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linaharutaka · 26 days

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gen question but isnt dedegoon or dedesuka or whatevr a proship? ive seen some ppl calling it a proship cuz its abusive but your bio says proship dni so idk if its ok to ship or what (sorry im new to this)

hiya! thank you for your ask! it isnt and heres why

first of all i am /Not/ proship. i am not anti-anti or whatever either. what drives me to ship them is the fact theyre friends who like to be in each other's company. i like their sweet moments together. they bond over scamming an innocent population and bullying children. they're partners in crime. theyre besties who talk shit about others as a hobby.

i also don't think theyre already dating. i look at their relationship and im like. you guys have some kind of weird crush on each other and you're also selfish assholes. they're in the world's worst situationship.

"but dedede whacks escargoon a lot!" not only does escargoon get physical towards him too (the dynamic starts shifting in the dentist episode) but his "punishments" are often for a reason. escargoon is often very mean to dedede. in almost every episode he calls him hopeless or stupid or ugly or anything like that. and that gets him a whack. if i were dedede i'd do that too! it'd piss me off! having my lackey who i pay and who i consider my best friend insult me so overtly over and over LOL. but does escargoon ever try and stop him his evil doing? hell no! the guy helps him and gives him advice and ideas! he is NOT a good guy either. he loves being mean! he literally says it!

of course escargoon cares a loy about him. pretty sure everyone is aware. i don't even need to compile all the times he runs after him or worries about his well being. one time he "left" after he realised he'd have to do all the waddle dee's chores and didn't want to do his job. guess who's shown tearing up when seeing what poor state dedede is in after being left all on his own. he's always protecting him and defending him (sometimes backhandedly) from other people. he holds dedede dear. it's obvious he does. he's an old man, he's not being manipulated into liking dedede. he genuinely cares about the guy.

there are episodes where they bicker a lot but end up getting along, episodes where they're the best of friends and episodes focused on their resentment against one another. the show kind of yoyos with their relationship. it's not really anything to take seriously. if you get offended from their interactions you'd get a heart attack from watching looney tunes. the back and forth of their dynamic is part of the fun!

I *highly* recommend watching the original version of the show as the dub often replaces sweet lines they share with jokes that don't really hit the mark. it's a shame. (however i will give the dub some credit on occasion)

Actually, i have a [post] that compiles a lot of sweet screenshots of them together. it doesnt include the times where they hold on to each other in the cannons or in the whispy woods episode or when esxargoon said "isnt this strange? can't you feel we're striving apart?" and dedede says "what! that's ridiculous!" in a lighthearted voice. or when escargoon makes a joke about a late night drive being romantic and dedede just? laughs in agreement? there's a scene where they call each other stupid in the most friendly way ever. i actually have a handy twitter of fun scenes where escargoon gets away with some things (doesn't include when escargoon yells at him in the fireworks episode or orders him in episode 69), like saying *he's* actually the one in power because dedede isn't competent enough to reign. or dedede understanding escargoon's concerns of him becoming dumber than he is already.

they're just villains who are attached to each other and are a team no matter what.

escargoon protects dedede a lot, and he cares about him more than what his job entails, but people tend to forget he's got a special place in dedede's heart too.

dedede keeps an album of pictures they took together. he never threatens to fire him and, as far as i know, never even cuts his salary and is the only one in the castle to even have a bonus. he shares the food he keeps from the waddle dees with him in episode 93. he clarifies he doesnt want knuckle joe's monsters to attack either of them. he's fine spending large amounts of money on him. twice? he never calls him ugly somehow. he even thanks him for having put up with him for so long and serving him well when the world is about to end. and then he clings unto him because he's scared of dying alone. his way of showing affection is not the "im crying because i think you're in danger" type of way that escargoon shows a lot but it's there.

Of course i don't think they're perfect gay rep. that's literally so stupid. you think im gonna look at two dumbasses who are bitter towards one another from what, a parodic, satirical children's anime from the early 2000s, and go "hmm yes this is what every queer couple should aspire to be this is peak lgbt rep"

If we're gonna talk about them how about we talk about some issues this show has that no one ever addresses. the colorism of the uv episode that is not put into question, not even by tiff, the moral compass. the rising sun imagery that is very much intentional as dedede is a caricature. the fatphobia? the fact kirby calls kawasaki and nagoya homos??? straight up???

people often blame episode 88, and yeah, it's not my favorite episode either. everyone's weird in that episode, not just dedede! yabui is far from empathetic, even the ebrums are disrespectful, and escargoon taunts dedede into chasing him for laughs and teases him about his old age. even at the end he teases him. i think it's one of those episodes that you just have to blame on the writers kinda like 89 (for example this one has got the right message but the execution is painful to watch. poor tiff.)

now, if 88 had changed their relationship it'd be a different matter. there are some sweet moments they share outside of their general "partners in crime" dynamic past episode 88 in my post actually! my favorite is the one where dedede has his arm around escargoon who's curled up like a cat while they're sleeping and the waddle dees are tucking them in from episode 91. it makes me so happy.

i could probably talk so, so much more about them. they're a huge comfort to me. however i don't trust just anyone with them. i am very much aware some people like them for the wrong reasons. but if you have a brain you can see where i'm coming from.

the show makes fun of them because they're evil, self-centered cowards. not because they're "gay" or anything like that. i saw someone call them queerbait one time and i had to log off for a minute.

anyway, to answer your question, people who do not recognize their genuine attachment to one another are bound to have a twisted view of them. i don't like dedegoon because they're "toxic" or awful to each other. but because they're each other's best friends. that's all. it's fine if you don't ship them, too. i just hope i can prove to people that they do matter to each other and that they're friends :)

#ask #yes i made sure to include other images than the ones already in my comp im doing a great job in dedegoon #there are so many things i didnt include there #everytime i think of them i remember something new #i also want to point out that i rewatch the show regularly. im on my... uh.. 7th proper rewatch? with my boyfriend #so. if anyone accuses me of fandomifying this show they chose the wrong person #also they say aishiteru 3 times atp idk what to tell you

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yesimwriting · 11 months

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Spiderverse huh 👀 how uh

How do you feel about spider-punk 👁️👁️

a/n ohhh he's so boyfriend idc, but i feel like in an accidental way?? like his official stance would be something like 'defined relationships mainly exist in order to further consumerism and marriage is just a way for the government to be more involved in daily lives, etc'

and he'd probably also say he doesn't like consistency so he doesn't believe in dating, but the second he has a crush on someone he's so done for,, like if anyone asks about the person he likes he'll be like wdym??? we're literally married? but to the actual person he'd do nice things but pretend it has nothing to do with them lmao

i feel like he'd be so supportive too, like you could do anything and he'd be like wow, amazing, show stopping, what a way to fight against the establishment!!

anyways here's a little blurb bc i love him (in this one, the reader works in the news world, nothing too specific, just that they have a camera and a reason to go out of their way to risk their safety to take pictures of an active villain attack/crime)

warnings: me writing a character for the first time (so potentially a little ooc), a person that knows nothing about british people writing a british character, mutually pining besties

----

The whole thing had been an abrupt burst of chaos, and what no one ever talks about when it comes to any type of sudden disaster is the aftermath. Adrenaline starts to dwindle and you're forced to take in and process what happened.

You force yourself to breathe slowly as you examine your surroundings. The building across the street from you has sustained some major damage, but everything else still seems stable. Everyone you can see looks like they're safe and in the distance you can hear sirens. First responders are already making their way to the scene. That's a good sign, yet you can't bring yourself to feel relieved.

Not until a familiar blur of motion catches the corner of your eye. You step back, furthering yourself from the edge of the rooftop to give him some space. Knowing that he's okay enough to be swinging like that eases that tension in your chest. A fact he can never know because of how you ended up on this rooftop. So instead of smiling and greeting him the way you normally would, you cross your arms and keep your expression steady.

"Everythin' alright up here?" He keeps his tone casual, a subtle reminder that your best friend isn't your best friend right now.

You tilt your head, giving him a pointed look. You want to be as mad as you were at first, but seeing that he's uninjured always makes you lose any edge. He doesn't look like he's been hit or injured and he's standing in a way that doesn't favor a particular side of his body more than the other. He is, however, making a point of keeping an arm behind his back. Because he doesn't seem to be in any notable pain, you decide that your questions should wait until later, when you're somewhere where you can be concerned openly.

"Everything was alright on the ground." You lift the camera that's hanging from the strap around your neck. "...When I was doing my job."

He takes a step towards you, angling his head downwards and lowering his voice like someone might hear you even though you're stories above the people attempting to get through the aftermath of the incident. "You got plenty of photos before...I checked."

The last part is tacked on almost sheepishly, like there's something embarrassing about the admission. It takes you a second to get why. You didn't see him before he swung onto the scene, all business and not in the mood to even hear your justification for staying close to the action. That means your abrupt kidnapping relocation wasn't as sudden and unreasonable to him. He didn't just pluck you from the ground and place you on a rooftop he deemed safe enough at the first sign of increasing trouble. He had trusted you to take care of yourself until things escalated.

You fight to not soften. "Still." Tilting your chin up in an attempt to appear stern, you speak slowly. "You could've asked."

He sighs, shaking his head. "You would've said no."

"Yeah, and I would've been entitled to," you mumble, arms finally relaxing. "But...thanks." The second he pulled you away, the wall to the building you were standing closest to crumbled. Maybe you should give Hobie some credit for that.

"Y'know there was a barricade, and the authorities were saying somethin' about no press."

Ah. You knew he'd bring it up eventually. "I um--didn't notice."

He takes a step forward. "Didn't notice?"

"No, I was...busy."

"Doin' what?" He angles his head to one side and you're struck with the feeling that he finds this a lot more entertaining than you want him to.

You sigh. "Sneaking in through the back alley."

He lets out a breath that's suspiciously close to a laugh. You can picture his smile. "Atta girl, ignoring the regulations of a bureaucratic system that wants to keep the truth from the people."

A part of you is pleasantly surprised that he didn't take the opportunity to poke fun at what could be interpreted as a bit of hypocrisy. From time to time you like to gently remind him that nothing bad will happen if he doesn't go out of his way to break a rule because sometimes it's risky, especially with a secret identity. His response is always something along the lines of where's the fun in that?

"So I should have stayed down there?"

He pauses, not liking the turn this conversation is taking. Of course you can handle yourself and a bit of justified rebellion would never cause you any harm, but he can't exactly Spider-Man to the best of his ability with you there. It makes his attention drift back to you, to make sure you're okay. Was stranding you on a roof top the best solution? Maybe not, but you're stubborn and he had to act quickly. Besides, you never take these news reporting spats too seriously.

The corner of your mouth turns up, happy that you're winning this one. "You're sending mixed messages."

"You know how I feel about consistency."

You're about to say something else, a half thought out joke that never gets to develop because a nerve-inducing shout steals the moment. Your head snaps forward and so does Hobie's. "You're gonna have to..."

"Yep." He's approaching the edge the roof, but before he can leap off and into action, he turns. "Oh--before I forget--"

Hobie extends the arm that was tucked behind his back. He's holding something shielded by slightly crumpled, waxy paper. After a second, you realize the mesh of colors peaking out from it are flowers. Some of the stems making up the outer part of the arrangement are slightly bend and a few of the longer pieces have lost their petals. That does nothing to take away from how delicate they look. Your eyes grow wide at the gesture.

you reach out for them almost dumbly, "You got me these?"

He lets you take the bouquet, your fingers brushing against the fabric of his suit. "I uh--yeah." You grin as he clears his throat. "Snagged 'em from that soulless, corporate shop that drove out the last of the good ones. Thought they earned a bit of trouble and these reminded me of you."

Aw. He makes it so hard to be mad at him over abandoning you on a random roof when he does things like this. You look down at the flowers, smoothing out the edges of the paper they're wrapped in.

"They're a little outta shape, I co--"

"No," you shake your head, pulling the flowers towards you defensively, like he was trying to snatch them away, "They're mine and I love them, back off."

He holds his hands up in defense, "Alright, love, no one's taking 'em."

Your smile grows even fonder. "Good."

Another concerning yell reaches the two of you. "Gotta go."

"Wait!" He turns his head, but keeps moving towards the edge. "How am I supposed to get down? You webbed the door shut."

"I did do that," he pauses, but another loud yell echoes around the two of you before he can do anything. "I'll come back!"

"Don't--!" It is so hard to not call out his name sometimes.

He jumps, swinging away, "I'll make it up to you!"

You roll your eyes, adjusting your hold on the flowers. "Yeah," you mumble, knowing there's no way he can still hear you, "You better."

It doesn’t matter anyways, he always does.

----

a/n this was really fun to write! so if you like this and want more spider punk or spiderverse from me, feel free to send an ask

#hobie brown x reaer #hobie brown x you #bobie x reader #spider punk x reader #spider punk x you #hobie brown drabble #spiderverse #spiderverse x reader

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see-arcane · 1 year

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What you said about Jonathan wanting to do good is so true. Like, he reads the letter of recommendation about how nice and good at his work he is and beams up!

Sometimes it felt like ppl thought he was itching to hurt Arthur, Jack, Quincey, and Van Helsing, which was the last thing he wanted to do. He wants to be a good person and not hurt the friends who helped him and his. He KNOWS they're right morally. That's why he doesn't protest them vowing to kill Mina. But it doesn't matter that they're moral and noble, he will cut them down before they can fulfill the promise. And he DOESN'T want to do that.

He was very distinctively silent about his silence, which may be why people interpreted him as a cold-blooded backstabber. But he'd been very unhappily avoiding them for a reason (until Mina started to improve due to Dracula fleeing her mind) because he doesn't want to hurt anyone, especially friends.

That's the added tragedy of it if it had happened! If he had had no moral qualms about killing, there'd have been nothing tragic about his struggle. Because he wants to be good, he knows his friends are good, but he also knows he'll do evil for Mina.

It all feeds into Jonathan Harker as a person who, while striving always to Do Good, does not exist in a stark black-and-white version of morality like the rest of his friends do. He places everything in his world within a hierarchy. We see that with how he reacts in the castle and his miserable game of ‘Would You Rather?’

He would rather die than join the Brides. He would rather live than be meekly torn apart by the wolves, a lamb to slaughter. He would rather risk falling to his death and those same wolves while trying to return home to Mina, proving he did not go quietly at Dracula or the Brides’ whim.

It’s a huge horrible spread of awful choices to make, but since there are no good options, he orders his actions and thoughts by which he deems least awful.

Which is exactly what we see in the predicament with Mina becoming a vampire, her martyr demands, and the Stalwart Classic Heroes swearing to give her what they all deem a merciful euthanasia should she turn.

And then there’s Jonathan. Incapable of nodding along and agreeing with the Stalwart Good Course. Because it’s Mina. Mina exists at the height of importance in all things for him.

I bet it’s a shock in itself when he recognizes that--he really does value her existence, no matter what she is, above good and evil and God and Hell and the lives of innocents. The lives of his friends, who are already risking so much for their sake and the sake of all the strangers Dracula might yet prey on.

If only in his heart, Jonathan has to register himself as a villain in potentia. Would he die for these men? Die beside them? Yes, of course.

But they still exist below Mina in importance. Everything does.

These men are his friends. New, yes, but such a blessing in his lonely life; a small thing revolving around Mina, Lucy, Mr. Hawkins and casual acquaintances he charms but never grows close enough with to earn so much as a named mention in his journal. Seward, Holmwood, Morris and Van Helsing came into his life as his first real batch of friends, a premade camaraderie already set in place. He cares about them immediately and immensely. So much so that his will is made out to them should he and Mina die (or do more than die).

Jonathan would never hurt them...unless he had no choice.

And the fact that that choice is there, lingering in the dark places of his mind where he cannot help putting together another hierarchy of unhappy ‘Would You Rathers?’, is what makes his constant grip on the kukri as tragic as it is foreboding.

#sad about Jonathan Harker hours #jonathan harker #dracula #dracula daily

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maxwell-grant · 1 year

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Sorry, I see you already answered that question in 2021, found that post.

My new question is: what is “the shadow”?

(Art by Dan Schkade)

“Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow Knows…” The maxim that the weed of crime bears bitter fruit, intoned at the start of every program, was biblical in its sternness. The Shadow was an Old Testament avenger, a ruthless slayer of the wicked, very befitting the Depression decade of his greatest strength. The Shadow was both the force for good and lurker in the darkness. - The Shadow Scrapbook

The Shadow, also known as The Master of Darkness, The Dark Avenger, The Master of Men's Minds, Weird Creature of the Night, Identity Theft Georg, That Guy Who Lives in Lamont Cranston's House, "Shads" and other many names, is a mysterious figure who fights evil by turning it against itself. He is a former globetrotting aviator-spy-soldier (revealed to be named Kent Allard, 7 years into the character's run) turned crimefighting paladin who fights to protect and uplift the innocent and bring justice to victims of strife and calamity, and he does so with the black-clad design, domineering charisma, sinister cackle, Machievellian theatrics and ruthless efficiency of a villain.

In action, The Shadow loomed as a cloaked figure, materializing from out of the night, rescuing helpless victims and striking terror into the hearts of evildoers. However, he reserved such theatrics for a logical climax. Between times, The Shadow proved himself a master of deduction as well as disguise.

While his major missions were to stamp out mobs or smash spy rings, he often tabled such routines in order to find a missing heir, uncover buried treasure, banish a ghost from a haunted house or oust a dictator from a mythical republic. The Shadow was such an incredible character in his own right that almost anything he encountered was accepted by his ardent followers. - Walter Gibson

The Shadow began life as the spooky narrator of publisher Street & Smith's radio program, whose sibilant, mocking personality and sinister cackle were dramatically more interesting than any of the programs he was narrating, and so when listeners started asking Street & Smith for a Shadow Magazine that did not exist, they had to make one of their own. To that end, they recruited a young magician turned newspaper writer and former associate of Houdini's fraud-busting network, Walter Gibson, to write the adventures. Gibson was extremely acquainted with the ins and outs of illusionism and sleight-of-hand and worked personally with many of the greatest magicians at the time, and would extensively use said knowledge in crafting The Shadow's character and adventures.

And so The Shadow Magazine began, reviving the "hero pulp" format that had died out in the pre-WW1 dime novels and redefining the mold of crimefighting "pulp heroes" from that decade onwards, as well as many superheroes from that time period inspired by him and his successors. He is currently more famous for being plagiarized by the chief inspiration for a certain guy who runs around with bat ears and for his general role as a highly influential forerunner and influence in forms of storytelling still extensively used today.

On the taxonomical chart of Western comics he’s a common ancestor for a sizeable chunk of the marketplace. Every street vigilante, every masked crime-fighter, every necessary monster: he’s in the DNA of them all. A living fossil, a coelacanth or goblin-shark for the comics world, swimming in waters of ice and ink - Si Spurrier

The Shadow maintained a fluctuating radio career over the 1930s to go along with his highly successful magazine, and he'd eventually reach newfounds heights of stardom from 1937 onwards thanks to the debut of a new radio show, initially starring Orson Welles in the titular role. Said radio show would become an audience hit well into the 1940s and would introduce new fixtures to the character such as friend-and-companion Margo Lane and an invisibility superpower, which were eventually integrated since into the comics and pulps and other media. You can still easily find many of the character's radio adventures online as well as his exploits in comics and pulps (harder to find now, but still possible if you know where to look). I'll pass along my personal recommendations here.

(Art from Matt Wagner's The Curse of Blackbeard Skull, in The Shadow #100)

In the taxonomical history of American crimefighters he sits in between the hardboiled detectives of the 1920s and the 1940s superheroes, and although the 1930s pulp heroes were in part defined largely by imitating him, he is no traditional square-jawed do-gooder: he is a tall, gaunt, cadaverous wraith with the mask of a Western bandit and a vampire's cloak and the clothes of 19th-century cartoons of saboteurs and anarchist bombers. The barest glimpse of the man beneath is that of a judgemental patrician's aquiline nose and intense, sharp eyes, like icepicks probing the back of your skull. He makes a point to show every now and then how easily he can reshape that face to suit his needs, and make it your own, even doing so in front of you to make a point.

He is Dracula meets King Arthur, Sherlockian brainpower and Lupin trickery joined forces, centerpiece to urban thrillers turned into fairytales as The Big Bad Wolf switches sides to save us. Though his setting looks the part, The Shadow is no gritty film noir creature: he is what happens when the cutthroat gangsters and invincible spymasters and predatory businessmen behind it all meet the actual scariest guy around: Death itself, as the ultimate master and servant joined in one, who found a higher calling fighting for us instead, breaking and bending and controlling the rules and tipping them ever so slightly in the favor of those who are usually in no position to fight back.

(Art by Giovanni Timpano, for The Shadow #25)

As we discussed The Shadow, I suggested an opening scene with a cloaked figure emerging from a night fog to prevent a desperate young man from taking a suicide plunge from a high bridge. Thus befriended, the young man would swear loyalty to his rescuer and thereby become involved in exciting adventures with otherp persons who had been aided by the same benefactor, all being united in a common cause against crime. - Walter Gibson

That is where the Agents come in. As The Shadow is a distant living puzzlebox, we are very rarely privy to his thoughts and feelings, he glides through many stories scarcely-seen until he needs to be, and so we frequently experience things from the viewpoint of proxies, whether they are agents or characters swept into intrigue that only The Shadow can save them from. The first Shadow story opens up with a broke and depressed young man named Harry Vincent, ruined by the Great Depression reality of the time and trying to commit suicide, who is saved from it by The Shadow, and upon accepting a new purpose in life as his agent, grows into a dependable and strong ally, friend and even leader to people once like him over the course of the following adventures.

Across his history The Shadow has had agents and allies among all walks of life: redeemed/pretend criminals who use their reputations to provide The Shadow with inside knowledge, war vets, police officers, prison reformists, troublemaking journalists, government agents, politicians, criminologists, psychologists, high society chameleons, streetwise cabbies, janitors, the homeless, even crooks who once worked for those that The Shadow opposed, with some stories dedicated entirely to The Shadow playing guardian angel or working to provide second chances to those who've turned to crime. Community leaders with opposing viewpoints, rebel spies, prostitutes, historical figures such as Amelia Earhart and Nikola Tesla, robots, political activists and freedom fighters, doctors, birds, boxers, actors, magicians, beavers, and a list too big to get into here. There was a crimefighting dog at some point also and he was a very good boy.

Said list also includes the guy most people initially assume is his secret identity, a wealthy globetrotting man-about-town named Lamont Cranston. The first on-screen meeting between The Shadow and his secret identity Lamont Cranston consisted of The Shadow showing up in the dark at Cranston's bedside, wearing his face and telling him in pristine detail how much he's usurped Cranston's life, and effectively blackmailing him into leaving town so he can continue being Cranston uninterrupted. It is considerably less known, however, that eventually Cranston and The Shadow became weird friends following this ordeal and worked together several times, with Cranston turning out to be a pretty entertaining hero in his own right even besides his designated purpose of being rich and useless, even he was not immune to The Shadow's ability to enact positive change on his allies. Which is one note I'll end this post on: that The Shadow and his surroundings can be a lot more layered than given credit for.

I make the argument again and again that The Shadow is an intriguing character with much more to him than simply the gun violence and spooky laughter and murderousness that he's frequently reduced to, even if he isn't quite consistently so (as expected of one who's been around in virtually every medium for over 90 years). He can be compassionate, thoughtful, cautious and consequence-minded in his approach to effectively combat crime and protect others, ridiculous, eccentric, flawed in ways big and small and humanizing, for better or worse depending on who's writing him. He is a versatile shapeshifter as well as an unassailable force of personality to throw into any gathering, any circumstance, any narrative, and remain unique.

(Art by Michael Kaluta, from Hell's Heat Wave)

With those other “masked avenger” pulp types, their masked identities are an act, at least in part. Underneath the hat and mask they are regular guys with relatable motivations. With the Shadow, the guy in the hat and scarf IS the real guy, and his motivations and feelings are largely kept from us.

When we see him in his “civilian” identity, THAT is an act. So there’s a kind of brutal simplicity to his dialogue.

He is what he appears to be, and says exactly what he means. - Chris Roberson

And that's about it as a summary. I have a masterpost pinned at the top because, evidently, I have a lot more to say about the character and more I can't cover here. If you want, feel free to shoot me any additional questions and let me work out my fixation on the weird crime spooky murder man. I have to go off about him at least once a month or else I start eating my furniture so, help me out here.

#replies tag #the shadow #the shadow magazine #shadow comics #shadow radio #lamont cranston #kent allard #pulp fiction #pulp heroes

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phoenixcatch7 · 8 months

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I'm making a persona 5 au of svsss (au in that it was the modern world that was the au, and sy brought something along with him), and I'm having a lot of fun with it!

Sy dies the same way as in canon, but this time as the leader/a member of the Chinese branch of phantom thieves (when and how a Chinese branch was made can be handwaved). He's a fellow wild card, a fool arcana, he's got third eye and a fully realised but unawakened persona.

When he awakes in sqq's body, he starts on as canon, but starts to notice strange fluctuations on qj that indicate the presence of the meta verse - and not only that, but a palace. The system notices the mysterious appearance of a new program it can't delete - the meta nav.

Without the key words, however, Sqq can't get in. He can't find who it belongs to, nor what it might be. One thing is for certain though: lbh cannot find out. The blackened protagonist with free reign of the meta verse? An undoubtedly powerful persona of his own?? It'd be the breakdown incidents all over again! He wouldn't stand a chance!

It takes a lot of arguing with the system about narrative directions and plot holes for it to not direct him to the nearest ripple in reality. In dreams, igor agrees (he has a lot to say about his new situation, but Sqq kinda ignores it).

Then, one day, he finds a fluctuation strong enough to fit a human, and slips right through, his scifi fantasy ninja outfit appears in flames, and he is faced with the distortion of qing jing peak - roiling dark clouds, bamboo towering impossibly far over his head, brown leaves thick on the ground and a thunderous gong ringing from somewhere down the path.

A coliseum.

Screams ring out, metal clashes, beasts roar.

And standing in front of the metal grill gate, tall and bedazzled in riches and more unmarked than shen yuan has ever seen him, is shen qingqiu.

What is persona if not themes of the inner self and fighting literal inner demons and learning to love, both yourself and others, and overcoming tragedy?

There are some things I'm still unsure of, but I really want to explore the idea of the ghost of sj lingering on, still haunting the narrative and how that affects everyone. Normally, when a palace ruler is killed, their palace crumbles as well, but with Sqq still walking around and the systems intervention with his soul (having not died then in canon) the original goods wouldn't be fully gone.

The soul is! It's not sjs ghost, but rather his shadow. Real souls cannot live in the meta verse. But with the real deal gone, sy would be unable to affect him in order to make his way through the palace to the treasure the way a normal heist would go. Instead, he'd have to learn about sj himself, uncovering secrets and dispelling rumours. As the new Sqq, he would have to change his perspective and uncover the story behind the scum villain in order to progress. Remove the distorted perspective from himself.

Mini bosses would be a bad faith interpretation of yqy from sjs perspective, qiu haitang as she was at the manor. Enemies would be the coliseum guards and jailers, the shadow populace qj disciples in general misery, often forced to fight each other or monsters as sj watches on from the top seat. Nyy would sit with him. Poor shadow lbh would be a prime gladiator slave, suffering constant defeat. Sin: envy. I really want to focus on the fact he is both abuser and survivor, and his 'I suffered, thus so should you' thing. A bit like p5 strikers in that.

The plot would be basically Sqq handling both the canon events of svsss and also his investigation into sj, tracing paper trails of slave documents, hunting for potential secrets in the bamboo house, learning about the ghost backstab incident from lqg (which leads him to airplane), building up the courage to go down and talk to the brothel ladies, carefully teasing bits of history out of yqy. Also beating up shadows with a jojo stand and a .7 calibre sniper rifle he can fire like an automatic in his spare time. (if you don't know, persona lets you hold shadows at gunpoint for cash and items, but also flirt, threaten and bribe. Also you can ambush them and sometimes collect them like pokemon it's fun.)

The final battle would have the palace ruler sj transform into his final form (I'm thinking something with chains) but there absolutely has to be a human duel for the first phase, xiu ya to xiu ya. The surrendering of the crown would end in a hug, and sj performing a sincere but bastardised version of the peak lord crowning ceremony before he dissipates, and the coliseum starting to crumble and burn. As for the treasure... In the distorted world, an elaborate peak lord ceremonial crown, in the real world, an old, worn hair ribbon.

If I wrote it, I'd probably keep it shorter. Just the one palace, maybe sqh awakens his persona by virtue of being squirrelly and getting on his last nerve™. I'm thinking of the 'what don't I dare when it comes to you?!' because if that isn't a persona awakening scene I don't know what is. Conquering the bamboo palace would free qj from some 'unnamable' dark cloud and just in time to push lbh in the abyss (the palace time limit bring that sjs spirit would cruelly push lbh into the abyss rather than sy doing it (and being kinder about it)).

If it was longer, more persona users would awaken, despite sqq's best attempts. Liu qingge, ning yingying, shang qinghua obviously, gongyi xiao, zhuzhi lang maybe (they'd both live). A real motley crew. There'd be more palaces along the journey, each with it's own deadline - old palace master, lbh (though his palace would have the gimmick of being actually xin mo's), tianlang Jun, qiu haitang. Sj would still be the overarching palace, this time being the only one without a deadline maybe, and the story would end with a 'not sj' reveal for the new phantom thieves (with a side order of 'we already know and care for you anyway').

A sequel would be shorter: sy visits qiong ding for the first time since its all calmed down and realises that the distortions of a palace are still there, that they weren't a product of the bamboo palace. Yqy has a palace (because you can't tell me that man is mentally well). For a side of angst maybe the sy reveal was more open secret for the need to knows rather than strictly 'whoever witnessed two identical versions of Sqq trying to kill each other' and Yqy develops the palace as a result of not taking that well.

In comparison to the others, Yqy is the strongest cultivator alive, has been sitting on a soul deep distortion and trauma for decades since childhood, recently went through a heartbreaking reveal pointed directly at every single one of those issues, and oh yeah, has his soul directly bound to xuan su.

His palace's difficulty level is nightmarish. The corrupt version of the lingxi caves is a terrifying subterranean crawl through blood soaked caverns and bottomless pits. The gimmick is that near everything wants to suck your soul out. The only saving grace is that distortions are not inherently malicious, and they manage to lever that to their advantage. Unlike the others, yqys palace does not focus on him abusing his power over others - quite the opposite, in fact.

Through murals, echoing voices, and what sy and sqh remember, they piece together his own heart demons. It's scary - outwardly, the sect leader is fine, clear headed, going about his days just fine. The bloodied caverns he sees the world through tell a different story. To gain access it's a long process of easing out stories, working through his deeply ingrained self reliance, helping him work up to confessing the truth of xuan su. Not only to xiao jius shrine, but to his closest martial siblings as well, allowing him to be vulnerable and protected as he never has been.

But Yqy follows them into the palace, curious as to why they visit his peak every day. It's unstable, very dangerous for a person to meet their shadow, but it's too late. Yqy meets his shadow self, small and furious and stuck through with a thousand swords he uses to his advantage, and does the impossible.

A palace ruler awakens a persona.

Even as a trained group, the life force powered xuan su boosted shadow is too strong - they've already failed to defeat it once. Yue qingyuan, breathing grief like air but finally ready to heal, stands for himself. Rips off the smiling mask he's been hiding behind since he was five years old and freshly a big brother. His persona is magnificent.

And just in time, too, because, uh, turns out the meta verse is the systems doing, this time. And it's evil. I'm thinking a giant brainwashing vr-esque super computer. And they defeat it with the power of friendship and also lucifer.

#But if I made it as big as I wanted it'd be 100s k easy #Idk idk it's been swimming in my mind for ages #LONG POST #I've already got some personas and designs thought out but that'll have to be a separate post LMAO #I want to write it so bad ToT #Feel the prequel/sequel is unbalanced but it'd be during/post canon. They don't have to be the same length.#I mean maybe I could make it a palace per fic and have a proper series?#Themes: acceptance/false assumptions/self discovery/love and trust. All those good things.#See this always happens I go to write a funny haha self indulgence thing and it SPIRALS #I don't want 400k of plot I want to see Sqq in a scifi fantasy ninja outfit with a giant sniper gun mowing through 4d demons #While svsss characters watch on in shock and awe #Is that too much to ask??#svsss #shen qingqiu #scum villain's self saving system #scum villain #the scum villain's self saving system #persona series #persona 5 #persona au #persona 5 au #fic ideas #fanfiction #fanfic #crossover #crossover fic #Bamboo palace au

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thenarator · 1 year

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Why exactly do you not like class 1-B? Sorry if that sounds rude, just curious.

(plus it's always fun to read you ranting about MHA)

so, it's not that i particularly hate class 1b or anything. i even like some of their designs and i think their quirks are neat (shemage in particular is fabulous in both design and execution). it's just that, because the story is from izuku's perspective, we get to see very little of their personalities. what we do see of them is filtered through their interactions with class 1a, which means we really only ever get to see them as rivals and antagonists, albeit lower-stakes antagonists than usual. i would probably like them a lot more if we got to see more of them just hanging out as a class, rather than competing with class 1a. however, the only real glimpses we have of how they interact as a class is . . . how they treat monoma.

rant under the cut.

look, i just don't think class 1b is a very good environment for monoma, ok? class 1a would just be much better for him. i think he'd fit way better into the class dynamic and he'd be a lot more popular and well-liked. class 1b don't appreciate him, even though he spends all day every day hyping them up. and for what? to get karate chopped in the neck whenever he gets too enthusiastic? take a seat, kendo.

we already know that monoma was bullied in school for not having a "heroic quirk." the same is true of izuku and shinsou, so honestly this is probably a pretty common problem in the bnha world. if you're a kid that's being bullied, to the degree that you have any friends at all, your friends are probably other kids who are also being bullied. so how do you make friends with that kind of kid? you defend them. that is INSTANT clout on an elementary school playground. if a kid is getting picked on and you step up and say something about it, you and that kid are immediately besties. foolproof strategy, always works.

that probably worked pretty well for monoma through elementary school and middle school. he got very good at it. his prime directive for making friends became "defend your ingroup, attack your outgroup." i mean, kids can get bullied for a variety of nerdy interests, but one thing they all like is talking shit about the people who are mean to them. you will find no greater vitriol for supermodels than among the kids who get bullied for being fat. monoma learned that in order to make friends he needed to be the first person to stand up for others and the loudest person calling out injustice. that's just how it was.

unfortunately, that strategy doesn't work so well in hero school.

there's not a whole lot of bullying going on in a class made of people who want to be heroes (unless you're, like, bakugou or something), so there's not a lot of "ingroup vs outgroup" dynamics. there are cliques, but there isn't an "us vs them" mentality. not to mention, most of these kids weren't ever bullied, because they're strong and have good quirks. many of them were popular and never needed anyone to defend them because they were never under attack.

monoma's strategy no longer works, because no one needs him to fight for them.

UNLESS YOU'RE CLASS 1A!

class 1a are CONSTANTLY under attack! all the fucking time! their first day of school they weren't even allowed to go to orientation, they were immediately set the ridiculous task of figuring out how to use their quirks in brand new ways in a matter of minutes, and then told that the person who was slowest at it would get EXPELLED. it wasn't like "all of you need to reach this benchmark or you won't be able to handle the curriculum" it was literally "ONE OF YOU IS GOING HOME AND THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO PREVENT IT, SO MAKE SURE IT ISN'T YOU!" and then, on their SECOND week of school, they get driven out to a remote facility and attacked by VILLAINS! they have to fight for their lives! they have to work together or get killed! SEVERAL OF THEM LITERALLY ALMOST DIE!

this is a class that needs monoma SO MUCH!!!

class 1a is constantly being torn down, by circumstances and by their own teacher, and they NEED a dedicated cheerleader! they need someone to hype them up! they need someone to say "i know this situation sucks but we're the best so we can do it!" they need someone to tell aizawa that he's being unreasonable, or failing that to tell the students that their teacher is wrong about them and they're not worthless or stupid or whatever else insulting things he calls them! they need someone to hype them up, to organize them against the enemy, to give an inspiring speech and get them all fired up! this isn't just artificial ingroup vs outgroup dynamic, this is a class that's constantly having to rally together to deal with clear and present danger! monoma would be GREAT at that!

and yet he gets stuck in class 1b, where all he gets for all his hype and enthusiasm is whacks to the neck and occasionally blows to the back of the head that DRAW FUCKING BLOOD.

anyway class 1b don't appreciate what they have and for that they deserve abject humiliation, thank you for coming to my TED talk.

#bnha #neito monoma #monoma neito #phantom thief #class 1B

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hajihiko · 2 years

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how would you rank the sdr2 kids in terms of how easy it would be for junko to turn them into ultimate despair?

Ooooh this is a fun ask I'm gonna take my time w this one see u when it's ready

This is not "everyone gets hypnotized" btw this is "everyone gets manipulated to shit" and also just mmy speculation

Nagito: already pretty radical in thinking, already showed how he'll play the bad guy to incite the good guys into action. Doesnt have a lot of years left so he could be convinced that this was the only way for him to ever see the world he wants to see in his own lifetime, by speeding up the process of despair-to-hope. Doing it for a "good" reason, totally believes the world will be a better place after all is said and done.

2. Mikan: long history of abuse, was I think supposed to be one of Junkos first, with Junko being the first person to be 'nice' to her? Would be somewhat easy to make her dependent on Junko's gross simile of love. She also wants power over people (to make sure they can't/ wont hurt her) so as soon as you dangle the possibility of her new and slightly less shitty life being taken from her, should she not cooperate, I think she'd fold easily. Also wow she does show some concerning tendencies.

3. Peko: If Fuyuhiko had already been gotten, she'd follow easily, at first maybe to make sure he's safe, but unfortunately I think that a despaired Fuyuhiko wouldn't be above manipulating or ordering Peko around, and she's already half-brainwashed by the Kuzuryuu family. She's proven that she can and will kill. I think if she perceived it as for other people's safety, she'd do it more easily. Follows orders.

4. Impostor: such a good person, but regrettably also super sad. At first I thought maybe they'd be very hard to corrupt, but considering how lonely and ghostly they are, it might actually be kind of easy to both give them access to a lot of disguises (easier to pretend to be someone who's super recently and secretly dead) and also a chance to figure out who they themselves are. Even if that person is a super cruel and evil one, I don't think that's an objection as long as it's a very present and dynamic personality (they did want to impersonate Byuakuya after all) that can be switched off and on at will.

5. Hiyoko: already has some sadistic tendencies and comes from a position of power, but not at all independent, also childlike way of thinking king so easy to mould. Superiority complex a bit. She doesn't like working with people though or taking orders, so she'd need something decidedly in it for her, like all the extra power and safety and ability to bully people.

6. Fuyuhiko: Raised with the idea that killing and violence is necessary and not that big of a deal, has proven that he's capable of murder under the right circumstance. If he's isolated from his family and Peko, it's probably easy to tap into his general anger. What gets in the way is how he doesn't usually want to involve 'civilians' in crime and is kind of a stickler for rules, so I think if he was convinced that the school itself sucked, and then the people behind the school, and then the government, by then he'd be powerful enough to just do whatever he (Junko) wants.

7. Gundham: not a huge fan of people and very isolated, I think maybe he could be got with Poison Ivy style radicalism? Like "look at how badly these people treat animals, its fine to treat them the same way" kind of. He's already got his own evil narrative, maybe wrapping the whole thing up in a fantasy would get him too. Go forth Actual Overlord of Ice, commit actual atrocities, you're such a tragic villain.

8. Akane: Kind of gullible and easily manipulated, also she loves fighting and proving herself so I think she can could be manipulated into like, Proving She's The Best by fighting more and more and being cheered on by people until it escalates into straight up murder. I think her family back home would be the biggest obstacle but those could be taken of.

9. Souda: generally pretty cowardly, maybe joining more out of self preservation than anything else. Maybe some real opportunities to make his mechanical dreams come true, get away from his dad & make some money, be the invincible punk he wants to be. Might also wanna impress people so if he got peer pressured by, say, Sonia, he'd be pretty gone I think.

10. Teru: Money, power and general lack of strong morals, also kind of cowardly? I think if he wasn't the first one, and saw how powerful all the villain-hopefuls are, he'd be likely to join out of self preservation like Souda (and the opportunity to make money for his mom and save his restaurant).

11. Mahiru: She's very responsible and against violence and murder, so I dont know that she'd ever really go that route, but she doesn't really need to be a killer herself. She *does* feel inferior to her mom the war photographer, and Junko is basically starting an apocalypse, and Mahiru states that a photographer should always be taking pictures even of upsetting things. So I think she'd be documenting everything while doing nothing to stop it, basically compliant through apathy and negligence.

12. Sonia: I kept thinking shed be more morally grey than she turned out to be, but no she's just actually a sweetheart. I guess her calling might just be getting away from her super strict royalty lifestyle and into the spooky grim occult stuff she likes? Like if she somehow tapped REAL deep into her fascination with morbid stuff, she might eventually take a very distant role commanding other people and just watching stuff unfold. Maybe expose her own country for some grim stuff so she loses patriotic faith?

(Peko would be here if Fuyuhiko wasn't already got, girl's loyal as hell)

13. Nekomaru: Listen he's an upstanding dude. I dont even know how he'd get got unless he already had an in with a student that was already corrupted, like Akane, so his protective nature could be abused. Maybe he could start out trying to make others see reason and then end up just kinda going along, idk.

14. Ibuki: Arguably the most well-adjusted? She's so independent and already knows who she is and what she wants, so I think it'd be most about giving her opportunities she could never get from anywhere else, and maybe keeping her in the dark about how destructive the concerts are at first? Maybe convince her it's super metal to have people die at your shows? Not sure tbh

I didn't count Chiaki bc I wasn't super sure about her character re: what's seen in the anime and what's seen in the game, and also not Hajime since he was kind of a special case in the first place (might speculate on him later though).

#Talky talky Tuesday #Talky talky #This was a fun ask to dally with ty

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ashen-sky · 2 years

Text

I think Ascendancy is a good read for anyone that's watched Rebels, because it adds a whole new angle to Thrawn. And I'm going to preface this by saying what he does is still pretty messed up, and I'm sure many of his friends in the Ascendancy would kick his butt if they knew half of what he'd done, so this is in no way me trying to brush it under the rug. Also, spoilers ahead for Ascendancy, and the end of Rebels.

But reading Ascendancy and learning that he joined the empire with the intent to find help against the Grysks makes him so much more interesting.

Because suddenly he's not just some selfish, imperial tyrant who takes art from worlds he destroys in the name of cultural preservation. He's not taking over these worlds because he enjoys it or because he wants to steal their cultures and art, infact I'd venture to say that if he wasn't the reason their cultures were going extinct it would be a somewhat nobel venture (like when Uingali foar Marocsaa gave him his ring in hopes of preserving a piece of the Paccosh).

Suddenly he's Mitth'raw'nurodo, senior captain of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet, so devoted to his people he'd continously risk his career for their safety. A man who's name literally ends in "guardian" and who was scouted by the patriarch of a family who's emblem represents one of the greatest (if not greatest) sacrifice in the history of the Ascendancy. A captain that even though he pulled insane stunts, his crew trusted him to come out on top.

The man Thoorkai, Ba'kaif, and Lamiov thought could rival the tragic Patriarch in terms of greatness and ability. The man Thrass saw as his brother and entrusted his greatest secret to. The man Ar'alani, Samakro, Ziiara, Ba'kif, and Lamiov were willing to stand with in the face of an insane plan that even if successful would still have terrible repercussions because without their trust there wouldn't have been any more volunteers.

Thrawn that Ar'alani risked her record on after not even knowing him a day.

Thrawn that Thalias chased after because he showed her she still had purpose.

Thrawn that Samakro, a complete stickler for regulations, was willing to risk his career to follow.

We see him engineer plans that will result in as little backlash for his crew as possible, and encourage people around him on multiple occasions.

His actions in Rebels are just him trying to earn favor with the empire for his people, because he's a loyal soldier and his loyalty will always be to the Ascendancy. Even though they exiled him in an act of petty aggression, used him as a scapegoat for their own short comings, he stuck with it and made the best of it for their sake.

So even of you don't read Thrawn, I recommend you pick up Ascendancy because it is still very much the same character, we even see Grand Admiral Thrawn poke through a few times, but he's also more than what Rebels could show us. He was the villain in Rebels, and an amazing one at that, but Ascendancy makes you feel for him. When he's dragged away at the end, you feel for Ezra because we've followed him throughout the series and we know what he's left behind, but through the lens of Ascendancy I've started to notice that he and Ezra are far more alike than Ezra (and maybe even Thrawn) realizes.

Infact, I would say Thrawn and Kallus are fairly alike too. Both Thrawn and Kallus are just following orders to survive, and Thrawn and Ezra are both fighting for the future of their people. Though Thrawn's methods are sometimes more akin to Saw Gerera's methods, didn't Ezra give into the sith holocron in hopes of saving his people? Is that not similar to Thrawn pledging allegiance to the empire?

On another Thrawn and Ezra note, I feel like their relationship is similar to Negan and Carl from the walking dead.

(Is this even completely coherent? I wrote it over a week while finishing Ascendancy)

#anime devil's thoughts #star wars #star wars rebels #thrawn ascendancy #star wars thrawn #thrawn #mitth'raw'nurodo #ezra bridger

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grasshopperdoingdogpaddle · 1 year

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Hypothetically, when Raimundo was promoted to Shoku Warrior, who do you think would have been his de facto second-in-command within the group? His, for all intents and purposes, right-hand monk? Come to think of it, what would be his new responsibilities as the Shoku Warrior?

I don't think the group would turn automatically have a set lieutenant.

(But tdlr; Master Fung, I guess?)

Especially not since the finale narrative seems to argue that it sort of considers Kimiko and Clay unreasonably incompetent in spite of their pre-season 3 strengths (the story implying that those two would absolutely screw everything up if they were given any amount of power and need to cede all their authority before anything even starts to get better is still so weird...), and Omi still reasonably has a long way to go and several open threads that the finale didn't tie. Kimiko, Omi, and Clay are all still nomimally equals.

If the way they were in the finale sticks, then all three of them need to... not make any decisions going forward?

I think I was chosen as leader? I guess I didn’t do a very good job... Sorry. (Immediately followed by none of her teammates or the story itself disagreeing with that, and then taking away her de facto position as leader without her reacting to it in any way. It relies on Kimiko being uncharacteristically passive and defeatist all of a sudden.)

Well, despite a few setbacks, I think we have done pretty well for ourselves. We’re growing the tastiest corn this side of Houston. (Immediately followed by Clay being berated for not having the team do something else, and then taking away his de facto position as leader without him reacting to it in any way. It relies on Clay being uncharacteristically oblivious and obtuse all of a sudden.)

Their portrayals in most of the final season imply they just shouldn't be allowed to, that it'd be like giving a small child a bucket of mud and a box of crayons in a clean white room. It really wants to say that Clay and Kimiko are... directionless and dumb? They are apparently better just following orders.

After so thoroughly eviscerating their intelligence and ability as leaders or even just as warriors at all, I can’t see that story suddenly elevating them to a even second-in-command role.

But as long as their usual personalities return, they'll alternate between being the brains and brawns that are necessary to solve their daily problems like they have been doing already. So the "de facto" second-in-command would be Kimiko, Clay, Omi, Dojo, or in rare occasions Jack, depending on the episode, just like it has been before. Clay still has his extremely creative, out-of-the-box way of problem solving (plus has areas of expertise like animals), Kimiko's still an excellent detective and the one most willing to tackle things head on (plus the most technically minded), Omi still has the best grasp of the basics and a lot of fluidity but also a lot of sympathy for reaching out to certain people and wiggling into tight spots, Dojo steps up to the plate in certain times of crisis, and Jack is usually instrumental in keep things above water when one of the other villains is currently ruling the world, and even if none of them can lead, they should still all get to do those roles.

Plus, it's still a four-person group. Elevating exactly half its members to a higher status would throw off its balance even more than it already is and imply there's a full 1st, 2nd, 3rd, last ranking system, which is terrible for morale and performance. It'd work in a full army, like Chase's jungle cats or Jack's robots, but a group that small would probably fall apart from it. It'd give the two competing for dead last little reason to want to help each other and gradual resentment towards the whole thing.

If there's a de facto second-in-command, I'd assume it'd be Master Fung himself. He'd still be there as the head of the temple and the in charge of their lessons, he'd just actively defer to Raimundo to make more decisions and would trust him enough to not feel the need to force input for them.

I assume as leader, Raimundo is in charge of setting their mission plans and getting first call and final say in things. He'd be in charge of tactics and decide things like who takes points, who puts themselves in harms way, etc. He probably gets some say in Fung's lessons plans, too.

#Xiaolin Showdown #Raimundo Pedrosa #Kimiko Tohomiko #Clay Bailey #Omi #Dojo #Jack Spicer #Master Fung #bers1990

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valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn · 1 year

Note

Hey, Pop Culture Detective did a new video on the MCU Marvel's Defenders of The Status Quo

Damn, thank you for sharing, that was really good!

I wholeheartedly agree with OP that in these movies we see the heroes reacting only when the status quo is threatened and them stopping the villains is considered a win - whatever the villains were trying to change is never addressed, they never engage in any socio-political project. The pattern is always the same: to return the world to what it was before the attack, never to use this as an opportunity for change.

And it's especially jarring given that some of the heroes should know better than defending the status quo. Steve is one of them, the disabled child of immigrants born in the '20s living in NYC in the middle of a rise of eugenicism would do anything in his power to actively fight against the status quo, and yet he's content with fighting external fights and stopping a bunch of helicarriers in TWS and getting his people out of the Raft... what about the other inmates? What about the people who will be taken there once the heroes are gone? What about fighting against the system to get the Accords repealed? Nope, we get none of that.

What OP says about Stark reminded me of Luke Cage and Danny Rand's argument in The Defenders where Luke is telling him his wealth leaves him in a privileged position to incite real change in the world but he'd rather go on vigilante mode instead. It's the same with Stark, he doesn't use his money to advocate for social change, if anything he runs Damage Control and takes jobs from the citizens of NYC like we see in Homecoming.

As OP says: "Instead the superheroes engage in random acts of benevolence. A billionaire gifts the world with some fancy new proprietary technology, a soldier asks nicely that corrupt bureaucrats just do better. In the best-case scenario, a wealthy monarch builds an international network of community centers. These Band-Aid approaches may help a few disenfranchised individuals here and there but they're also designed to keep the current economic and political structures firmly in place".

I think probably the worst case offender of villains being right but having their methods be as immoral as it takes in order to get the audience to disagree with them are Killmonger and the Flagsmashers. Erik starts making a little too much sense for Disney's liking so they have him kill his girlfriend out of nowhere (at least they address some of the overarching issue with T'Challa following Nakia's lead but as said above, that's a band-aid), Karli and the others are asking for redistribution of food and medicine, the relocation of refugees, a change of how borders are reinforced and a stop to mass deportations... so of course The Mouse has Karli kill a bunch of innocents out of nowhere so they can be called terrorists. Nobody wants to side with a terrorist, right?

To quote OP again: "Having the villain's methods always involve indiscriminate killing is a deliberate decision by the writers [...] The equating of social justice causes with outright villainy is one of the reasons why the superhero genre is often accused of leaning conservative ideologically."

Lastly, I really like that part about Alan Moore's criticism of superhero movies and the trend that "speaks to a denial of reality and an urge for simplistic and sensational solutions". I like it because it reminded me of the TVA, how in the Loki series we're told HWR is the only bad guy and taking him down will solve the problem as if that kind of fascism would go away by taking down the main guy, as if that organization wasn't comprised of thousands (if not more) of agents who agreed with his methods and worked willingly for an unknown period of time effectively pruning entire realities and killing innocents. You can't destroy the system by punching one guy and it's almost insulting how the narrative in the series tries to convince the audience that's all it takes.

In short, there's a reason why Disney and Marvel got rid of Nomad Steve so quickly + they're choosing to ignore Sam but they're oh so willing to bring Captain Carter to the spotlight. She's as pro-status quo as it gets. These movies should be addressing social change, not defending the system that gets a lot of people discriminated against and oppressed - especially when a lot of the heroes fit that criteria but of course they're never shown talking about it on-screen.

#mcu salt #mcu critical

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meili-sheep · 2 years

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What if when in Snezhnaya Diluc is found injured and saved by Childe's family

Like Tonia goes out to get the mail or something and instead she finds Diluc bleeding out into the snow

So they bring him in and try to look after him. Diluc is scared that he'll mess up their family the way he did his own if he gets too comfortable with them and thinks that he doesn't deserve a family and happiness. He tries to scare them away by telling them what happened with his father but painting himself the villain who ruthlessly killed his own family rather than the truth because he believes that he really is the villain. Mr and Mrs Childe (????) are both horrified by the story, but more because they figured out what Diluc was trying to do and they could see how much pain he was in.

For the children, it's like having a kind of grumpy distant cat. He sits with them quietly and eats what they give him but he also doesn't talk much or respond much. He refuses to touch any of them because he's scared he'll hurt them. He refuses to sleep inside and goes to find a tree or a small corner outside because waking up indoors after so long makes him panic and he's scared that if one of them were to try and wake him up he'd react reflexively in violence and he doesn't want to hurt them. He also vomits sometimes because he eats the food too quickly, especially after a long time with barely eating at all, because he's can't help but think that it will be taken away.

He prefers to sit and listen to the kids rather than talk about himself but every so often he mentions one or two funny stories that he experienced while travelling to snezhnaya. He also likes to take pictures because he needs photo evidence that they're real and he's not hallucinating all this in desperation. He also wants to keep all the memories in fear that if something happens to them because of him (he's already beginning to forget his father's face, and that scares him so much)

Sometimes, when he can bear it, he writes letters to Kaeya about his new family, and how he thinks they'll love him too, and how he misses him so much. These letters usually end up in the fireplace. (Also it takes him a rather long time to go near the fire. It reminds him too much of his childhood and his vision, which reminds him of his father and the delusion)

He comes home (home? Is this his home?) sometimes covered in blood and Mrs Childe pretends not to see as she helps him clean up before he can go see the children. He avoids Mr Childe when this happens because the first time he saw him like that he got this strange haunted look on his face.

His favourite stories that they tell him is of someone named Ajax. He can't figure out whether this person is even real or not, with all these stories about how he once went ice fishing and caught the world's biggest fish which fed them for a week, or how he's the best most famous greatest toyseller in teyvat. He also notices the way Mr Childe (seriously whats Childe's surname) gets up and leaves whenever Ajax is mentioned, or the dodgy face Tonia makes when Teucer talks about his toyselling business

(Then he actually meets this Ajax dude and its the fatui harbinger guy who's been ordered to kill him-)

Honestly, my favorite setup for Diluc and Childe is Diluc being saved by Childe's family. I mean, after all, Ruby Eyes and Clouded Sapphires have that setup. And I have a little thing about Childe's parents coming soon.

I do really love Diluc finding a home within Childe's family. But absolutely being scared of that. How could he possibly keep this one because he couldn't even keep the home he was born into. But I think Childe's mother (Who I all Peri short for Periboea) is very good at caring for people. And she pretty quickly strikes that balance with Diluc, where she makes sure he knows she is there and willing to help him while still giving him space.

As for Childe's dad (Who I call Tel short for Telamon), Diluc would avoid him nearly at all costs. And Childe's dad wouldn't mind, I think. But Diluc's skittish behavior does make him question his own parenting.

And I think Diluc would be insanely jealous once Childe does finally appear. Because! Why does this fatui scum! Get such a warm, loving family! When he never did! He did his best to do everything right to be a perfect son, but what did he do! To not deserve what this harbinger gets!

It adds a very good twist to their dymanic

#Ahahahaha #shameless self promooooo #Diluc #Diluc Ragnvindr #Diluc Genshin Impact #Childe #Childe Genshin Impact #Tartaglia #Ajax #Ajax Genshin Impact #Chiluc #Diluc x Childe #Childe x Diluc

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inahandful-of-dust · 2 years

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Lumi's Library - Grishaverse Section

List of my favourite fics from The Grishaverse fandom.

New fics I discover and recommend will be added to this post, or to the others I'll make, based on the fandom.

The fics are listed in a completely casual order.

The Demon, the Dragon, and the Dark by storm-elf

Summary of the first part of the series:

The Black General. The bastard prince. It's a dangerous alliance in a garrison realm caught between two aggressive enemies. With a cowardly drunkard of a king on the throne, and the heir apparent more interested in whores and horse-racing, the country's safety has to depend on someone -- and Aleksander Morozova, Shadow-Summoner and Shadow King of Ravka, is all too used to responsibility falling to him. As threats close in on two frontiers, he will risk anything to protect his people, especially Grisha like himself. He'd like to find a way to maintain his country's independence with the help of the bold, brave, and brilliant second prince. But, if he has to, he'll take a different road and become history's villain again to do it.

Our Lines in the Sand by GaleSentinal

In which being an orphan, a soldier, and a cartographer is more integral to Alina’s identity and she pays attention to the world around her. Meanwhile spending some 400 years in power confers certain advantages to the Darkling, but also certain blind spots. In this fight to secure a better tomorrow, both will be confronted with the same question: What are they willing to sacrifice in order to win?

A reworking of the series from the ground up, where the politics are more realistic, grisha abilities are more than just magic artillery, people aren't inexplicably stupid, the religion and history are more present, everyone has an agenda, everyone has their secrets, and imperfect people love, struggle, laugh, fight and strive for a world that they can live with.

En Passant by darkestelemental616

Prince. Privateer. Grisha. Nikolai Lantsov is full of secrets, and the biggest one he's ever kept is about to be dragged kicking and screaming into the light.

Or, what if Nikolai were also a Sun Summoner, and much more canny about it?

Roll for Seduction by DukeOfDucks

Nikolai Lantsov was having a good time, steadily progressing through his Politics & International Relations degree, until Aleksander Morozova happened. Morozova had no business being in one of his classes, but here he was, and now all Nikolai can do is try to vicariously seduce him through his evil wizard character using the charms of his half-pirate half-prince bastard character. Which, in hindsight, and considering the rather impressive amount of Nat 1 he rolled, was going pretty well.

for they shall inherit the earth (but first, Ravka) by bam_cassopeia

There are many ways to poison a Lantsov, and Yevgeniya Sergeyevna Safina is an expert on them all.

(or: the one one in which Genya kills three out of four, the Darkling is like *wipes a tear* my best student so far im so proud, David Kostyk has a crush, the Apparat is high on mushrooms, and Alina Starkov ends up in West Ravka.)

Souvenirs of War by CamilleDuDemon

When Aleksander is done talking, Nikolai allows himself to relax a little into the lumpy pillows someone has placed behind his back; there are no princes or dukes or counts on the battlefield, only soldiers, and he gets to be treated accordingly. No fatter rations, no better cots. Not to mention that a very few noblemen and aristocrats have chosen to serve in the infantry, and this could be one of the many reasons why equity and equality are so valued within its ranks. It’s fine. Nikolai likes it better to be a nobody rather than a prince and a granduke, it saves him a lot of time in listing his titles and spares him the resentful glares of peasant or lower class soldiers, notoriously disaffected with the Monarchy.

wedding night by Anonymous

His new husband - a clearly unamused Darkling - was being gentle with him, which only made matters worse. He unpinned the jewelry from his hair, and did not raise an eyebrow when the hair extensions Fabrikators had made fell alongside the golden pins.

The Names By Which We Are Created by Poeticdissonance

In the end, they are victorious.

Or: The development of what should have been a tragedy.

Last night sipped the sunset, my hand in her hair by Silberias

Alina cast an arch look at his flowers.

“Oksana picked those this morning for her Grace,” she said, a hint of a tease in her words.

“I admit I did knick them from her parlor on my way here. It did not feel right to come without flowers.”

Or: The Tsar tests his shadow summoner, and in response the Darkling makes an impulsive choice that changes the known world.

Or: Alina's perspective of being courted by and marrying the Darkling of Ravka.

Or: Alina's eleven years of being the otkazat'sya wife of General Kirigan, the famed shadow summoner, and the revelation that she herself is a myth made flesh.

you're so golden by zoyalinayay

Nikolai Lantsov was officially broke.

After being kicked out of his parent's home he models for art students to help pay his rent. He finds himself posing for Aleksander, a talented young man who spikes Nikolai’s interest despite Nikolai promising he would keep himself away from new love interests.

[It's a work in progress. Just for fun and comfort.]

Spreading Sugar Over Lakes by darkestelemental616

Winter comes to Ravka, and everyone is out ice skating...with one notable exception.

i feel the endless pain of being (and i am scorched by the sun) by hedarising

“And what’s he then that says i play the villain?” Othello Act 2, Scene 3

. . .

Name after name, life after life, he endures.

. . .

His mother has the force of history—of the way things have always been done—behind her. For now, he has nothing but the feathery, fickle weight of the future and things yet to pass.

Hope, he might call it, if he were someone else’s son.

. . .

OR: The many (seven, to be exact) lives of Aleksander Morozova.

#lumi's library #fic rec #change the world #darkolai #aleksander morozov #the darkling #nikolai lantsov #genya safina #genya safin #alina starkova #alina starkov #sun summoner nikolai #alliance of enemies

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piracytheorist · 2 years

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Think he might need a bingo card of his own but Killian Jones for character opinion bingo, and as a bonus, anything on Rumple?

Aight, red for Killian and green for Rumpelstiltskin!

For Killian, I don't think I even need to explain. Pictures are worth a thousand words.

(In a way, I do find Rumpelstiltskin's appearance great as well. But I couldn't describe it as "cool" more like... idk, elegant and to the point. Yes, even as a scaly man)

Everyone but me is wrong about Killian, always, ever. No-one understands him the way I do <3

No but seriously, considering how many people were SO wrong when analyzing his character, and how almost criminally out of character he is in AU fics (which I get it's kinda the point to change some stuff, but when you're making a brand new character without any similarities to the original and just name him "Killian Jones"... and that happens a SHIT TON in the fandom... yeah) or even CANON fics... I don't doubt I'm in a greatly small minority for my own views about him. Especially since I was actually surrounded by people whom I agreed with regarding to his writing in s7 (and we were already few in the wider Hook fandom, and also hated by most because how dare we enjoy a version of Hook growing as a character without Emma amirite) and then my opinion and their opinion about the ending differed completely to the point I felt I was alone in the world.

And yes, only my opinion is right. No I will not elaborate.

(For practical reasons, I am joking about the "right" thing. But Killian and Gold reconciling the way they did in the last few episodes was a betrayal to Killian's character and arc and I will fucking die on this hill)

Rumpelstiltskin had wasted potential because again I will die on the hill that he shouldn't have been turned into a "hero" character. They should've let him stay a morally gray character and fucking stick to it. Instead they had him jump from good guy to bad guy because the plot wanted him to be to then good guy again because Belle begged him to. I could kinda understand his relapse in the first part of s4 but it got tiring very quickly after that, and I think even Robert Carlyle got tired of that too. I've got to say that the episode "Lacey", though I have some thoughts about the flashback parts, was one of my favourite episodes of s2 simply because Gold went like "Fuck it" and beat that Keith or what is name was because he'd pissed him off (I mean, I don't condone beating, much less because the guy kissed the woman you love. But it was interesting storytelling). And then Lacey was into it and he kept going and like, this was who Gold just was. His dynamic with Belle was stunted because even if Gold wanted to do good, he was the kind of guy who got too easily corrupted by power and simply kept going after it and Belle kept going like "I can fix him". I'd rather a couple like Gold and Lacey, where they're not the villains of the story, but will help the "good guys" because of their ties to them and will absolutely go to distances the "good guys" won't. But anti-heroes was too much for A&E to handle and the fandom to accept, gotta woobify Rumple Bumple any way we can.

If they were real, either Hook or Gold, yeah I'd be terrified of them. I think we all would, and we understand that as much great characters as they make, they have killed in cold blood without any remorse, so. Blorbos they may be, and they're fun. But real life is different.

As I said, Killian is blorbo. It's been seven years that I've been a certified HookerTM and I still fall asleep making up fanfic with him in center. He'll probably be my biggest blorbo to ever blorbo.

The thing with Killian, as is connected to "didn't get enough screentime" is that he is indeed deeper than he looks, but that was only an issue of limited screentime. Us Hookers had to pick up the scraps the writers gave us and the PRECIOUS bits Colin was kind, talented and devoted enough to give us. In order to understand why he makes remarks about his appearance all the time, you have to notice the moments when he focuses on what he hates about himself; but if you skip that or just miss it, you think he's just self-centered like that. And the writing and limited screentime - by himself at least, not when he was under Emma's shadow - didn't help with that.

I've projected so much of my own shit on Killian. My self doubt, my imposter syndrome, my loneliness, some other issues that I'm not ready to share here... yeah, a lot. He's a good receptor for that, I gotta give him that :D

Done dirty by fans?? Killian and Rumpelstiltskin?? More likely than you think! From both sides too. Hook fans adoring the version of Killian who was uwu and pure and only existed for Emma's story, and hating on Rumpelstiltskin because he did bad things I guess. And for being a misogynist, apparently. And Rumpelstiltskin fans woobifying him and turning him into only a victim who had no choice in the evil things he did (and s5 did not help with the whole Dark One manifestation feeding you bad thoughts thing) and hating Hook for making sex jokes and being provocative I guess. And for being a misogynist, apparently.

So you've got two morally gray characters with excellent dynamic both on their own and ESPECIALLY together (the rivalry between the two was my TOP favourite dynamic on the show, way above Captain Swan and KnightRook... that is, until 7x18) with fans who victimize them and turn them into lovesick caricatures of themselves and the other bad guy is a misogynist!! Because that's the only way for a character to be proven bad!! MISOGYNY I TELL YOU!!

... The ouat fandom was an experience. Years will go by, fandoms will come and go, but it's the ouat fandom wank that will stay with me.

Probably explained above why Killian didn't get enough screentime. Technically, he did. From s3 onward, he appeared in every single episode, had his fair share of centric episodes, but when so little of his screentime is focused on him as a character and most of it being the writers trying to pacify the haters and prove that he's not the monster they're making him out to be, everything falls apart. That was a big problem with ouat, in general. I feel it was mostly in s7 where that was dropped, where the writers simply said fuck it and didn't care to pander to audiences anymore and just wrote what they wanted to write. Grand example, the Ruby x Dorothy ship that came out of nowhere to placate the people who were asking for LGBTQ+ representation. Then in s7, they wrote Curious Archer and it just fit in so naturally into the story and theme because they weren't pressuring themselves. And so, considering they were constantly trying to prove Killian's honor and maturity in regards to his relationship to Emma, so much of his screentime was wasted when it could have been used more appropriately. Like, the crumbs I talked about above? Make them a whole package, and that would prove the point they wanted to make anyway. But A&E were too proud in their own abilities as writers to even consider that, I guess.

Gold was a horrible person and you can fight me on that. He was an interesting character that I loved seeing on my screen... at least until his characterization took the plunge. But he was a clear example of a bullied, humiliated victim who, once he took a position of power immediately began abusing it and holding onto it for dear life. People kept mentioning how he stopped the Ogre Wars but a) that wasn't important enough to his narrative to show on screen and that says something and b) he used it as an excuse to be an asshole and to keep abusing his power, so it doesn't help? Upon losing Baelfire, his one goal became to go find him - but only as long as he kept his power. The seer confirmed he will meet him again, so he waited as long as it took - literal centuries because he wanted to find the way that would ensure he'd have both his son and his power. That power being the very thing he lost his son for, by the way. If that isn't a sign about how weird his priorities were, Idk what else to tell you man.

Yes I am mentally ill about Killian, if my seven plus years of stanning that developed into a love for Colin that I have paid real money to see from up close didn't clue any of you in XD

I circled the "part of a dynamic" one cause as I said, for almost the entire duration of the show, the rivalry between Gold and Hook was my top favourite dynamic. Sadly I didn't get that much, and I got grossly disappointed by the end, but what little I got (minus the ending, yes I am still bitter) I loved and I treasure.

Gold got too much screentime in the manner of the whole ping-pong he did between "hero" and "villain". I mean, it wasn't like they would dare sideline Robert Carlyle, but he got too many and repeated arcs that it got tiring even for me, who enjoyed his presence on my screen. If he had gotten a bit less of it, or a bit more balanced between all characters (same for Emma and Regina, they both suffered from repeated storylines and development arcs), I think they could have handled his gray morality better.

ALMOST got three lines there, lmao. BING!

#character opinion bingo #Killian Jones #Rumpelstiltskin #anti-rumple #just in case #ouat #ask and ye shall receive #priscilla9993 #blorbo bingo

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avengersrewatch · 1 year

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E1&2: "The Breakout"

Okay, I'm skipping ahead to the actual episodes, damnit.

"The Breakout" is the episode that forms the Avengers as a team. In that way it is like The Avengers the MCU film. As I have already noted, the Avengers cast is different. Here it is the original cast from the comic books (Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Ant-man and the Wasp. Captain Americas was NOT one of the original Avengers, though he came in pretty early /nerdrant) .

The story that brings them together is different. In the EMHU, it's been established that SHIELD maintains four super villain prisons (The Big House, The Cube, The Raft, and the Vault) will definitely be exploding (metaphorically ) soon. I believe we have seen the Raft in Captain America: Civil War and The Cube in She-Hulk. I guess the Quantum Realm is basically the Big House for Kang right now.

And, of course, this is the episode where all the super villains break out. Nick Fury, who as director of SHIELD is in charge of the prisons, is both asking these civilians for help, and getting in their way a bit. This is a similar dynamic to what we see in the MCU. They are SORT of doing government work, but not REALLY.

As with most of this series (since it was made in 2010), Iron Man is the focus. We start with him, searching for his "stolen" weapons. And we follow him as he learns about the breakout at the Vault.

I'm not sure if it's coincidence or just that this character has been both a villain and a member of the Avengers, but here Hawkeye, like it the movie, both good and bad. He is "escaping" prison but also helping Tony.

There is something kind of neat about the multiple prison structure here. Each Avenger basically has his own prison to defend, and then all them have to work together in the second part to defeat Graviton. (I think this is the only time it has ever been suggested that Graviton is an important Avengers villain. He's just not a top tier guy like Loki to make them come together for their first fight.) Interestingly, the only other two villains kept at the Raft, which is supposed to be the most secure of the Super Villain prisons are Baron Zemo (who we have seen in Captain America: Civil War and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) and the Purple Man (who was the main antagonist for Jessica Jones on Netflix). Both are going to come back on this show, so this is setup. But, yeah, Graviton.

Banner/Hulk secures the Cube. Iron Man (and Hawkeye) take care of the Vault. Ant-Man and the Wasp fight at the Big House, and Thor fights with Fury at the Raft.

The montage of all the bad guys getting their powers back is a lot of fun.

We get a tiny bit of MODOK (who is in Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania) and, of course, the Leader (who will be the villain in Captain America: New World Order)--though we will see much more of him later in GAMMA WORLD.

We also get Doc Sampson. I wonder if Marvel would still have Ty Burrell play that character if they wanted to bring him in for a Hulk project. I'm gonna guess that unlike Tim Roth and Tim Blake Nelson, he'd get recast.

Thor and Jane Foster's dynamic is very cute here.

There is a bit where Hank Pym says he's "disappointed" in Mandrill and that he had "come so far in counseling" and I just want to say, that is not true. Mandrill is gross. He's the worst. His power is rape. Ant-Man is a terrible counselor. (It's crazy that both Mandrill and Purple Man are included on this show for children. Both rapists.)

Anyway, the second part of the episode reveals that SHIELD made Graviton into a supervillain through weird government experiments. (I don't know why the government keeps experimenting on people in the Marvel Comics or EMH universe. It seems to go badly for them most of the time.) He is, understandably, kind of angry that he was imprisoned without any kind of trail or anything.

Notice it's Tony who rushes in to help Janet, not Hank?

Anyway, I don't really like Janet's part of the fight here. She is mostly considered just a pest, except when she aids Hulk, which is more moral support. She's not really shown as an equal threat as the other Avengers. Later fights will prove she is, but here she's still kind of a joke and I don't like it.

What she does do is suggest the men help each other. As if no human male would ever work with other men on their own. It has to be a lady who is like "let's be a team!" If I were a man I'd be kind of insulted by that.

What's funny is that Graviton lifts New York (???) up as a floating city. They do that in Avengers: Age of Ultron. I guess it's an interesting visual but I would never think to do that if I had powers.

Of course Graviton's downfall is mistakenly saying he is "the strongest one there is" and then immediately getting hit by the Hulk. Hulk, we learn, is stronger than gravity itself. Everyone knows that's his thing. Being strong. And the moment where Hulk is surprised Janet would help him (because he is a monster) is oddly touching, but over-played.

The team triumphantly stands over their fallen foe, a shot that is done very similarly in The Avengers.

Thor likes having new friends and wants to go drinking. Fury suggests they all become SHIELD agents to track down all the former prisoners but Tony wants to do it as a team--just not with SHIELD.

Let's call them the Avengers! (Can we drink now?)

Rating: Recommend!

#avengers: earth's mightiest heroes #avengers rewatch #hulk #tony stark #janet van dyne #hank pym #thor odinson #the avengers #graviton #baron zemo #purple man #mandrill is gross

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citadelofmythoughts · 2 years

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Something about Midoriya that I think is particularly tragic, yet oft overlooked and understated, is just how much I think the people around him completely fail to understand what he really needs in order to truly be whole and happy, because their entire society's problem isn't really about the Hero/Villain dichotomy (though that most certainly plays a big part).

It's about Quirks, and how much people put so much value on Quirks to the exclusion of everything else.

Midoriya had the misfortune of being stuck in the lowest rung of the ladder, being Quirkless where it might as well have marked him as a leper.

Yet while his ascension into a hero by receiving One For All was ultimately portrayed as a good thing, I think it's also a testament as to how much their society missed the point, how much even well meaning people like All Might, Aizawa, Gran Torino, and everyone who fixates on his new Quirk miss the point about what makes Midoriya so self-destructive. It's not just because he emulates the most self-destructive man on the planet with All Might like Gran Torino says. It's not that he can't control his quirk and needs to get better like Aizawa says.

It's that Midoriya, whether he has power or not, completely devalues himself as a person, and doesn't view himself as worth anything unless he throws himself into danger, to become a sacrifice in exchange for someone else's life. It's that everyone who views him as the vessel of One For All, whether unintentionally or otherwise, fixate so much on his Quirk that he's internalized the idea that he is worth NOTHING without mastering his Quirk.

Everyone's advice fixates on him as the next Symbol of Peace. The Final Vessel of One For All. He's be a great hero once he masters his quirk...

But what about valuing HIM?

What about Midoriya, the kind and sweet young man who wants to help others even if they don't reciprocate in return? What about the intelligent boy who could fill books about his hobbies and heroes, showing a deep understanding of others if he was allowed to develop that beyond just being seen as a supplement to mastering heroism according to a deeply warped society? What about the boy who was deeply broken and hurt by an unjust and unfair world, who deserves so much to be valued as a person regardless if he had a quirk or not?

The world of MHA doesn't care about that though. Their fixation on Quirks means that THAT Midoriya is only secondary. Everyone, even those who care about him, only see him in regards to the hero he wants to be, the hero that fits within their broken society regardless of what he has to hide or be shunted aside for.

And frankly, even his dream of being a hero who saves others with a smile is pretty fucked up, because of how much he'd essentially just be trading one lonely position for another. Instead of an outcast, he'd be held on a pedestal that he, personality-wise, isn't something that I think he'd really enjoy. He'd never really be allowed to be anyone except the hero Deku, the big savior, the greatest hero...

That frankly sounds thoroughly miserable for someone like him, because ultimately what I think he really needed was someone to value and care for him FOR HIM alone. Not as Deku, not as a Vessel for One For All, Not as the Greatest Hero...

Just Izuku Midoriya.

I'm just going to add one thing that came to mind when reading this.

"You're worth more than what you give to other people. You deserve love too." - Mara to Adora

Just like Adora, Midoriya has been given tremendous power but has such a self-sacrificial streak in them that they're willing to destroy themselves for others. Of course, the big difference is that while Adora's struggle is mostly internal. Deku is having to live in a world that encourages that behavior.

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