serves as an important figure of a living mother. What do I mean by that? Well, the only other mothers we see in game are Mia and Miranda. The former doesn't show up until almost the end of the game (seeing as the "Mia" at the start is not actually the real Mia), while the latter does not have a living child, and her behavior has (presumably) changed quite a bit since that loss. As Ethan goes through Castle Dimitrescu, he watches (he causes) Lady D to go through what Miranda did all those decades ago. When we see her loss, when we experience her loss, it is something we connect with, even comparing it (as Lady D does) to Ethan's loss of Rose.

For the more visual side of symbolism, we can turn to Lady Dimitrescu herself. She is very tall, is visibly older than the majority of the Village cast, and has a fairly classic (old-school) motherly look. Everything about her reinforces her position as an example of a mother, especially when she's with her daughters and becomes such a strong figure of protection. Her height allows her to seem the caretaker for her children, even though they are scary/intimidating in their own right.

Donna Beneviento + Waterfall House:

Yes, the baby/fetus/monstrosity is part of this. No, it is not the only bit of thematic work in this section of the game.

To begin, you can find out that Donna is officially the adopted daughter of Mother Miranda. Her birth parents are dead, implied to be from especially tragic causes (more than is the norm when it comes to "orphan making"), and she has suffered greatly from it. We see that she has been seemingly neglected by Miranda, and is incredibly isolated. The tragedy of her loss, along with the consequences presented by it, are something to keep in mind further down the road, when we inevitably deal with Ethan's own death.

One of the consequences of the environment Donna was raised in is, arguably, her reliance on Angie. While interpretations of their exact relationship (aka how much control Donna actually has at any given point) vary, the two very clearly have something akin to a mother/daughter vibe. Alternatively an older sister/younger sister sort of thing. This shows in the way that Donna holds/carries Angie, as well as the contrast in their demeanors. Moreso, the fact that Donna gave a part of herself to create Angie is almost enough to make the symbolism nonnegotiable.

We also see that Donna has a strong understanding of family/family dynamics, through the way that she uses her powers to manipulate Ethan. She dissects his connections to Mia and Rose, taunts him with the lengths he's willing to go to save his child, then shows him a grotesque version of parenthood: The aforementioned fetus monster. Does the monster represent Ethan's fears, or Donna's?

What if the monster is how Donna sees herself, in some way, perhaps thinking that it's her fault her parents died? Bit of a stretch, but it's not a keystone of my theory, so I'm just throwing it out there. We could, however, go a step further and ask ourselves if Donna has noticed the way Miranda neglects her, and the fetus monster is how Donna thinks Miranda sees her. A baby, true, but grotesque, so terribly imperfect compared to her "real daughter" (Eva, obvs).

Regardless, the monster presents an ugly side of parenthood. It shows us the blood, the hunger (with the way it repeatedly attempts to swallow Ethan whole), the wailing. If Lady D shows us the love of parenthood, the bond, Donna in turn shows us the hate, the misery. Everything that one must endure to reap the rewards of family.

Lastly, we get one last bit of symbolism with Donna's death: We play a game with Angie. A childhood classic, hide and seek. Ethan chases her down repeatedly, stabbing away, seemingly only hurting the doll. But what happens when he kills Angie? It turns out that he killed Donna. You kill the child, you kill the parent. A reinforcement of the connection that comes with parenthood, along with another notch in Ethan's family-murdering belt (not saying that he's the "true antagonist" or anything, just keeping track for one of my later points).

Moreau + The Reservoir

Let's get the worst possibility out of the way: Moreau, weakest and sickest of the four lords, lives in a reservoir, where he is relatively safe. To defeat him, you have to drain the water, forcing him onto dry(ish) land. Paired with the main ideas of his section (which I will detail after this nightmare), one could theorize that he's meant to represent birth itself. Again, he's safe in his ("womb") water, and becomes vulnerable when he leaves (like a fragile newborn). Kinda gross, in my opinion, and also not a strong enough connection for me to care much about. It was merely an interesting (albeit horrifying) enough thought that I felt it warranted sharing.

Moving on to the big stuff with Moreau: He's a baby. Evidence: Whiny, has difficulty moving around, struggles to adapt to his growth, throws up a bunch, loves his mother very much, cries for his mother when he's in trouble, etc. Although Mother Miranda does not care for him, he clearly cares for her, and plays yet another role of an abandoned child (like Donna). Without Miranda there to protect him, he perishes terribly, crying out for someone who does not care to answer.

Hearing him cry out for Miranda, over and over, only for her to continue ignoring him is a key piece in the build-up to our confrontation between Ethan and Miranda. The game, in many ways, centers around the comparison between the two. In my humble opinion, Mia should have been involved in this comparison, as opposed to supplying the solution to the result of said comparison. Yes, I know that was a lot of words that don't mean much yet, but trust me, I'm getting there.

Heisenberg + The Factory

Ironically, of the four lords, Heisenberg is the most similar to Mother Miranda. In his massive factory, he is alone except for his numerous experiments, the results of decades of playing God. In comparison to Ethan + Mia, Heisenberg represents artificial parentage, or more accurately, the artificial creation of "life". While the others Lords also performed experiments, they used living subjects. Heisenberg instead chose to use corpses, which he then "brought back to life" with cybernetics + his powers, a somewhat futuristic version of Dr. Frankenstein.

Together, Miranda and him show a rotten side of parenthood (whereas Donna + Moreau showed us the uglier side of the children themselves). To put it simply, they are bad parents. They throw their "children"/experiments into the fray, uncaring, using them as pawns for their own greater gain. The most important part of this is that Heisenberg offers to "help" Ethan: By using Rose as a weapon. In his act of refusal, Ethan demonstrates one of several important distinctions between himself and Mother Miranda. Where she is willing to use her "children" (read: lives that she is responsible for) as tools, he is not.

Miscellaneous Symbolism/Imagery:

The old hag is one of my favorite parts of Village. She's seemingly nuts, has a crazy old lady laugh, wears bones that make soothing bone noises when she moves, and she draws lots of symbols in the dirt. If you look closely (I can provide screenshots if anyone desires, but it will take a bit of work to get them onto my computer), she's drawing one of the most iconic images in the titular village: The winged unborn. This symbol acts as the key you build up after every fight with a Lord, understandably called the Unborn Key (which turns into the Winged Unborn Key). Whether this counts as foreshadowing towards the hag's identity reveal is technically irrelevant, but I like to think it does.

In essence, you build up the key, this depiction of an infant, to progress in the game. The more wings it gains, the closer you are to your goal of rescuing your child.

The cadou itself is very clearly fetus-shaped. Furthermore, the only place within the human body that we know it ever gets implanted is in the "tummy" (thanks Moreau), aka roughly where someone's womb is/would be. Every infected person we see presumably had the Cadou implanted there (though I think it would be interesting if implanting it in different spots caused different mutations. of course, that is a discussion for another day). To become immortal, you have to "bear" a "child". Does it get more direct than that?

Mother Miranda gained her immortality in part for her grief at the loss of her child. She embodied the despair that Lady D spoke of, becoming an eternal source of anguish. Just as the loss of a child is a wound that lasts forever, so too would Miranda last forever (well, until Ethan comes along).

Mia is a loving mother, who puts up with the BSAA making her move across the world, deals with the complications of having a mold husband and mold baby, and has proved herself (see her section in RE7) to be an immense badass. Previously I had forgotten that, and even embarrassed myself in the comments of another person's post by implying she wasn't a tough, ass-kicking machine. Y'all remember feral Mia? People talk about "poor Ethan's arms", but sometimes we forget that Mia was one of the people who did a number on them. Furthermore, she's one of the only living people (from outside the village) to have any connections (pun intended) to Mother Miranda. They worked together, although possibly not directly, on Evelyn. If anyone in Village has a chance of really understanding Miranda's plight, or knowing the truth behind it, it would be Mia. Yet we don't see them interact a single time. Which leads me to the next section...

Conclusion On Theme + Missed Potential:

Okay, okay, so it's pretty obvious at this point that, as previously stated, the game's theme is parenthood. Every section has its symbolism, the story is very obviously about a man trying to rescue his daughter, etc, etc, but what's the point? Is there a lesson, or a more focused interpretation of the central theme? Let's take one last step back, and focus on something I've mentioned a few times now: The comparison between Ethan and Mother Miranda.

Recurring dialogue from Ethan, Alcina, and Mother Miranda all point towards the developers acknowledging that the characters are similar, but there's nowhere near as much conversation about it as I would like. Several times we have the antagonists ask Ethan how he's so willing to kill someone else's child, or prevent them from (essentially) doing what he's doing (aka saving his daughter). While Ethan responds with a mix of "well you started it" and "aghhh fuck-a-you, bitch", there's a much more solid, unspoken difference: Mother Miranda sends her underlings to kill, so that she may revive her daughter. Ethan kills (read: does the work himself) to get his daughter. The difference is much bigger, and more important, at the end of the game, when we realize just how far it goes. Ethan dies to save his daughter. Time and time again Mother Miranda has killed others for her work, but in the end she is stopped when someone willingly dies to stop her.

Where does Mia come in? Mia, the badass mother, the one who once worked alongside Mother Miranda, should have been the nail in the coffin. She is the one who survives, who lives on to raise Rose, she is the silent solution to Ethan's sacrifice. Miranda, you fool, what could you have accomplished if you had held onto your makeshift family? Through Mia (and Chris, to a lesser degree), his "loss" becomes a victory. There's a certain poetic justice that comes with Rose's full family being instrumental in saving her, when Miranda so readily spurned her own family.

Mia could have had an actual conversation with Miranda, their history giving the latter a reason to actually listen. I'm not saying that Miranda would have changed her mind/plans, but the conversation would have been a well-needed contrast to Ethan's "arggg what the fuck is happening, I only have two reactions to things. agg fuck you". Additionally, I feel that Mia (who was captured and had to endure who-knows-what) deserves the opportunity to be the one who points out Miranda's mistakes, who delivers the final "fuck you" to her. More than that, she's the one at the end who can say that hey, maybe she can understand some of what Miranda did. Was there anything her and Ethan wouldn't have done to save Rose? As much as Ethan is a foil to Miranda, Mia could (and should) have played a similar role.

When so much of the story and symbolism revolves around Miranda's experience as a mother, it only would have been fair to shine a light on her equivalent. Her better.

There's more I wanted to say/feel like I didn't properly get across, and I might add more to this at some point, but it's 5:40 AM right now, and I'm starting to feel like my brain is slowing down, so... Feel free to reblog/comment and add your own thoughts!

#mother miranda #mia winters #ethan winters #rosemary winters #resident evil: village #re8 village #god what do I tag this as

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 20, part three(!)

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff) (Previous Post)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

This episode has so much crucially important stuff in it I had to write 3 posts about it! Part one is here, part two is here. 

Don't Start None, Won't Be None

Lan Wangji has never had a real fight with Wei Wuxian before--remember, in their rooftop fight Wei Wuxian never even drew his sword. And since this is going to be a verbal fight, Lan Wangji is going to lose, badly. He's an elegant and articulate speaker, but he's not quick with words, and he speaks directly and sincerely. Weaponized speech is not his area at all, so he's pretty much bringing a knife to a gunfight. A guqin to a flute fight. Whatever. He tries to turn it into a physical confrontation, twice, but Jiang Cheng holds him back.

This throwdown is 100% about religion and orthodoxy; something that is fundamental to both of these young men's lives. Lan Wangji has made it his mission to be as orthodox as possible, doing shit like volunteering to be beaten for drinking when he didn't choose to drink. He's constantly overwhelmed by emotion, and the Lan rules are a source of regulation and safety for him. His emotions around Wei Wuxian are among the most overwhelming he's got, possibly only second to his feelings about his mom.

Right now his feelings are extra overwhelming. 

It's complicated because his relationship with Wei Wuxian literally started off with him punishing Wei Wuxian for heterodoxy. All that time they spent together in the library? Was because Wei Wuxian talked--JUST talked--about using resentful energy for cultivation. Which is precisely the ability he's just shown them, along with a style of killing enemies that's borderline evil and definitely, DEFINITELY unsportsmanlike.

So this is not, Lan Wangji is lovingly worried about Wei Wuxian and Wei Wuxian is pushing him away to avoid an uncomfortable conversation. This is Lan Wangji freaking out because his entire system of belief is being challenged and he's in love with the person who's challenging it.  

Wei Wuxian has shown up to the party wearing an International Mr. Leather tee shirt with a enamel pin stuck to it that says "I get my kicks on route 666" and Lan Wangji just. cannot. deal.  

Never Start a Fight But Always Finish One

Wei Wuxian has a couple of options here. One is to accept, kindly, that he and his friend can't be friends any more because of religion. In this option, in order to preserve his friend's comfortable sense of being right, he would have to tacitly accept that he himself is bad in some way, and allow his friend to keep having his value system, while walking away from him.  

The other choice is to hit so hard that he makes his friend feel really, really bad, and potentially rocks him off of his comfortable foundation. In the short term, the friendship breaks, but if it forces him to actually question his value system, it might lay the groundwork for a new, more accepting friendship.  Anyone who is queer with an anti-queer-religious best friend is probably familiar with this dilemma.

Wei Wuxian chooses the second option, and goes all in from the first moment, calling Lan Wangji "Lan Er Gongzi" and then upgrading to "Hanguang Jun" and even bowing. If it's possible to bow sarcastically, that's what Wei Wuxian is doing. Then he meets his eyes and sticks his chin out, essentially saying "how do you like them apples?"

(more after the cut!)

Lan Wangji's feelings are probably hurt, but he's too busy being mad to show it, and he goes straight to grilling Wei Wuxian, asking him about the killing, the talismans, and giving up the sword, all while Jiang Cheng stands by and wonders what the fuck is happening. 

Lan Wangji is making a fundamental error here, which is he's speaking as if he's an authority instead of as a peer. Wei Wuxian has only ever accepted one authority in his entire life, and that was Jiang Fengmian. Jiang Cheng is the one who, for a change, is approaching as a worried friend, while Lan Wangji approaches as if he has the right to call Wei Wuxian to account.  

Wei Wuxian won't answer his questions and is getting in his face, provoking him in a very quiet and controlled way, and Lan Wangji responds by just being really aggressive. It's interesting to see Wei Wuxian completely mastering his emotions while Lan Wangji is completely....not.  Wei Wuxian pushes harder, saying he's being rude, saying he's being a bad friend.  Which doesn't make any difference to Lan Wanji, who keeps pressing for an answer while Jiang Cheng wonders what the fuck is happening.

Come to Gusu

Wei Wuxian says he already explained, that it's complicated, it will take time to explain, so then Lan Wangji makes the utterly dumbassed demand that Wei Wuxian return to Gusu with him to explain it. What, exactly, is his plan? Bring Wei Wuxian to Gusu and have Lan Xichen (at the very least) and probably also Lan Qiren help him to convince Wei Wuxian that resentful cultivation is bad? How is that likely to work out? Let's have our own flashback, to that classroom interaction that led to the punishment in the library.

Lan Qiren: How will you make sure the resentful energy will only listen to you and not harm others? [Note: he's not wrong, Wei Wuxian] Wei Wuxian: I haven't figured that out yet ["details," as OP's dad used to say] Lan Qiren: If you did, the cultivation world would not allow your existence [i.e. we, the Lan Clan of Gusu, will kill your ass]

Lan Wangji probably doesn't think he's threatening Wei Wuxian with death by inviting him to Gusu, but he kinda is, if Lan Qiren was serious back then.  Lan Wangji is so upset and fearful that he's not really thinking clearly at this point. He loves Wei Wuxian and he's certain that cultivating with resentful energy will destroy him. [Note: he's not wrong, Wei Wuxian]  But Wei Wuxian is beyond fear. He's already been destroyed once.

Wei Wuxian rips on Gusu and then says, in a super-provocative way, that he prefers Yunmeng, which prompts Lan Wangji to say "don't joke around" as angrily as possible. 

This part of the interaction always confuses me because...shouldn't he prefer Yunmeng? He's actually from there and lives there and belongs there and stuff? He's just saying "I think I'll go with my brother" yet WWX and LWJ both act like he said he'd rather go to Demon City.

Lan Wangji takes a big step forward and Jiang Cheng blocks him while Wei Wuxian continues to act unperturbed and puzzled while holding his demon flute out in between them. 

Finally, FINALLY, Wei Wuxian calls him Lan Zhan, and asks him a serious question: What do you really want. Lan Wangji calms down for a second--although he keeps leaning into Jiang Cheng's sword block--and gets to the point, which is that the unorthodox path is dangerous, and harmful to his temperament.  

Kill one turtle together and you think you're the boss of me

So, these dudes are talking about 2 different levels of unacceptable cultivation, in this episode and the next few. Netflix translates these as "wicked tricks" and "crafty tricks," which both sound absolutely ludicrous in English, so I'm going to use my own preferred terms, going forward.  

I think what they are calling "Wicked Tricks," which includes spirit snatching and feeding people to the murder turtle on purpose in order to harvest their resentment could be translated as Heresy--adhering to a forbidden belief or practice; standing in opposition to Orthodoxy.  

Edit: After rewatching Episode 35, in which Nie Huaisang explains why their whole blade thing doesn’t count as “wicked tricks,” I’ve changed my mind about what to call this. NHS says that “wicked tricks” specifically involve the use of humans & human spirits (killing, sacrificing, etc.). Which means Necromancy is probably the better term for this particular type of cultivation, although it is still (also) Heresy. 

"Crafty Tricks," which is using resentful energy to raise and control already-dead people (ghosts and zombies) as well as just generally using resentment for basic stuff like beating Jin Zixuan's ass, could be translated as Heterodoxy--deviating from the accepted belief or practice, but not to the point of complete opposition.

Wei Wuxian laughs while Lan Wangji tries to be convincing, but since Lan Wangji is just repeating what he's been taught, he's not making much headway. Instead of saying "there's no exception throughout history" he could have, instead, gone with his own actual observations, such as "you are acting like a sadistic prick" or "you seem amazingly miserable" or "you aren't hugging your brother, what the fuck is that about?" But no.

Wei Wuxian responds to the charge of heresy by saying nuh-uh, and explains his methods, sort of, while going back to calling him Lan Er Gongzi. Lan Er Gongzi responds by actually literally yelling at him, and saying he's not allowed to decide for himself about what he's doing, as if the words "allowed to" have ever meant a goddamn thing to Wei Wuxian.

Temperament

At this point Wei Wuxian is done. He goes and gets right up in Lan Wangji's face and sticks a metaphorical knife right in his heart, smiling as he does it. "How do others know my temperament?" he asks; "and why should it be their concern?" i.e. you are not in my heart. 

This makes Lan Wangji so mad he calls Wei Wuxian "Wei Wuxian" for possibly the only time in the show, and he also flashes a whole bunch of angry teeth. (Gifset here). In a callback to the JFM-YZY fight back in Lotus Pier before the war, Wei Wuxian just calmly says "Lan Wangji" back at him, and then tells him to go fuck himself.

Jiang Cheng still doesn't understand what the fuck is happening, but this is a sentiment he understands, so he also tells Lan Wangji to go fuck himself, reminding him that Wei Wuxian is Jiang clan property and it's not the Lans' place to discipline him. Adding "and I'm not going to discipline him any way, look how good he is at killing people!"

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji continue to stare into each others' eyes from a distance so close that it really should lead to making out, but they are both much too angry for that. 

Wei Wuxian is as cold as we ever see him, smiling as he silently confirms: I do not belong to you. Lan Wangji glares back, his anger maybe finally giving way, a little bit, to being hurt.

Finish Him!

Wen Chao picks this moment to wake up and crawl over to the trio, begging Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng to save his life, since he presumably knows it's pointless to beg Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian turns around and gives him the EXACT SAME dead-eyed smile he just gave Lan Wangji, and kicks him.

Then he tells Lan Wangji to please leave so he and his brother can finish torturing this dude to death, and caps it with an official Jiang Clan eye roll.  

Lan Wangji, poor bb, just throws in the towel, and turns and leaves, the anger finally starting to leave his face and be replaced with something else...chagrin, maybe? Or maybe just softer anger, for the moment. 

After he's out of sight Wei Wuxian turns and looks after him sadly, all of the cruelty and hardness gone from his expression, while Wen Chao says "forgive me,"  possibly voicing what Wei Wuxian is thinking.

Lan Wangji walks out the front gate, troubled, and hears Wen Chao scream. He stops and replays the most pointed part of the fight in his head - the part where Wei Wuxian asked him, "who do you think you are?" Lan Wangji went into the fight believing he was completely right and was entitled to judge Wei Wuxian, but he's come out of it with his certainty shaken. 

Family Time

The Yunmeng brothers go to the ancestral shrine in Lotus Pier even though the whole "reclaiming Lotus Pier" scene doesn't happen until Episode 24. So apparently they just kind of sneak into the the shrine, and then sneak back out. Or, you know, continuity error.  Anyway Wei Wuxian is nothing if not adept at sneaking around death-related places.

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng bow and offer incense. It's nice that the Wens didn't fuck up everybody's name plaques when they were in control of the place...or the tassels, candles, etc. 

Wei Wuxian quietly tells Yu Ziyuan and Jiang Fengmian that he did what they asked--taking care of Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli--and they can rest now. Nosy parker Jiang Cheng wants to know what he's saying, but Wei Wuxian just changes the subject. 

They talk about going to Qinghe for the final combat of the Sunshot Campaign. Wei Wuxian says that's why he returned, which...dude, you can't even pretend you came back to be with your loved ones? Ouch. Jiang Cheng doesn't really react to that, but he's happy when Wei Wuxian says he wants to see Jiang Yanli. Wei Wuxian wants to know if she's ok and if she's mad at him, and Jiang Cheng says wait and see, because direct answers are not the Jiang Clan way.

Jiang Yanli is helping tend to the wounded, and we see her telling a particularly fussy wounded dude to suck it up and stop complaining. 

When Wei Wuxian shows up she totally stops paying attention to the wounded dude so that she can smile at Wei Wuxian. 

He looks back at her tearfully, briefly managing to smile but then just trying to hold it together. He has been to hell and back, and doing his very best to hide it, but when he sees the person who loves him most--the person who will NOT spend 20 minutes yelling at him as soon as they see him--he starts to crack open.

#fytheuntamed #the untamed #the untamed gifs #wangxian #restless rewatch the untamed #my gifs #canary3d-original

[cat-scarr]

A Deconstruction of The Flame Keeper’s Circle & The Audience’s Common Complaints | Catgirl

As the title states, I’ve been reminded of a couple complaints made about this episode that stem from a large portion of the audience’s general disliking of the way both Ben and Julie were handled during the run of Ultimate Alien. In fact, I recently read a "review" of “The Flame Keeper's Circle,” or, more of a parody, actually, since a review would actually have some kind of substance to it and not just...a slew of insults thrown at a show you claim to like. It's almost like you're looking for something to be mad at, but anyway.

One of those was the OP actually asking someone to (probably joking, but anyway) explain "how Ben's mind works" to them.

And I was like, gladly!

According to the comments under the review, it seems like the general audience didn't really like this episode all that much when it first aired. Which, I bring up because, I on the other hand, actually did. And for a reason: because it proves my previous defence points right.

There's a lot of talk about Ben coming off as a “jerk” or a “douchebag”...but, in a situation such as the one presented within “The Flame Keeper’s Circle,” I would argue he did exactly what he should have done. So that's where I beg to differ.

This episode puts Ben in a position where he, once again, needs to deal with the overlap of a romantic relationship and his priorities as a superhero. The only reason there is conflict here is because they are both important to him.

A bad boyfriend would only care about himself, but Ben clearly cares about not only the safety of his (clearly, quite naive) girlfriend, but also the safety of the rest of the earth. Which, as I’m going to be stating several times, should be something expected of him considering everything else within the series that establishes who he is as a character.

So, on the topic of things that are important, ask yourselves, why would Ben prioritize going along with Julie's idea of joining a cult more than keeping her, and the rest of the world, safe when he realizes the trouble she could potentially be getting herself into?

Throughout the episode, and the fandom’s discussions from what I’ve seen, there is so much focus on "oh, he laughed at her idea so he's a douchebag and therefore a bad boyfriend" and not enough focus on the fact that he's not blindly following an alleged “good cause” because he isn't naive and that's in character based on everything we know about him as a character.

Context matters. And this kind of thing only further makes me question the people who want to cry "inconsistent" writing or characterization because he's acting the way he's been conditioned to.

Arguably from the age of ten, Ben's been dealing with situations where he needed to fight to survive and decide who to trust. Sometimes he trusted the wrong person, which wasn't done out of any other reason besides wanting to help and do the "right thing."

For example, Michael Morningstar in the episode “All That Glitters,” who fooled Ben and his team into thinking he was innocent all while abusing school girls for their life energy and almost killing Ben's cousin.

Or, Simian in “Birds of a Feather," who fooled Ben into thinking he was royalty and into helping him steal something that would aid the Highbreed in their mass murder plot.

In that way, Ben and Julie could have related in this situation because they were both trusting people in the interest of doing something “good.” Both Michael and Simian made Ben believe that they had something in common, or a common goal they could work together to reach. But, he trusted them blinded by his ambition and drive to save the world. Much like Julie is blinded by the promise of being a part of a group trying to make the world a better place.

As such, Ben has made the mistake before, so he's extra weary of how things could go very wrong. He's not against his girlfriend just to be a “jerk” - he's been through things like this before, and we’ve seen him go through those things.

Furthermore, the situation in which Julie is trusting The Flame Keeper’s Circle involves her indirectly agreeing to work with Vilgax. Who, as anyone familiar with Ben should know, is one of if not Ben’s biggest, and more importantly, most dangerous enemy.

Again, she, at the beginning didn’t know that he was involved, or what Ben had gone through already to make him act the way he does in this situation, but she does know what his job entails at this point in the series. She should probably infer that he’s suspicious for a good reason, as should the audience.

Not trusting people blindly is something he learned from being the leader of his team, while trying to protect the earth, namely from the Highbreed invasion back in Alien Force when he was putting together a stronger team. It would only make sense for him to then apply that to a situation in which his significant other gets roped into that which he fights against.

Speaking of fighting against, that brings me to another odd criticism of the writing of this episode. It’s no surprise that the flawed belief of Ben coming off as an alleged “sociopath” is brought up again, considering this episode takes place after The Ultimate Kevin arc. And yes, I realize the problematic connotations of using that term as a borderline insult as part of the issue here. But that aside, in this episode, the fact that he begins to fight Vilgax in his apparent “weakened” state is what is being attributed to that description.

Besides the fact that defending Vilgax is questionable in itself, he’s never needed water to survive for the many times he actually tried to kill Ben. I can’t find a solid answer from a writer that knows for certain if his need for water is genuine except for one who is only assuming that is the case when he’s in this state.

But regardless, (since he clearly survived long enough to morph with Dagon and become a bigger threat to the earth later on) we are still defending Vilgax the LITERAL INTERGALACTIC WARLORD.

Y’know, the guy who’s only in this position because of his own immoral actions? Who absolutely would not hesitate to take advantage of his opponent's weakened state in order to further get away with his immoral actions? Such as he is in this very episode, taking advantage of the people wrongfully worshiping him?

If we are trying to imply that Ben is “just as bad as Vilgax,” then I would assume you’d easily find the flaw in that being Ben’s motivation for incapacitating a dangerous offender who is, at the moment, manipulating naive humans to work for him and help him continue get away with his immoral actions. Which is, needless to say, not the same as Vilgax, at all.

Again, you’d think that’d be obvious.

The Flame Keeper’s Circle’s mission is to end human suffering and find a solution to certain issues happening across the globe with the help of alien technology that is much more advanced than what everyday people are used to. And, while the end goal seems like a good cause, even something Ben as a superhero would be all for, the means through which they attempt to get there aren’t a good idea, at all.

A lot of people find it hard to navigate the use of technology considered advanced by human standards in the real world, so you can only imagine the various things that could go wrong if those kinds of people were suddenly exposed to something much more powerful. In short, a lot could go wrong.

Again, Ben has been in that exact position as soon as he was armed with the Omnitrix. Which is exactly why he’d see the flaw in what these people are trying to do, and therefore not be convinced that it’s such a good idea to allow them to continue, much less endorse it.

This is why I love when the writers actually allow Ben to speak for himself instead of cutting him off for drama or plot. Once he actually gets a word in, or more accurately, has his moment of heroic monologue, he makes himself very clear and, I think, only further proves what I’m trying to say about him.

Here he is, explaining exactly what I’ve been trying to highlight throughout this body of work:

Ben: “Even if Dagon was real, using alien technology to accelerate a planet’s natural development won’t bring utopia, it’ll bring disaster. It’s happened before. Why do you think the Plumbers have those laws? But even that’s not the point, because that isn’t Dagon! His name is Vilgax. He’s not a hero, he’s a selfish, evil warlord who’s using you. And if you let him get in his ship, he’s going to fly off and start an interstellar civil war.”

It’s not that only he can use alien technology to save the world, it’s that his status as a hero proves that he knows what he’s doing, unlike these businessmen in fancy robes leading a cult for profit.

That is not what I would have assumed reasonable people would consider “douchebag behaviour.” That’s actually smart, and going back to my first point, exactly what he should be doing in a situation like this.

The actual episode does end off on a positive note for both Ben and Julie, which is omitted from the review and most of the comments I have read from others on the topic. And, I bring it up because it’s actually vital to wrap up everything brought up within this episode that I have just expanded on. Not only because they make up and seem to understand each other’s perspective after all is said and done, but because they both agree to be open to further discussion on the topic, as Ben offers to go out for dinner.

Which, needless to point out I hope, but once again, is not “douchebag behaviour.”

#new essay to make up for all the drama lately #enjoy ben 10 protection squad <3 #ben 10 #ben tennyson #ben 10 ultimate alien #the flame keeper's circle #benlie #julie yamamoto #ben 10 uaf #essay files #and yes new essay title format cuz reasons :P

[midnight-in-town]

About the current (last?) arc of AnY and going full circle

Sorry if some fans already mentioned those ideas but I’ve been rereading the current arc, because it’s been quite long and the pace has its flaws sometimes, so I wanted to broaden my perspective on the story. 

First of all, as an introduction can I just say that I’m, as always, impressed by Hak’s character. He had so much cliché and shallow potential when the story started (I really used to roll my eyes at him), but he became one of my absolute favorite by how deep and strong-hearted he actually is, once he allows people behind the walls he built around him. Anyway, my love for his character & development knows no boundary. I had to say this, ok. I’ll explain why later in the post. Moving on. 

A conflict of generation

If there is one thing I love about Kusanagi-sensei, it’s the feminine touch she adds to her writing. For example, when she naturally addressed periods during the Xing arc and it fit perfectly, because that’s just how her writing goes. In this arc, it shows through the initial bold move to tell us readers about the past through the thoughts and words of a character we’ve never met, that is to say, Yonhi, Yuhon’s wife and Suwon’s mother. 

And yet, it made absolute sense, because Yonhi was the reason behind the cataclysm that eventually led to Yuhon killing priests, as well as the falling-out between him and his younger brother, Il. All along, Yonhi was the silent but pained witness to this feud, watching as the ego of two brothers destroyed everything when none of the two backed down, leading to first Kashi’s death, then Yuhon’s murder and finally Suwon’s coup. 

So, in a way, even if I think Suwon makes a far better king than Yuhon or Il, his circumstances kinda precede the logical decision to get Il out of the picture before he completely annihilated his own kingdom in poverty and war, because there is too much resentment and hatred that fueled Suwon while growing up, even if we readers know that his motivations are primarily about saving Kouka from war against the Kai Empire.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely despise both Yuhon and Il but, unfortunately for Suwon, Yona growing up sheltered and mostly unaware of the horrible truth highlights her own decisions throughout the series to be completely selfless and wanting to own up to her father’s misjudgement, rather than trying to get back at Suwon, effectively breaking the cycle of hatred amongst the royal family. 

Why the Wind Tribe kept on supporting Il when everyone else could notice that he was betting on his daughter as the reincarnation of King Hiryuu to save his country is beyond me (Mundok plz explain). Not that Yuhon was better, preaching wars, and I’m glad that Il eventually reconciled with Yonhi, telling him that he would accept Suwon’s judgement but...

...I can’t forgive him for his words. 

Like Yonhi, I’d rather he would have hoped that his conflict with his brother did not reach his children than entertaining it the way he did.

Hopefully though, now that Yona read Yonhi’s memoirs, she will work towards achieving that goal. Not that I have any doubt, since she never really managed to hate Suwon. 

Speaking of the past generation, reading the latest chapters I couldn’t help but wonder about Yona's sad dream... could it be that she inherited Kashi’s gift? Kashi did say that she had these prophetic visions since very young which doesn’t seem to be Yona’s case, but I’ll keep the idea in mind, because it’s interesting. I mean, from Yonhi’s memoirs, it seems that Kashi envisioned that the child she would have would be Hiryuu’s reincarnation (whoever the father was going to be), so Yona inheriting the same prophetic gift from her mother would make sense. 

What an ironic parallel to Suwon inheriting the Crimson Illness from Yonhi if that’s the case, am I right? 

Yona as Kouka’s next Queen

And by that I do not mean Keishuk’s plan to marry her to Suwon, because of her popularity with Kouka’s people. Obviously, the story always was to conclude in Yona getting her throne back and that’s even easier to imagine with Suwon’s disabling illness, but becoming a ruler is tough work and Yona had no real experience acting as a leader for an entire country. 

She didn’t know much before her father’s murder and, even after she became a runaway with Hak and the rest of the HHB, she finely dealt with crises affecting some parts of the kingdom but never the whole kingdom at once, like it’s doomed to happen with the war against the Kai Empire. 

So I really appreciated her stepping up when Suwon couldn’t, because that’s definitely good training and we see the results in the latest chapters:

To be fair, I always thought that Keishuk would be the biggest thorn in Yona’s side during this arc but, as many characters have said in this arc, he’s rather clever and honest about what he intends to achieve, which is why it’s not in his interests to get in the way of Yona if they share a similar goal. 

Looking forward to her facing even greater challenges. Good luck, Yona. <3

War against the Kai Empire: there is strength in unity

The Kai Empire has been depicted as the story’s big bad for a long while now and the common goal for which Yona’s faction and Suwon’s allies could unite, but I’m glad to get more specifics and new characters to explore that part of the plot.

Namely, Mei and Vall. With Chagol, they seem like the perfect foil trio to Suwon, Yona and Hak, except that Chagol seems like a real thorn in the other two’s backs, when a strong bond still ties our main trio in spite of the sad circumstances of the beginning. I particularly love the mirroring reflection between Mei and Yona...

&

...except that Mei is not at odds with one kingdom but with two and that she also deals with the Crimson Illness. :/

Now that war has started, the big threat that South Kai represents will obviously be dealt with, but Kouka kingdom will need more than its five tribes to win this. That’s where I’m sure we all expect to see old “enemies” come back, namely Xing Kingdom, since Kouren signed a military agreement with Suwon, thanks to Yona and Tao. I would bet that this won’t be enough either, but Xing are the only known allies that Kouka kingdom has. 

There is another “enemy” we know from the previous arc though, who have strong feelings against the Kai Empire, specifically about rulers treating their women badly and they are...

...Ying Kuelbo and the Tully tribe. 

The big difference between Xing Kingdom and the Tully tribe is that Suwon never met or dealt directly with Kuelbo the way he did with Kouren and Tao. The Tully tribe lost and Kuelbo ran away, betrayed and having to find a new way to take on the Kai Empire. That’s why I think the Tully tribe would eventually make for a good ally in this war: it showed good promises when Yuran and Yona got along and I think Yona understood where Kuelbo was coming from, especially now that Mei is with them and can probably tell them in details about Chagol.

Not saying this will happen soon, but since there is someone who met and fought against Kuelbo, probably gaining his respect, if this person was to seek the Tully tribe to make them Kouka Kingdom’s ally on Yona’s guidance, I think Kuelbo would give it a thought. That’s right, I’m talking about Hak, who’s currently on his way with Yoon to the Earth Tribe to fetch a drug that will not be able to save neither Suwon nor Mei, thanks Zeno for spoiling us. 

That’s what I meant when I said that Hak slowly became one of my favorite characters throughout the story. While the Sky Tribe seems to be taking bets on who between Yona and Suwon will eventually sit for good on that throne, there is a good chance that Hak will be one of the key players when it comes to winning that war against South Kai. Not that we should expect any less from the Thunder Beast. <3

To be very honest though, I expected this arc to be very tough for his character, because the truth behind Il’s death and Suwon’s coup would never be easily understandable to him (Yona’s own words, not mine): 

Yet, surprisingly he was able to at least listen and, no matter if he will ever understand Suwon’s choice or not, he decided to trust in Yona’s decision to back Suwon in the rising political issues.  

In general, I love how Hak is the least bound by the past before Suwon’s coup. He did respect Il as his king, but he did not protect Yona in the beginning for anyone else’s sake but her own. Just like Kashi once asked him to always protect Yona (which is sweet since she could see the future) but, considering he never even thought about her words once in the story, it’s likely he doesn’t remember that at all, making the choice to be by Yona’s side defined as solely his own. 

It’s this strength of his that eventually led him to say recently that he would go fetch that drug with Yoon, knowing that it was for Suwon’s sake (surprising Suwon himself), just like he will definitely fight for Kouka Kingdom, not because Yona wants him to but because it’s clearly his own desire (see ch211 where he let Yun go alone so that he could help the Earth Tribe fight):

All that makes Hak the wildest card of every agency in the plot, not simply because he’s strong and reliable and the biggest worry of the Sky Tribe, but because...

...Yona and the four dragons will never give him up.

Through Hak, Yona will be able to assert her political weight and he will be there for her, like he always was, making it impossible for their little group to lose. What a power move, I love it. 

I think I should stop there because I already rambled so much. Looking forward to the rest of the arc, it’s going to be a wild ride!! 

#akatsuki no yona #hak #yona #suwon #yuhon #king il #yonhi #kashi #any theory #as of: #any211 #my analysis

[belit0]

@heavensbabygirl​

I just found out your blog and I'm in love with it 🥺💞 your writing is really good. If it's not much of a trouble I'd like to ask for a headcanon or scenario about the uchihas (whoever you'd like to choose but pls do Madara 🙏🙏) finding out that their uchiha lover is more powerful than them.

Sorry for my english and thank you so much 🥰🥰

Welcome to my little spot ✨🖤 all my love to you!! Thank you so much, you made my day saying that my writing is really good 😭 here you go beautiful soul, Uchiha shower 4 u✨

Indra

This man would be angry, really fuming at the situation. Whoever it is, no one can dare to be stronger than him, unless they are looking to risk their lives.

He goes away for days without explanation after discovering the power of his beloved, and is consumed with indignation and anger. Just because someone has a minimal place in his life does not give that person the right to humiliate him.

When he returns he is surrounded by a terribly dark aura, something frightening and terrifying. The man who dominated his lover on the floor during their training to end up getting one’ s mouth on an intimate kiss… no longer exists.

His countenance is apprehensive, hard and cold.“ We’ll fight, right now. ”

During the battle, it is clear from the first moment that Indra does not hold back one bit. His intentions are in fact murderous. Even if he is confronting his lover, the fact that the latter has disrespected him in this way… he will not tolerate it.

He is clearly stronger than before his departure, and it is obvious that his absence was to improve and overcome his partner.

He did indeed succeed. Without remorse he strikes his lover one last time, leaving one on the verge of death on the floor. “Never dare to believe that you can be on top of me. Know your place or die before me.”

He hovers over his beloved and kisses with possessiveness.

Madara

Unlike the previous man, Madara finds the situation stimulating. A new challenge? Of course he will face it.

After his lover has imposed itself on him, when normally one would have given in to his overwhelming force, he gets up from the floor and shakes the dust off his clothes with a measured calm.

This Uchiha has a plan for everything. He knows it, and his partner knows it.

He knows how to recognize power when he sees it or experiences it, Madara is no fool. In his heart he is excited to find someone to defeat other than Hashirama.

The latter makes things go out of control…

Uchiha’s honour is above all else, and while he knows how to recognise a good opponent, let it be his partner who knocks him down, it makes him conflict. He dominates and manages, roles must be re-established.

Madara will not allow the fight to end until he succeeds in regaining superiority. Never.

His mate ends up letting themselves be defeated only so that the man stops trying to hit them.

Izuna

To be defeated? By whom should admire and love him? That just doesn’t add up. The only one who can be stronger than him is his big brother.

This Uchiha is… an immature child. If someone managed to beat him and by chance it is not Madara, it is because that person is probably cheating, using some trick. He doesn’t fail, least of all his skills. He will never admit it. (Questions about the incident with Tobirama? He let himself be beaten out of pity 😉)

For days, any minimal activity with his lover becomes a challenge. Walking in the woods? Let’s see who reaches that tree first. Lift the dishes from the table? Whoever picks up the most is the winner. Swim in the river? Whoever touches the other bank first beats the other.

He will do what he deems necessary to show that he is better than his partner, playing dirty is in his plans.When he finds that his lover is training alone, he bothers them, talking to them while they meditate and distracting them when they want to concentrate. That won’t happen.

Izuna knows that it’s difficult to reach his partner’s level, so he turns to Madara for help. His skill level easily increases when it comes to fighting his brother.

Finally, he challenges his partner to fight again. When things end in a draw, he can’t say he’s happy, but he’s… calm.

Obito

He is immediately surprised by the strength of his lover. He feels proud. How was it possible for him to get someone capable of surpassing him?

A tear of pain at the blows he received escapes his eyes. He does not feel the need to keep his guard up when he is with the person he loves. “I’m fine… that was… wow.”

He feels disappointed with himself for not being attentive enough to detect his partner’s true potential. He mentally notes that he must be more observant in the future.

He gets up from where he landed because of the beating he received and waits for his beloved partner to wrap up in a hug. “You sure are strong, huh?”

He allows his loving one to heal his wounds, and expresses the admiration he feels growing inside his chest at the power he has witnessed.

“… I’m just… I’m happy that you’re the one to help me continue the Uchiha legacy, you know?”

Shisui

He bursts into a nervous laugh when he realizes that he almost didn’t avoid his partner’s death blow. He have never been so grateful for his body flicker.

Shisui is absent-minded when it comes to things that have nothing to do with his work, but… he never believed that so much that he did not notice the overwhelming power of his lover.

His agility makes it impossible for punches or catches, but the Uchiha is aware that, if he drops the pace at which he is teleporting, he will be caught by one of those terrifying blows. He is impressed and makes the most of the situation to investigate the new skill his lover shows.

He is really enjoying himself. Teasing others is part of his being and… seeing his partner get frustrated at not being able to reach him, laughter is inevitable.

Until a blow hits him in one of his carelessness and his mocking is history. The only person who laughs now is the one who loves him, watching him grunt in pain.

Itachi

This man… this man always knew. Who are we kidding?

The Uchiha was waiting for the moment his partner thought it was time to reveal their true power. He was always aware that the other person was holding back when they were fighting together.

He feels vaguely insulted by his partner’s hidden ability. Does this person think that he is weak? Does this person think that he will not be able to bear it? He is determined.

Itachi strikes even harder until his lover has no choice but to give everything. He is truly overwhelmed by the person next to him when he is defeated.

"There’s no need to hold back on me… please.”

From that phrase, his partner fights with their full power, and Itachi learns from each encounter something new. Not only in the context of the confrontations, but also of the personality and mannerisms of his beloved.

With each beating he receives, he falls even more deeply in love with the person next to him.

#uchiha clan #uchiha madara #uchiha izuna #uchiha obito #uchiha shisui #uchiha itachi #otsutsuki indra #uchiha headcanons #madara #izuna #obito #shisui #itachi #indra otsutsuki #naruto shippuden #naruto imagines