#and tbh it was never a good idea even if they subverted it they would still be writing another character with DID who kills people

[denizenhardwick]

the thing with milgram is that i don't actually know how good the writing is. i haven't seen any payoff yet, and i don't even know what that payoff will look like, so i can't know how much you can analyze and at what point you start digging into things that were never intended. and for most of the prisoners, that's fine, there's no harm in waiting.

but i'm now being asked to trust that something that looks like harmful DID misrepresentation will actually turn out to be clever and subversive. and i can't really bring myself to do that when i have no evidence that the writers know what they're talking about and aren't just misrepresenting DID. right now, after years of hinting at an explanation, it is presenting us with a character who was stressed at work and so developed an alter who kills people that annoy him.

sure, i could give it the benefit of the doubt. maybe mikoto's alter is lying about his motive. maybe the writers do know that DID develops as a result of childhood trauma in the vast majority of cases and plan to reveal more in the third trial. sure. but the simplest explanation is that the writers are just misrepresenting DID and playing into the "evil/murderous alter" trope, and i have no reason to have faith that that's not the case. especially since, even if there is more going on, they're still willing to leave it like this for at least another year before subverting it, and that's extremely irresponsible imo.

yeah. so. musically, double was great. but everything else just leaves me feeling really, really bad.

#milgram #i've been reading what systems in the fandom have to say and opinions seem pretty mixed #but i don't like the idea of me as a singlet trying to justify this through analysis. and i don't even want to tbh #i was hoping that the trial 2 mv would flesh out his alter and give his crime the depth nuance and sympathy afforded to the other prisoners #but that didn't happen and i'm disappointed and upset #we got a little bit. but nowhere near enough #and tbh it was never a good idea even if they subverted it they would still be writing another character with DID who kills people #and there isn't enough non-murdery rep to make that subversion worth it

[the-owl-house-takes]

ngl i rly love the idea of both philip AND caleb being evil assholes

imagine if caleb wanted to wipe out humanity bc his view of them had become so warped after growing up in a town full of witch hunters, so he had this twisted desire to protect witchkind by killing all humans (sound familiar?)

i also like to think caleb initially kept up his "whoa calm down bro" facade during the knife fight but then eventually dropped it and told philip "i shouldve killed you before i left" and went absolutely apeshit on him

(i dont think philip wouldve ever known abt calebs hatred of humanity tho bc imo caleb wouldve been smart enough to not tell him. so philip attacking caleb was still rooted solely on his anti-witch bigotry and does NOT make him a "hero" whatsoever lol)

ik (iirc) dana said evelyn chose caleb bc he seemed to be the nicest person in gravesfield but 1. caleb wouldve been hiding his hatred of humanity for obvious reasons and 2. we dont know shit abt evelyn herself, for all we know her standards couldve been "someone who wouldnt kill a witch on sight"

(speaking of evelyn i personally dont think she was evil in any way. i hc her as more of a batshit chaotic neutral character who did whatever she wanted as long as its fun anyways)

in this case caleb would be interesting foils to philip (anti-human vs anti-witch), hunter (who has an affinity to the human realm and is close to some humans like luz and camila) and the clawthorne sisters (both eda and lilith are flawed but still ultimately good ppl. both the clawthornes and the wittebanes subvert the "good sibling evil sibling" trope this way)

idk exactly what caleb and flapjacks relationship wouldve been like tho they had to have been close to some degree right? but at the same time i think flapjack had always disagreed with calebs anti-human sentiments but was afraid to actively oppose him, and ofc flap was happy that hunter was able to befriend a human and enjoy the human realm

speaking of hunter i. i was gonna say "imagine if hunter found out abt caleb wanting to wipe out humanity lol so angsty" but tbh i think that would just be TOO traumatic to him (even for an angst enjoyer like me) like he straight up wont be able to recover from that imo. or at least take a REALLY long time to recover but either way i dont think he should learn abt that kinda stuff. i do think it would be interesting if luz, eda and lilith found out tho

i also originally had the hc that caleb built the cat eye portal with the purpose of ambushing gravesfield once he was ready, but after the papa titan eye reveal in wad im not even sure who built that portal anymore- well either way caleb still wouldve wanted to build A portal ig (not the other one that led to the clawthorne house, i think that was probably evelyns)

also. the irony of both caleb and philip dying as smth that theyve hated (caleb died as a human and philip died as a "witch/demon", not literally the species in philips case but more luzs definition of "powerful magic user", and we can all agree that monster philip is demonic). i do think caleb was trying to find ways to turn himself into a real witch but philip killed him before he could succeed

uhh idk how to end this long ass post lmao- actually yk what im just gonna go ahead and say ik this will probably never be canon even if we get more official toh content in the future, its just a fun idea/hc i rly like!!! i have so much more to say abt this hc but imma stop here for now bc i dont want this ask to be TOO long lol

-

#the owl house #toh #caleb wittebane #philip wittebane #emperor belos #hunter noceda #long post

[chirpsythismorning]

I understand what Maya was saying and I do agree in some aspects.

Not to mention, actors getting interviewed usually leads to people focusing on the buzzwords from it vaguely, sort of overlooking the intention behind what they were actually saying. I would hate to see fans sending Maya hate over this, bc we know how common it is for outlets to remove entire sentences or even just a few words from the person, all for clicks, leading a bunch of people to harass over a simple statement, that was never meant to be taken so seriously in the first place.

When she was asked about Robin’s romantic arc going forward, she merely made a point to say that while that is an aspect of the story, friendship is just as important.

That’s true.

I think in s5 we’re definitely going to see the show prioritizing the importance of friendship with the party in particular, and also (found) family, and that not every character needs romance to be fulfilled. We have already speculated on that plenty with El’s arc, and some have even speculated on that for Nancy’s arc potentially.

Where I think that this gets complex, is that I think it does largely depend on the arc for the character.

Characters like Steve and El have convinced themselves they need romantic love to be fulfilled, to the point of forcing it and being miserable in the process. So the way to subvert their arcs, is to have them realize that is not the case, that they can be happy without romantic love. That doesn’t mean they can never have it, but it also doesn’t mean that it needs to be their main goal considering how young they are and how much they would honestly benefit in their growth as individuals if they accepted that they don’t need to force romantic relationships that aren’t actually making them feel good about themselves.

Characters like Robin and Will on the other hand, have convinced themselves that romantic love is not even an option for them, to the point of sort of letting go before even trying. When it came to romantic aspects of Robin’s arc in s4, she always approached it cautiously, under the assumption that it’s not something she can pursue genuinely without risking being ‘a town pariah’. And then Will is sort of in a similar boat, where he’s under the assumption Mike has been rejecting any romantic feelings for him since s3, with him by s4 accepting that it will never happen, to the point of pushing Mike and El together when they themselves were ready to let go.

So while I get what Maya was saying in the grand scheme of things, I don’t think it would be satisfying for her arc and how they’ve framed it up to this point, for her to not see that it is genuinely an option for her, and same for Will.

But tbh, her saying she has no idea how the show ends… is false.. So it’s very likely she is thinking about a combination of things when she says that. I do genuinely think she was more so saying that in general, that romance isn’t everything. And considering what’s going to go down in s5, it makes sense she would make a statement like that.

And yet… I do want to discuss the impact Robin not experiencing romantic love at all would have on viewers in future generations.

It’s just such a norm for wlw to not get the same treatment as straight or even mlm relationships in media. Although we’re dealing with a side character who was introduced in s3, with a love interest introduced in s4, so obviously not the same wheelhouse as other romantic dynamics like milkvan or byler, with them being main characters since the beginning, I still think that seeing it through and making it satisfying for her character and what she thinks is possible for her, and subverting that with some requited wlw love, is arguably essential to making that feel fulfilling once we see the story as a five part story.

I can already picture people having valid criticisms post s5, assuming they decide to just drop the romance between Robin and Vickie completely. Them introducing them in the previous season as a possibility, only to let it go into obscurity bc people weren’t as interested in it as other dynamics, would be pretty shitty.

At the end of the day, I am confident in the Duffer Brothers and ST writers vision of how they want it to go down, and I know Maya supports it too, bc she has said in the past while filming s4 that she appreciates the duffers for putting so much love into her character’s story and every characters story.

So if they decide that they don’t want Robin’s arc to be all about romance, but just an aspect of it, then I will support that and wait to see how it plays out (tbh I think every character is capable of having an arc at some point with love AND other things. It doesn’t have to be love and nothing else…)

Rockie is arguably not in as intense of a situation as byler, bc again we’re dealing with 2 main characters with series long build-up vs. two new side characters. Because of that it’s important to think critically about it beyond the basics of what we think and what we want, and what actually makes sense when thinking about it logically from a narrative stand point.

We’ll have to see how it goes. And while I do agree romance isn’t everything, in ST case, romance AND platonic love have played a crucial role in the story, always. People that think s5 is just going to drop romance entirely are not thinking logically about how inconsistent that would be with what the story has been presenting all along.

Different characters have different arcs, and that’s a good thing, bc if everyone had identical build up and resolutions, that wouldn’t be very interesting nor satisfying.

It all largely depends on what has been presented thus far for each individual character and what will feel most satisfying in the end based on that.

#byler #stranger things #st interview

[monstersinthecosmos]

so idk if you've talked about this before but i was thinking about how some of your sheith fics take place in the same sort of headcanon universe where keith and shiro first got together when shiro was actually kuron and ttsr! majorly diverges from that! i love the flavor of both possibilities LOL but i'm just wondering in what ways this timeline difference changes how you view/choose to portray their relationship in each scenario! and i don't think we'll get that far in ttsr! (I'M SCARED TBF) but just in your mind palace i also wonder how you think it plays out when shiro comes back as a clone! does kuron even know they're a thing? does keith notice any differences in how he acts? IS HE FREAKIER AND MEANER IN BED LOL? sorry i feel like i send you so many asks abouy ttsr! BUT I GENUINELY THINK ABOUT IT EVERY DAY LMAO. literally it's the sacred texts!!!!

Fgkjfdlg OMG I haven’t actually talked about this at length before because a lot of people don’t notice or don’t comment on it and I don't think anyone has ever asked! 😊

(This is going to contain some mild spoilers for my fics but THE CLUES ARE ALL THERE if you’ve read them before! Proceed with caution!)

SO YEAH LIKE. Not ALL of my Sheith fics fit these two timelines but I have a few versions of how Sheith hooked up that all live in harmony in my mind so sometimes I draw on these and it’s fun to play with them by adding more at different points in time or from different points of view.

One of them is STAR EATER timeline which started with Star Eater and includes Zero Hour and another fic called The Alternative that I wrote for a zine but I haven’t posted it on AO3 because tbh the zine process upset me so much that I don’t want to look at it anymore to make it AO3 ready lol.

The other is TONIGHT THE STARS REVOLT timeline which includes TTSR -> Minuit -> and the Femsheith fic as we circle the moon which is FEMSHEITH TTSR. (This is the order they were posted in, but chronologically it would be TTSR -> as we circle the moon -> Minuit).

And like, when I first started writing Sheith fic, I’d just spent like 2 years writing VC fic full time, and for the most part I try to keep all my VC fics in the same timeline. Mostly just for fun! It’s become like a creative challenge to me to like keep continuity between fics or hide Easter eggs. So I had written Star Eater as my first Sheith fic and then when I wrote Zero Hour I just thought it would be fun to keep it in the same timeline the way I do with VC. But idk I feel a lot freer writing Sheith than I do VC so it was also inspiring to branch out and not stick to the same formula every time.

Something about Sheith too is there’s SUCH a wealth of fic in the fandom and we’ve read so many hundreds of versions of them as a couple and how they got together and everything and like, you gotta understand that I have like 100 fic ideas on deck at all times and I know I don’t have time to write all of them, so I tend to like weed out ideas to prioritize and budget time for if I think I can say something interesting and maybe subvert some of the common fandom tropes. So yes sure, Sheith are soulmates, yada yada, but WHAT IF THEY WERE FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS AND IT WAS AWKWARD ! Or WHAT IF SHIRO NEVER MADE A MOVE UNTIL IT WAS KURON DRIVING BECAUSE KURON WAS LESS INHIBITIED? Listen I’m a slut for angst, too, so like. I’m not really good at writing fluff and it’s not my first choice as a reader, either, so I wanna ask, like sure yada yada soulmates but what if it hurt, or what if it was messy? How can we make this dark and fucked up? Lol

So these two premises are like, places I’ve put a lot of thought, and I think a lot about how that affects their relationship long term and what it says about them. And I think they offer a different flavor, so when I have an idea or I’m in a certain mood, sometimes I think “this would be really nice in whichever timeline.” And a few of my fics they hook up after the war, too! So it really depends like what flavor I’m going for that day and how badly I want to traumatize Keith LOL

But for example, like, TTSR was born in my brain as like misc smut prompts but I thought “It would be subversive if they were FWB" because at the time I never saw canonverse fics where they were FWB, I’d only seen it in AUs. And then when I wrote Minuit it was for the prompt party and my prompt was about Keith nursing Shiro to health after he gets his body back, and I WANTED it to be crampy and uncomfortable and awkward, and I WANTED Shiro to feel guilty and self conscious, and so I thought setting it in TTSR timeline would add to it because it adds that element of like, IS THIS TOO INTIMATE? IS IT TOO SERIOUS? It also includes some flashbacks to when Kuron first shows up, and how he and Keith navigated being around each other, but his memory is sort of fuzzy and he’s disoriented.

I REALLY love thinking about the sort of like, dubcon aspects of Keith fucking Kuron, too, because neither of them are truuuuuuuly consenting. Keithisn't fucking the person he thinks he's fucking, and later on Shiro is bound to be kinda violated knowing that his identity was stolen for it. And would Kuron want to fuck Keith if the Galra wasn't telling him to? I also like the idea that Kuron is not a perfect copy, and maybe he’s bolder, maybe he’s more aggressive, etc. So maybe he did make moves that Shiro didn’t, and Shiro comes back and can’t believe what went on while he was gone. In Star Eater universe it’s sex and in TTSR universe it’s the ilu confession. It's quite violating to everyone involved!

And in both universes I’ve tried to float the idea that Keith could tell something was wrong, or different, but he just assumed it was The Trauma ™. Like Shiro comes back a little bit off, he’s getting migraines, and Keith GETS IT. Keith has also (canonically) made Shiro’s safety his own responsibility, so I wonder if he feels so guilty that he fucked up that he’s not going to push on it. In Zero Hour this takes the shape of Keith not wanting to talk about Kuron at all to real Shiro because he feels so fucking embarrassed that he didn’t notice, and in as we circle the moon (s)he’s struggling the entire time trying to figure out if Shiro needs space to get better or if this is going to be the new normal and how tough the love should be.

One of the reasons re: Kuron why I decided I wanted a clean slate after Zero Hour too is that I kind of regretted the way I interpreted the Kuron lore when I wrote Zero Hour; canon is a little bit unclear about how it works and whether or not Kuron is “dead” or gone from the body. I decided afterwards that I liked the idea of them having to share the space and sort of integrating with each other, which is why I wrote it differently in Minuit. In Star Eater timeline, Kuron’s entire personality is basically AI programmed on what the Galra could map of Shiro’s brain, and WITHOUT GETTING INTO JUNK SCIENCE EXCUSES FOR THE WHY, I just thought maybe it might leave sort of “impressions” in the body, which is why Shiro can sense residual, disjointed memories. I imagined these things like imprints or phantom sensation in his brain, perhaps in the vein of epigenetic trauma.

But in TTSR/Minuit timeline, Shiro is in there WITH HIM and it’s a matter of trying to cooperate who’s in the driver’s seat. I haven’t written this further but I imagine that Real Shiro will one day simply become New Shiro which is him and Kuron sort of integrated as one person; this is why I wrote the scene about him dreaming about a cherished childhood memory except that he’s inserted a twin into it. He will learn to share and accept that Kuron has all his same memories and his own soul, whatever that means.

AND TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS LOL SORRY FOR MEANDERING but I do imagine Kuron being freakier and meaner LOL. Is this grounded in canon or am I making excuses to be kinky? Reader’s choice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can justify it by, again, asking if the Galra made an imperfect copy. Because like he IS different! The show communicates this to us by the subtle changes to his character design. And I think about like, the Galra designing him and programming him for a purpose, which is GET CLOSE TO THE RED PALADIN, and I wonder how that might push him in areas where Shiro would’ve been more reserved.

And like what might the Galra get wrong about human psychology and American culture? WHAT ARE GALRA MATING RITUALS? As the BIG BADDIES of canon they come off as being aggressors—even Lotor, who believed he was acting for a greater good, was committing atrocities LOL—so how does that change when they try to build a human personality and human intention? WHAT IF IT’S LIKE JURASSIC PARK WHERE THEY PATCH DNA GAPS WITH GALRA SO KURON IS LIKE AN ALPHA OR SOMETHING HAHA. But no really like what if he’s more virile, what if he’s more confident, what if everything he does is based on some soul-crushing subconscious instinct to BE CLOSE TO KEITH at any cost!!!

These ideas take many forms in my mind, which is why I need multiple versions with multiple answers LOL.

But TTSR Kuron knows they’re a thing, because I think the Galra were sort of downloading/studying Shiro’s consciousness through his arm the entire time he was alive, right? So up until the very end he’d have Shiro’s memories. He will know they hooked up, and he will know how Shiro felt about it. In as we circle the moon (s)he breaks the ILU to Keith in the pilot’s log because she thinks she’s dying and her entire soul is crushed that she never saw her relationship with Keith through, not just for the half of her that shares Shiro’s feelings but also the other half that exists solely to get to Keith.

Star Eater Kuron knows that Shiro has been pining for a while and is the one who is brave enough to make a move!

ANYWAY THIS WAS QUITE LONG AND RAMBLING but I hope I answered your questions LOL.

I think TTSR exists as a trilogy in my mind, and I hope that the huge gaps between updates don’t leave anyone DYING because I’m going to follow canon so there's not a huge mystery where it will go. You can also get an idea of where they’re going by stitching clues together from the other fics. I have no idea if or when I’ll find time to WRITE A WHOLE TRILOGY (please just let me finish TTSR first LMFAO) but I always imagined TTSR ending around when Shiro dies, the middle fic being about Kuron, and the third as the post-S7 story that I have to make up myself because I don’t accept S8 LOL.

MAKE OF THAT WHAT YOU WILL but that’s basically the questions I ask about these guys and how it informs where fics go and if I’m in one mood or another or think one timeline or the other will serve a story I want to tell, I’ll set it there!

and OMG don't apologize for sending Sheith asks, I think all this stuff is like bursting at the seams of my brain and I'm always happy to yell about it!!!

#sheith #stuff i wrote #space man meta #ttsr

[rriavian]

M and N for the ask game!!

M - name a character you’d like to have for a friend 

Calliope or Jessamy (though if I could I’d give her back to Dream).

But Calliope was my first thought because I adore her character. I could go on for a long time about why but my answer for N is very long so I might save it for another post.

N - 3 things you wish you saw more of in your main fandom (or one of your choice)

Ok this might be a little controversial but…I don’t actually read that much Sandman fanfic anymore. In the beginning I read so much and while I still write, I think what’s kept me around is that I'm trying to write what I want to see more of. If that makes sense?

Firstly, I’d love to see more diversity.

Not just in ships but in fic in general, more gen, more that explore the female characters, more femslash (never written it but I know you mod Sandman Femslash Fans and I really wanted to do something for the challenge! Have an idea but I’ve been a bit ill recently). I wish there was more love for side characters/minor characters other than Hob. And that there were more explorations of the connections between characters outside of shipping.

I never really enjoy fandoms where one ship is a majority, even when I ship that ship, because in my experience it leads to everything being seen through the lens of that ship.

It tends to lean towards certain fanon interpretations being considered canon, with fandoms forgetting to question/step outside of the ships bubble. It's also just not very interesting. Even when there’s diversity within the ship itself I like to see more of a counterpoint. Otherwise it just…makes the universe feel smaller. Like only ever having chocolate cake on offer, maybe in ten different permutations, but at its core it’s chocolate. Different takes on things make people think, challenge them to think, make them alter their perspective, and it’s a healthy thing. I don’t think this fandom is very good for that tbh. 

Secondly, more characterisations of non-human characters that embrace the fact they are not human.

I see this very common binary of more human like = good vs less human like = bad (very simplified but I hope you understand my point!). So would like to see this not just for Dream, but for other characters too. I know we’re humans engaging with this fandom, so it's hard to envision that perspective, but I’d love to see more of us stepping outside of a human lens. As much as the fandom writes ‘nightmare’ Dream, it’s often shown as his dark or unrestrained side (or primarily a sex thing) so would love to see more diverse views on the spectrum of his aspect. On the flip side the human/retired Dream trope (which is personally a hard no for me unless heavily subverted) is far more popular than its opposite.

Again, this is about a desire for diversity. I'm not suggesting there's something wrong with having different tastes!! Just frustrating when it’s hard to find anything else.

I know this is fanfic, and so we all have our own interpretations and AUs, with many of us embracing the opportunity to write a drastically different version of a character. I just rarely see Dream characterised in a way that, again to my interpretation, I recognise as him. That feels authentically him. Other characters like Lucienne or Death or even Rose often feel like they are smoothed out to be perfect or written in a matchmaking role. I wish more fics let them be as flawed as they are, let them be wrong, let them make mistakes. I’d just love to see more complexity.

Thirdly - this is probably a subpoint of the above - but more of Dream actually enjoying his role, and fics that explore his relationship to humanity.

I'd love to see explorations of what it means to be Dream. I see so much of him rejecting it or being overwhelmed by it. While I do think his feelings are complicated, which in itself is very interesting, he’s not just going through the motions/in need of saving. I wish more people showed that it’s not just this burden he needs freedom from. He’s good at it too. That’s what makes things so tragic. He’s smart, communicative in his own way, but Dream just isn’t human, and so he’s not going to act like one.

(Btw this is not anti Dreamling. I’m not here to hate on anyone’s ship, especially one I do ship in certain ways. I just wish there was more diversity, and I personally disagree with a lot of interpretations of Dream’s character. As fans we’re all allowed to dislike a take/trope. I just don’t read those fics because I'm not the right audience for them. I'm only trying to point out that when those takes/tropes are everywhere it’s really hard to find anything to engage with.)

#unsure how to tag this #no hate to anyone #just a wish more more of something different #the sandman #i hope this wasn't too rambly an answer

[real-life-senshi]

Reading PGSMs director talk show with Ayaka just now (THANK YOU btw for the live blog and translation! I would have never seen it otherwise) and their dynamic is such a treat to watch, but tbh I don’t really get why they call Rei boyish? I never got anything particularly “guy-like” about her throughout the show, but maybe that’s just me, so I hope you don’t mind if I ask if you do?

Hello friend~

Thanks for dropping by. I'd be happy to try answer your question! I do want to preface I'm not native to Japanese culture, so I'm also trying to explain this from an outsider perspective, which has its pros and cons!

First of all, I want to note that it is important to consider the cultural and societal values from the Japanese perspective.

The word Director Suzumura used to describe Rei is "サバサバ" [sabasaba]. In Japanese, it means "refreshingly candid". This in itself isn't meant to say Rei is boyish, but サバサバ is more often than not considered a masculine trait. Because of this, assistant-host Miyuu latched onto that and extrapolated it as Rei seemed *relatively* more boyish than the other Senshi, possible except for Makoto (who as we learn more about the character is actually very lady-like inside), and Haruka (our beloved butch lesbian).

The reason for this is because of Japanese societal values. While it may not always be obvious especially if one's view of Japanese culture is only through pop culture or anime culture, Japanese culture is heavily hierarchical, conservative and gendered. The idea of honorifics (-kun, -chan, - san, -sensei, -sama, etc) is a good example of that. Now knowing the Japanese social construct is still man-dominated, explains why サバサバ is considered a masculine trait because their position makes it more likely that man feels comfortable, confident and accepted to speak their mind straightforwardly. Many girls and women are still conditioned that the best female qualities are to be demure, soft, quiet and pretty like a flower. (Bleh!)

It is important to note that hierarchy weighs above gendered norms. Just think back to Act 33, Rei's father's secretary was almost grovelling at Rei because Rei is his "ojousama", the daughter and heiress to his employer means a full-grown man is bowing deeply and speaking like a servant to a 14 years old girl.

In the case of Rei and Minako, Minako has been established as the Princess while Rei is being coached into the leader position, and then Minako is revealed to be THE leader while Rei is just a substitute. When considering this hierarchy, Rei's continual buttheading with Minako through speaking her mind and standing her ground understandably stands out to make Rei seem more confident and サバサバ than any other Senshi. Even though Makoto is the default tomboy of the group, Makoto has always been very respectful to Venus/Minako.

When I googled "サバサバ系女子" [sabasaba-kei onna] (refreshingly candid type woman), this is the result:

サバサバ系女子とは？ サバサバ系女子とは、性格がさっぱりしていて頼りになる女性のことを指します。 良い意味で他人への興味が薄いため、「自分は自分」「人は人」の線引きが上手です。 他人の意見に流されたり振り回されることがなく、自分の意思がはっきりしている女性です What is a Sabasaba-kei girl? Sabasaba-kei girls are women who have a refreshing personality and are dependable. In a positive sense, they are not interested in other people, so they draw a line between "I am myself" and "other people are other people. She is a woman who is not swayed or influenced by the opinions of others and is clear about her intentions.

It does remind you of Rei, doesn't it? lol And yet, this is only positively recognized in the recent decade in Japan, when the outside world's influence started to open people's perspective that subverts traditional Japanese values. For a girl or woman to be like this way back when, girls could easily be viewed as masculine, boyish and even improper.

What differs between Makoto's tomboyish ways, is that Makoto actions, physical mannerism and appearance make her feel a bit more masculine, thus tomboyish, but in Rei's case, it's her personality, speech mannerism and how she speaks her mind that make her seem to be what the Japanese would consider masculine.

Hope this is adequate and helps you get some perspective!

(Now I really should start getting the translated summaries done for Jouji, Mew, and Miyuu's episode with Director Suzumura...)

#hino rei #khmyh replies #anonymous #Director Suzumura's Glass Night Take.017

[villains4hire]

“ 🔥 “ about Stella and Stolas

//I think it's pretty clear that the rpc hates the dynamic as a vast majority and I can see why you went on anon for it lol. Fair. I think overall it has its ups and downs, it's not ALL bad, I think Stella for example should probably be more intelligent since she's a one-off woman villain now behind a man being her brother. I think overall that Stella's intelligence isn't even the main problem, but it's her brother being basically behind the wheel now or implied to be.

Gets a bit spicy, readmore.

//Stella while I do just see her as a cardboard cutout as an abuser? I don't even think her intention to being a villain is bad. But make her a far more interesting one than just a plot device imo.

//Stolas I think while I like him, he does get his ass patted a lot in terms of getting a free pass for being a canon gay character by the community. Or very like 'oh woe is me' dynamics sewn onto him, he's being abused etc. It overall felt really weird when Stella has abused Stolas less than Loona has to her dad, then it's played up for laughs. I think I remember someone saying it played like, a protagonist perspective or something etc by someone when in passing and I have to agree with both that Canon Angel Rper and the Angel Dust I remember... albeit don't quote me on all of this/I won't name drop either of them or elude to who bc I know how stupid ppl are about this ship and character. Though I'm pretty sure they both can handle the heat.

-

Complaining out the gate done:

-

What was done well with a mix of how it can be done better.

//I think the general idea is fine, that Octavia is closer to Stolas or even Stella being a vindictive evil bitch. It's more of how it arrives at the execution, along with the constant shielding that's done or the feeling that some had against Stolas of being a cheater. Then quite obviously later making it clear why he's a cheater or that it's fine, it's not really subverting intentions or what's expected when it's something normally considered pretty bad. It just feels like trying to explain it all away tbh.

//I think my biggest issue is that Stolas is not a good person, but I would consider him one better than Stella morally probably. Though I do think his recklessness also contrasts with how he cares about Octavia, I wish his relationship with Blitz would show how it effects them both due to the fact we see no real supposed consequence of them both dating. Only just basically being mocked by Ozzy and that was it even if it's taboo even among Hell in the Goetia Clan. S2 has yet to end so maybe that'll change tho.

//Regardless, I wouldn't be making these opinions as I had never intended to take Helluva Boss seriously as a series. It was clear to me at the time for how Vizi said and intended it to be a sideplot/more jokey stuff. It's why I even have some of the opinions that I do on the characters.

//I don't think she shouldn't try, but I do think that Stolas and Stella is probably the most sloppily handled thing in the series to the point of almost being irresponsible, but not quite there yet lol. I think Vizi probably needed someone to go over her work if she was going to present anything serious like Stolas, Stella and then Stryker etc. As of course if you pick it apart it all starts becoming undone and you could say 'oh it's just the sideplot, oh it's just the comedy, oh it's just blah blah'. Look, if she didn't present serious plot-like elements and complex heavy topics presented in a way that's not really just a one-off serious thing but ongoing? Then maybe, just maybe people wouldn't take it as seriously, which is a shame, as ppl like it anyway, but I do think it could've been something much more special than it is now currently.

#hb g #spicy goopy #ooc #anon #answered

[m1ckeyb3rry]

i finally got to catch up with the new sith chapters, i've been busy vacationing after school🥱 it's a great feeling to come home to several new chapters waiting lol

this is for chapter 21 btw:

i LOVE, love cordelia. she's such a girl's girl and i love how she didn't hold on a grudge against the o/c, she's soooo sweet. her thinking friedrich probably doesn't know her name😭 that's such a friedrich thing tbh

"... someone who isn’t so inextricably linked with another girl already." omg. everyone knows. like now i'm also curious of how they broke up??? like was cordelia like "ooohhh... so you're in love with your best friend and you're leaving me" or did she play the fool or something???

"... knowing full well you could never withstand torture. Not you, you were at heart a self-interested person who’d sell out Marley if it meant saving your own skin." this is an interesting take on o/c's character, and these bits are my favorite parts of this story. the o/c not being a traditional "hero" and acting against it (even getting annoyed when called one) is new and much much more realistic than idealist mcs who are willing to die for a noble cause so selflessly.

i truly enjoyed o/c and marek's conversation. she definitely needed to see the other side of the war and the consequences of her sacrifice. her idea might've led to something horrible, but it was either the enemy or themselves. i'm so glad that she was reminded that whatever she had done, it wasn't in vain and it had some positive outcomes for them. and not just for the military, but for people as well.

i love filler chapters like this! it's intriguing to dive into the o/c's life and character without getting lost in the action.

I hope you had a great vacation!! LMAO yes I’ve been trying to at least update SitH even though I’ve been slacking with updating literally everything else 😭

— yess I really wanted to subvert tropes w this fic and cordelia is a character I tried to do that with!! She’s definitely such a girls’ girl and I honestly just felt like writing her and Y/N to hate each other over a man would do a disservice to both of their characters and make them sm flatter and less 3D. Also friedrich definitely does know cordelia’s name but I’ll leave it open to interpretation whether that’s because his BFF dated her or because he just like. Remembers her name from when general magath introduced her to the trio

— SDJLSJS yes it’s like public knowledge at this point literally everyone knows but they all just kind of ignore it. I feel like it wasn’t a super intense break up or anything they just were like “okay this actually is not working for…reasons…” and moved on. I doubt either of them explicitly said why but it was definitely heavily implied

— Y/N as a character is like my favorite thing abt SitH I feel like I peaked with writing her tbh. I think the most interesting thing is that for the first few chapters it seems like she’s going to be the classic hero who chooses good and is super righteous and rises above her circumstances but then she just…doesn’t take that path. Whether she’s a hero or a villain really just depends on which pov you look at it from!! But I agree that she could never really be considered the stereotypical noble Hero and she herself recognizes that and hates when people think that’s who she is because it’s not

— marek’s physical state (specifically his face) is meant to directly reflect Y/N’s emotional state, and in accepting him despite how he was affected by the war, she began to finally accept herself despite how SHE was affected by the war. In real life, conflicts aren’t black and white, so while Y/N’s idea was definitely reprehensible, the other side wasn’t completely innocent either (although, of course, the people directly impacted by her idea — the Eldians — arguably were). For as many people that she hurt and as many lives that she destroyed, she also managed to save at least one, and that’s enough to at least allow her to start moving on

I feel like the filler chapters have been dragging on sm 😭 but at least if all goes to plan there’s only one more chapter left of “the gang hangs out in liberio” and then there will be…not necessarily ACTION but new situations and whatnot

#ship in the harbor #answered asks

[horde-princess]

jesus/adora meta pwease 👉👈😳

okayokay ive been thinking about this for a long time and the reason ive never written about it is because like. its so BIG. i like to think of adora’s character as a reflection of noelle’s experiences as a former christian, and there is still so much to dive into with that- however i do agree there’s another more abstract layer to adora’s story that challenges some bigger theological ideas. this is probably about to sound wild lksjljfdf i’ll try my best to explain my thought process just disclaimer that it will not make any sense 😌 when do my metas ever make sense tbh. U KNOW WHAT YOU SIGNED UP FOR WHEN YOU FOLLOWED ME BYE

Parallel 1: There’s at least one jesus/adora parallel that’s undeniable and that’s the whole ancient prophesied messiah thing. this wasn’t in the original motu lore so you know it was added for a reason.

Parallel 2: Adora was raised by shadow weaver and light hope to be a willing sacrificial lamb.. the isaac to their abrahams. her faith in god (aka her allegiance to the horde / first ones) demanded that she sacrifice herself to save the world.

i think these 2 parallels provide sufficient evidence to move on with this analysis but later i wanna mention some of the more specific details bc they are super interesting! but yeah for now--there was clearly some theme going on here about subverting the story of jesus... adora was given a divine destiny to save etheria, but save it from what? and why does it matter?

She-Ra criticizes the penal substitutionary atonement theory

what the fuck is that right lsdfdkj I WARNED YOU THIS WAS GONNA BE ABOUT THEOLOGY

ok basically. evangelical christians like to say that jesus died to save us from our sins, but what they actually believe is that jesus died in our place to save us from god’s wrath. that’s an important difference. let me uhh put it another way

god defined sin (as disobeying him), created humans to be inherently sinful, decided he would punish us for the way he made everything.. then sent jesus to save us (from his own unjust anger?? as if it’s an act of mercy lmao)

in a similar way, horde prime defined sin as disobedience, then decided he should kill everyone for it. but he is a 1D villain for the purposes of the show right so instead of prime sending adora as a savior, it’s light hope who sends her. a lil confusing but its all part of the same story light hope is just another metaphor for religion. so far adoras story = jesus.

AND THEN THIS IS THE GENIUS PART--as we know adora’s destiny was never light hope sending her to the world, that was all a lie... her true powers, her true “destiny” came from being chosen BY the world.

!!!!!!! THERE IS. so much here. the whole christian narrative is flipped. writing the next part in italics because its important lkdfjldj

in christianity, a good god sends a savior from heaven to redeem an evil world. in she-ra, it’s an inherently good world that chooses it’s own human hero to save it from an evil god.

which (finally) brings us back to how she-ra criticizes the evangelicals atonement theory. because humanity doesn’t deserve god’s wrath any more than the etherians deserved prime’s wrath. condemning people for disobeying arbitrary rules (e.g. “believe jesus is the only path to life”) makes no sense. however..... if disobedience is not a sin, that means there is no need for atonement. no need for atonement = no savior. no sacrifice. 

tl;dr she-ra compares jesus--a deity sent from heaven as a sacrifice--to adora, a human chosen by the world itself, who avoided that same sacrifice. to me this is a rejection of the idea that humanity needs a divine savior. and beyond that, a rejection of the specific evangelical theory that we needed him to die in our place because we are sinful.

Resurrection through love instead of faith

ok that was a lot lsdkjfld but.. to shift gears a little..... the fact that adora’s sacrifice was unnecessary isn’t as important as how the sacrifice was avoided.

i said before that god defined sin as disobedience but in practice that just means having any personal desire that exists outside of him. shadow weaver and light hope tell adora that in order to follow her destiny she has to “let go” of her friends... as if they’re mutually exclusive, her desires and faith cannot coincide, she must choose between them. its a reflection of the same kind of black & white ultimatums you hear in church. this is how the show was able to frame adora’s love for catra as sinful without explicitly stating it.

when adora ignores her mentors guidance and kisses catra..... first we all cried ldkfj but also. she is committing the ultimate “sin” !! she’s giving into her desires so, according to the dichotomy set up by sw and lh, she’s also rejecting her destiny/faith by default. 

but then... it’s this sin that actually saves adora’s life, whereas faith would’ve led to her death. wait hold on i [goes outside and screams]

so jesus and adora followed very similar destinies right. jesus spends his life rejecting his personal desires, dies for god, and god resurrects him for his obedience. but adora LIVES and its BECAUSE she embraces her earthly desires, leaving behind the religious idea that rejecting your desires leads to salvation.... which is once again the opposite of jesus. like jesus died to save an evil world from sin, but in contrast adora reclaimed her “sin” as something good and it saved her from death, it saved her from needing resurrection at all !!!!! at least, not from god. maybe catra’s kiss symbolizes a different kind of resurrection, one inspired by love instead of faith. new life that isnt earned through sacrifice but given freely (as christians like to claim god’s grace is).

THAT IS SO LDKJFLDFJDDF and this entire time i havent even MENTIONED the fact that this is all in relation to LESBIAN love and LESBIAN desires which is obviously the point of the show and why these themes hit so hard. but even when you take away the lgbt aspect, she-ra still holds up as a fantastic criticism of evangelical theology.

........ 🙂 ok i think my brain is broken jdjdjsj why did i write this

#why did you READ this... you rly saw the words ''penal substitutionary atonement'' and just kept going huh! i am terrified of you!!!!! #jk ily thx for reading <3 pls dont ask me to explain any of this tho #religious meta

[ladymelisande]

I like the Crows but tbh I'm not sure I'd be willing to watch many seasons with them alone. Imo I love the Grisha and personally I need some other characters to balance out the Crows. Also I just love the Darkling and think he works better as an anti-hero. He just has too many good points. I struggle to even think of him being the villain in the show since he just has so many good points going for him and the "heroes" don't. One half is a bunch of criminals only out for themselves and the other half fails to see the big picture and is also completely selfish. LB really shot herself in the foot choosing to portray the oppressed group as the villain/greedy lol. What the hell was she thinking?!

Maybe because she didn't think when she did the worldbuilding, at the end the Darkling is just a cautionary tale with legs that she did because she doesn't like that particular trope and she wanted to 'show' girls why that trope was bad, which is something because she has no idea of how that trope really works.

For example, there is a trope I really don't like, which is the Runaway Mamma/Secret Baby trope, I find that trope pretty sexist, because it's mostly used around in stories where the woman is just hailed as a victim for running away, most of the time with no good reason, or not just telling the other parent of the kid out of spite. I hate that trope with passion, especially because the children are just an accessory for the protagonist drama. So, I subverted it in my current standalone by making the mother into an unsympathetic character whose unsympathetic reason for hiding her child away from their father is not cuddled. This character, unlike the Darkling, is never presented as a good, supportive mother and then switched to be the narcissistic arse that hurt her daughter out of spite of her father. No, she is like that since the beginning, I am not baiting the readers into believing anything else. I'm just subverting the common framing of the trope.

What Bardugo did wasn't a subversion. Why? Well, because for the entire first part of book to Gen/ya's preachy and unsubtle warning on Alina, the Darkling does literally nothing that can put him outside of any other morally grey character. He acts exactly like you would expect from someone of the trope that Bardugo hates but she neither gives much indications that he is so evil except for everyone exposition warnings and then the reveal is just… more exposition, everything is tell, tell, tell until the Darkling suddenly goes from grey character and reasonable to cartoonish villain and we are supposed to believe he was like that all along because 'subversion'. It's like she tried a Bait and Switch played for drama but it didn't work, at all.

In the show is even more ridiculous because you just know that stupid scene with Baghra was shoehorned in the show because Bardugo wanted it. It's clear as air, as it's clear that they wanted to change Alina's reason for suppressing her powers being about the Fjerdan killing her parents and not fucking Mal. We have Aleksander's POV in the show, we know that a lot things move him more than greed and evilness. Concern for his people, years and years of trauma, stress on being the only person in this mess that is seeing the bigger picture. He is not Bardugo's cautionary caricature of the Dark Immortal Lover anymore, he is a human being with feelings, something that she clearly never wanted for him. But again, I don't think she ever thought about the gross implications of what she did in the wolrdbuilding, she just wanted to arrogantly tell a story to us 'lesser' minds after all. And now she has shot herself in the foot because she has the English Major that plays that character she hates so much telling in very public interviews that her characters are allegories and that nothing happens in her second book. Meanwhile said character she hates is the driving force of the viewvership of the show and most beloved character for non-readers.

Serves her well.

#may answers #aleksander morozova

[michaelburnhamfanclub]

season three is where star trek discovery claims to have found its stride, and i must admit that with the season’s premiere, i was more than inclined to agree. however, now that s3 is complete and we’re able to take a holistic view of all of the resolved and unresolved arcs, i’m still pretty unsatisfied

with the s3 finale, it became clear that the season’s mission in terms of its protagonist was a concise one: to fully prepare michael burnham for the captain’s seat

i was thrilled when michael finally was promoted to captain, but it’s really worth examining the ways that the show went about its final preparations for such a promotion. there were a few major tenants to michael’s character arc across these thirteen episodes, and the following two themes are the ones i think are most worth unpacking in terms of what they do in service of michael’s promotion:

1. michael’s ongoing and complex relationship with isolation

2. michael’s inclination to subvert authority and protocol in service of what is right

i’ll try and unpack these a little bit below the cut

michael and isolation

ever since the very first episode of the very first season, michael burnham has been a character entrenched in her own isolation. in season one, michael found friendship and community on the discovery by forging bonds with sylvia tilly, ash tyler, and paul stamets and by redefining previously broken bonds with saru and the alternate philippa georgiou. one of the main reasons why s1 is kinda still my favorite season is this very aspect of it: michael’s success and the federation’s survival depended on the creation and strength of these bonds

season two continued michael’s experience of isolation by introducing her estranged and tortured relationship with spock. the major theme of michael’s character in this season was her instinct to “reach” for the people who always seemed furthest from her despite everything (i.e., she “reached” for her parents, spock, tilly, etc.). this was the final message she imparted to spock: the act of reaching for others will always be the most worthwhile thing, even if you are unable to ever touch them. michael was finally able to connect with spock only to be launched into the future

season three picks up on this theme in what i think is the most conceivably devastating way possible. michael is isolated for a whole year from the crew of the discovery, and when she returns into the fold, nobody reaches for her.

now, a huge part of why the first and third episodes hit me so hard is because i really thought they were going somewhere meaningful with this. she loses so much, and the gratitude directed towards her in the third episode is directly acknowledged as NOT ENOUGH. michael stands among her found family in the halls of the discovery, a family she has mourned for a year, and tilly says, “you let us go, didn’t you?” and there seems to be purpose to it

the first half of season three sees michael feeling lost, struggling to find a single reason why she should feel like she should belong with these people on this ship anymore. tilly and saru both clearly understand this, and instead of seeing any efforts on their part to welcome her back into their family, they further contribute to her feelings of isolation and make HER apologize for keeping THEM out of the loop (and yeah i understand that these apologies have to do with breaches in starfleet protocol but rn i’m only focusing on the interpersonal implications). the only meaningful connections that michael is able to maintain this season are with book and georgiou. and while i adore them both, georgiou leaves before the season ends and book is from the future and isn’t a discovery crew member, which makes it feel like when michael says she doesn’t think she belongs on the discovery, she’s RIGHT

this first half of development would’ve been all well and good if it had been carried out to its logical conclusion, which would have been the discovery crew fighting to make michael feel like she belongs, but that never happened. instead, we get unification iii, which is a great episode on its own, but it only resolves michael’s internal feelings regarding her place in starfleet, not the interpersonal tension that’s made her feel more isolated than she’s been since, like, maybe even early season one.

this is all to say that i don’t understand how this unfulfilled arc generates michael’s preparedness to stay on the discovery as captain, unless we’re going with the “the captain defines themself as separate from the crew because they’re the captain” narrative that star trek does admittedly love. i would be more into it if i was sure that discovery would actually explore that isolation with the care it deserves

it could be cool to potentially explore a discussion or resolution of this arc next season by bringing commander nhan back as michael’s first officer, another character who felt disconnected enough from the discovery’s crew to actually decide to leave, but idk i guess we’ll see

michael and authority

i’ve talked about how michael’s s1 character arc was a journey to learn how to subvert authority before. she starts the show as “the mutineer,” and this is a signifier we can’t forget

my roommate and i have also talked a lot about how the command structure of the discovery is so fucking weird, and i think a large part of it is because it naturally organizes itself around its heart, which is a position that michael instinctively and effortlessly occupies (though that is not to say that this effortlessness is not without its own suffering---michael being the heart of the discovery is what leads to the reinforcement of her martyr complex, though that’s not the focus of this post so i won’t dwell there)

season three’s essential question that it sets up with michael centers around doing the right thing her way or doing the right thing starfleet’s way. in her year alone, michael is finally able to define herself outside of starfleet, and she likes who she finds. this is one of the main reasons she struggles to reinsert herself into the crew of the discovery, this is the reason she rejects the idea of being the crew’s captain outright, and this is the reason saru gives for demoting her. this is the eventual reason that michael sends paul in an escape pod to the federation hq instead of immediately trying to jump for hugh, saru, and adira. this is the reason that she is eventually promoted to captain

tbh i would have had less issue with this storyline if not for a couple key details: (1) michael was punished for subverting starfleet protocol when other characters (like keyla or tilly) were encouraged or rewarded for it. (2) idk i feel like we’ve exceeded the bounds of the whole “needs of the many/needs of the few” ideological tenant, which was (i think) something that the ni’var president even SAID.

when it comes down to it, i just think that michael’s complicated relationship with subverting authority deserves a much more complicated storyline. i do think that this is something we’ll see more of in s4 because it’s always going to be one of the greatest tenants of her character, but that doesn’t change the fact that it seems to have fallen rather flat in s3 for me. i’d argue that this is because discovery doesn’t seem to want to commit to its serialized style as much anymore, but maybe that’s for another post lmao

i don’t think i’ve quite found a way to properly articulate it yet, but michael taking the captain’s seat was supposed to be the culmination of three seasons of buildup. however, the buildup that the show suggested in the s3 finale seemed to be based on things that michael had already earned by the s3 premiere. her relationship with authority this season felt. idk. maybe it’s because this was kinda the first time the show attempted to show michael as a subordinate on the discovery instead of as the heart of the discovery, but it felt like it just wasn’t the natural place to take that particular element of her characterization. i’m hoping that s4 will deliver on this front, but the main thing is that i don’t think s3 did

tl;dr s3 was not what i was hoping for in terms of furthering michael’s character, and now that she’s captain i would love for these two elements of her characterization to be explored to their full and complicated conclusions

#star trek discovery #michael burnham #god this is long #been trying to settle my thoughts for days and well here they are #as they exist today at least

[makeste]

I'd love to read some Naruto analysis by you!

lol I might not be the best person to ask about this, tbh. Naruto happens to be one of the series I mentioned last week where I eventually stopped reading because of things related to the timeskip. it basically got to the point where I realized I was forcing myself to keep reading it, and that everything I had originally loved about it was basically gone. it had all of the problems I mentioned about timeskips -- characters splitting up (AND characters staying together, but us missing out on their development); fights becoming boring; the series becoming way darker and killing off more than a few characters for shock value; and the clumsiest attempt at a romance plot I can recall reading in a manga. I stopped reading it sometime around chapter 400 or so, which would have been around 2009 I believe. the series ultimately went on for another 300 chapters and didn’t end until late 2014, and I have little to no idea what went down in those chapters, and no real interest in ever going back to finish it. I’m not saying it was objectively bad, because I can hardly judge what I haven’t even read. but it just stopped having any type of appeal to me.

regarding Naruto and Sasuke’s relationship, the best way I can describe it (and be warned this is gonna get kind of long lol) for someone who’s unfamiliar with Naruto but knows BnHA, is that it’s basically Bakugou and Deku’s relationship, if both of them were orphaned at a young age, and in Bakugou’s case he was specifically orphaned by his evil older brother who murdered their entire family in front of him. and so Bakugou basically grew up being all “the FUCK is up with that, I am going to KILL THAT DUDE,” and so he went to ninja school to learn how to be a badass so that he could avenge his family. and meanwhile Deku went to ninja school because he was lonely and wanted to be Ninja President when he grew up so that people would finally want to be his friend. and so they both learned to become ninjas, and then they graduated at the ripe old age of Twelve and started ninja internships under ninja!Aizawa’s tutelage along with a badass girl ninja whom ninja!Deku had a massive crush on even though she herself was not-so-secretly crushing on ninja!Bakugou.

and even though ninja!Bakugou and ninja!Deku didn’t get along at first, they started doing all of the usual Rival Things like competing with each other over who is better at running up trees sideways, and their relationship gradually got a little bit better. and then ninja!Bakugou all of a sudden saved ninja!Deku’s life OUT OF NOWHERE (like this boy really had his own “my body just moved on its own” moment all of 27 chapters into the series) and nearly died, and ninja!Deku went into rage mode because of it, and so that was awesome. and so it basically went on like this, with both of them continuing to do rival things like egging each other on to become stronger and talking about how much they want to fight each other and stuff. all that good shit.

anyways though, but where it started to go south was when ninja!Bakugou, much like actual!Bakugou, eventually caught the attention of one of the villain characters who started being all “HEY KID, JOIN ME AND I’LL HELP YOU BECOME STRONG ENOUGH TO KILL YOUR BROTHER.” and at first of course ninja!Bakugou was all “wtf, no”, which, good. BUT THEN it all really started to go to shit when ninja!Bakugou’s Evil Brother came back to town because he wanted to kidnap ninja!Deku, but ninja!Bakugou found out about it and was all “OH HELL NO” and went and found his bro to try to kill him. but seeing as ninja!Bakugou’s brother was one of the strongest characters in the series, and ninja!Bakugou was LITERALLY A CHILD, to make a long story short the Evil Brother basically kicked his ass and was all “nyah nyah nyah what’s up with that you’re still so weak” and subjected him to a little hypno torture session for good measure.

and so basically, ninja!Bakugou spiraled into a mental funk and eventually was all “I GUESS I’D BETTER GO FIND THAT VILLAIN FELLOW AFTER ALL” and RAN AWAY TO GO BECOME EVIL. and ninja!Deku found out about it and went after him and they had a HUGE DRAMATIC FIGHT, but ultimately ninja!Deku lost, and ninja!Bakugou knocked him out and spent some time staring at him sadly and longingly in the rain before shuffling off. and basically after that is when the timeskip happens, and ninja!Deku and ninja!Bakugou spend three years training and then at that point ninja!Bakugou’s character starts to go completely off the rails and he’s out here genuinely trying to kill all of his old friends for Reasons, and at that point I was basically done with him and it was a whole big “YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE, YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BRING BALANCE TO THE PLOT, NOT LEAVE IT IN DARKNESS” thing, and I eventually just quit out of annoyance lol. smdh.

anyway so yeah. and after that I don’t really know too much about what happens. they basically have a whole Star-Crossed Enemies thing going on where ninja!Deku keeps trying to turn ninja!Bakugou back to the good side, even after he literally declares war on their entire country and kills a bunch of people lmao. and it’s supposed to be inspiring I guess, because he never gives up on his friend no matter what. and I think eventually it does turn out all right, or at least bittersweet, from what I’ve gleaned.

but I’m not gonna lie, for me everything I loved about the series was in that pre-timeskip relationship that the two of them had. and honestly, BnHA is such a fix-it in so many ways that I sometimes wonder if Horikoshi (who also grew up on Naruto, millennial that he is) didn’t feel the same way about it. like, there are almost specific things about it that he goes out of his way to “fix.”

first and foremost, unlike Sasuke, Kacchan point-blank refuses to join up with the villains who try to recruit him. still one of my favorite parts of the series honestly. this one specific plot is so reminiscent of where it all started to go wrong in Naruto, and Horikoshi subverts the shit out of it. there’s all this buildup to it, and everyone is all “oh shit is Bakugou really going to turn evil??”, and then when the moment finally happens, Bakugou doesn’t consider their offer for a second. there is no doubt in his mind. he’s a hero, end of story. there’s so much conviction in him, so much determination. god I just love it so much.

Naruto and Sasuke also have their version of a Therapy Fight, pre-timeskip, in which Sasuke challenges Naruto to a fight because he needs to prove to himself that he’s not weak. Sasuke is clearly hurting during this battle (this is just after his encounter with his Evil Brother, and I mean the fight literally takes place on the rooftop of the hospital he was recuperating in), but unlike Deku, Naruto never takes any notice of this. and unlike Bakugou, Sasuke keeps his feelings all bottled up inside him, and so basically they both just get swept up in the Rivalry and wind up nearly killing each other. and again just like in BnHA, Naruto and Sasuke’s fight also gets interrupted by one of their teachers; but unlike All Might, Naruto and Sasuke’s teacher doesn’t give them any sage mentor advice or make sure that the two of them are in a good headspace afterwards. and as a result Sasuke leaves that same fucking night to go join up with the villains. basically it’s almost the exact same Shounen Rival Throwdown, but with completely opposite outcomes. it’s almost uncanny.

and last but not least, unlike Kishimoto, who gives Sasuke his “sacrificing himself to save his rival” moment barely half a year into the series and then basically never refers to it again, Horikoshi spends almost 300 chapters building up to Bakugou’s own version of that moment, so that when it finally happens, it feels earned. not to say that I don’t like the Sasuke moment in chapter 27 of Naruto, because twenty years down the line and it’s still honestly one of my favorite scenes. but I do think Horikoshi’s version of it was ultimately much more satisfying. when Sasuke saves Naruto’s life, you get the sense that he was conflicted as to why he did it. but when Bakugou makes the sacrifice play for Deku’s sake, he knows exactly why he’s doing it, because he’s spent the last 285 chapters going through all of that character development and realizing that Deku is important to him, and realizing that he wants to atone for how he treated him. and so to me that moment is all the more meaningful because of it. definitely a highlight of the series.

anyway, so I’m not sure any of that actually counts as analysis lol, but there you go. fwiw, pre-timeskip Naruto (pre-Shippuuden I should say, although the manga never really made a distinction like the anime did) was and is still one of my all time favorite series. but to my mind BnHA is an improvement on it in almost every way, and with the BakuDeku relationship in particular it’s almost wish fulfillment lol. finally I get to see this childhood-friends-turned-rivals relationship play out the way I always wished it had. that’s basically what I mean when I say it feels like therapy lol. anyways it’s good stuff.

#naruto #uzumaki naruto #uchiha sasuke #bakugou katsuki #midoriya izuku #bakudeku #bnha meta #naruto spoilers #naruto shippuuden spoilers #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #asks #anon asks #long post #masashi kishimoto #horikoshi kouhei

[lucky-draws]

do you have any tips on coming up with fic ideas? i write maybe one or two short chapters then give up bc i dont know where to take the plot. how do you keep it going so long?

ooh hello!! good question,, it's difficult to say definitively "this is how to come up with ideas", since they sort of just happen naturally i guess, but hopefully i can try to say some things that might help you,, (this answer will probably get very long and waffly, and i apologise in advance LOL. actually, ill put it under a read more, i guess.)

I suppose I would say firstly, I think it helps when writing fics (or any kind of story) to have a plan or a clear idea in your head of what you want to write and how it will end up Before you actually start writing; you don't have to have it all planned out to the exact detail but at the very least having an end goal in mind, or a definite theme or idea that you want to get across, can help you to know where you're going as regards the plot. (I know this doesn't solve the problem of having an idea in the first place, but having an idea of what direction you want to go in, where you want it to end up, before you begin, makes you less likely to get stuck half way through and not know what else to write I guess.)

I started out by doing short fics, with no real plot to speak of, just snippets/short scenes; and then eventually after getting more confident with writing and also getting more into the series/characters I then started trying longer fics. Don't feel bad if all you can write is short stuff for now; quality not quantity and all that.

And I guess this is an obvious thing to say, but to keep a fic going for longer you need more stuff to happen!! lol. It could take place over a long time, over different places, there's probably going to be some kind of Event or incident it all revolves around; having some kind of fight or conflict will expand it because you can think about how and why the fight happens, what's the aftermath, the resolution. You could think about is there a certain atmosphere you want to create; something summery, something scary and gloomy, etc etc; and therefore what kind of things can happen within this setting? If you have some characters who maybe don't like each other at first, then can you think up a plot where some kind of extreme situation or a series of situations forces them to work together, get to know each other, etc, things like that? Are you going to build up to some big Thing or some Realisation happening at the end? It doesn't necessarily need to take place over a long time; it could be a 'one day in the life of [x character]' kind of thing, but perhaps it's a terrible horrible no good very bad day, and a lot of shit goes down.

Honestly, if you're really stuck for ideas, there's no shame in going for the really clichéd fanfic tropes like, idk, "there's only one bed" or "tattoo artist and florist au" or whatever, because it at least gives you a starting point; you can expand upon it in your own way, and you can think of ways to subvert the trope etc. Even things like the '5 times they almost [x] and one time they actually did' or whatever can be a good template, because you're forced to think up six different scenarios.

I don't know what media you're writing for, but are there any gaps in the canon that you could use fic to explore? Characters that never canonically interacted but plausibly could have done, and so on? That's part of the reason for some of my writing, exploring stuff that was only referenced in canon but was never actually shown.

Tbh, my ideas often start from just single sentences or lines of dialogue which come to me randomly during idle pondering of the blorbos; I might start out with just one or two scenes that I can imagine clearly, or a spicy conversation which I think will be good, and then it's like the plot and everything else kind of gets built around, or builds up to that moment.

I guess I'd say don't sweat it too much if you're struggling to keep fics going; like everything it takes time and practice, and sometimes you just can't force an idea to happen. I've had a fic in mind for ages that I've only just got around to planning out properly; it was just a concept and a handful of imagined paragraphs without any real details/logistics as to the plot, but eventually it took shape.

This has been said before by countless people but it's pretty much true I think, and that's the fact that in general, the best writing advice is to just read lots xD Whether it's books or fanfic, read a lot and read a variety, and subconsciously you'll start to get more of a feel for how stories take shape, what kinds of things you can do, what kind of style you can write in, and so on. I remember that I was struggling a little when I first started doing fics with my writing being too wordy, too long winded; but I started reading a collection of very short stories by an author with a very concise style, and that gave me a bit of a lightbulb moment; I started to get more of a feel for how to keep things more direct, but still retain enough substance.

Tbh, I will say also that I feel like for me, with metal gear solid, it's just fortunate that there's a lot of scope to write abt stuff in this series, like there's a lot of things I want to write about; I've never really written fic for any other fandom fgjjgkg it's just mgs that has like. driven me to start writing fanfic properly, I just have some extreme brainworms for these characters. Honestly I would love to write like, original fiction some day but I would have no idea what to write about or what kind of plot...so yeah, you're definitely not alone when it comes to scratching your head for ideas.

I don't know if any of this has been helpful at all; I can at least say, ending on a positive note, that the fact that you've managed to write anything at all, even a couple of short chapters, is no small feat!! Writing just a single paragraph counts for something. Keep on keeping on, etc!!! Even if you ended up giving up on a fic, someone will surely still get some enjoyment out of the one or two chapters you did write. People are generally hungry for content!!

I guess that's all I can think of to say for now; drop by again if you want to ask anything further, anything more specific, whatever. Good luck in all your fic writing endeavours!! o7 <3

#i hope this wasnt a totally useless answer #i didn't wanna state the obvious too much or take us back to being in school where they'd say #a story needs an introduction a build up a climax a resolution or whatever whatever #it's hard to explain coming up with ideas #since there's no like structured tangible Process i guess #idk #when i start coming up with fics i imagine the scenes in my head as if was like a show/movie #(or cutscene in a game..) #and then it's a case of fighting for my life to actually get that on paper #honestly im newish to fic writing still i mean it was only like last year maybe that i started writing fic properly #i used to write stories all the time as a little kid but between then and now i didn't really write anything #so it's a fun process /challenge for me as well to figure out writing and all its endless possibilities #idk man idk if any of this was helpful but yeah anyway #i have waffled enough probably

[hybbat]

Still not over episode 42 and how good and also kinda refreshing it was.

Like Daruizen very clearly has one of those designs and prominence among his fellow generals that instantly from the first opening seems to indicate he’ll be That villain that gets redeemed and switches sides and soft-shipped with the main cure or at the very least is revealed to be tragic and redeemed in death as another victim of the villain, but nah.

He doesn’t, and was never going to. If he ever was in some draft of the show they scrapped due to COVID like some folks seem adamant on believing it’s only the result imo of the writers getting a chance to sit down and think “but could he realistically be redeemed without it being just an expected story beat?” and the answer being no.

In fact in hindsight he’s the worst of the generals. Guaiwaru had ambitions to become the new king of the byo-gens and run things his way so it makes sense what he’s doing. Shindoine is genuinely in love with king byo-gen and his biggest enabler so it makes sense what she’s doing. Daruizen? He’s there because why not. He has the least motivation of all the villains, in a way is the most shallow because despite his desire to remain sapient he only uses it to do exactly what he would do otherwise, just with the knowledge that it’s his choice to do so. Daruizen’s motivation is essentially he wants to make sure his evil acts are completely willing on his part.

All three generals this seasons ended up actually getting evenly fleshed out despite people’s focus on Daruizen simply because his story was more directly tied to Cure Grace, actually, and all three represent very toxic people. Guaiwaru is your classic ambition villain who wants to be the leader but is just not cut out for it and ends up being a bad boss, even int he eyes of the villains, and no idea on how to actually lead as he basically just keeps doing what he did before but more because he’s more powerful. He isn’t even that effective as the girls have no trouble once they actually can confront him. Shindoine is obviously a toxic enabler who supports an evil person’s actions and is ok with being used, and clearly expects others to be okay with doing the same.

Daruizen is literally just a leech. He barely does anything, he only does his work when he feels like it, and is generally just a horrible person. Daruizen, if he were a real person, would be the kind of person who introduces himself with his IQ score and talk about how he’s a “realist” and misanthropist, especially with the way he talks to Grace. The only thing that excites him is in fact being a dick and he liked the cures and Cure Grace in particular specifically because he could get under their skin and demean them. He’s someone who only ever contributes negatively and tries to beat other people down because he’s miserable and the only thing that makes him happy is making other people feel as miserable as him.

And he never once shows remorse or willingness to change, right up to the end where he gaslights Grace to make her think she’s selfish for being scared of him and not wanting to help him after everything he’s done. Throughout the whole show she constantly asks him “why are you doing this?” and his answer NEVER changes, and he even starts to get angry that she doesn’t see why but he can’t really give a real answer other than “it’s what I do/why not?” Finding out he was born from Grace’s illness and the pain he caused her never once makes him paused, the only emotion he seems to show is happiness that he caused her so much trauma.

The ONLY regret he ever expresses is when he realizes his behaviour and decisions have screwed him over. He finally gets a taste of his own pessimism and hatred in the people he deemed worthy of his company due to sharing those traits- whom he also frequently treated as lesser for not being as smart as him and having their own personal ambitions they put effort into- when they showed their willingness to treat him exactly the same way they’ve treated everyone else. Basically, he realized he isn’t an exception or special in any way, he’s just another general.

He never expresses regret for his actions or his thinking in any other way other than it bit him in the butt, and even then he doesn’t let go of them. He just wants to hide away at the expense of someone else without any sacrifice on his own part, until his problem goes away. When he doesn’t get his way he literally throws a temper tantrum and tries to beat up Grace while telling her its her fault for denying him. and he STILL doesn’t have any real answers for her, when she gives him a chance to convince her and lays out the issues she has. He never had an answer, he only thought of himself and he thought himself superior for doing so and thus his right to take advantage of the inferior folks who are obviously too stupid to realize helping people is pointless, even while trying to rely on it.

We’ve all met that exact type of person, especially on the internet or perhaps a teenager going through that sort of phase where they think they’re so much smarter than their peers so they don’t have to do anything but everyone should do everything for them.

And like literally every other villain in precure he’s given a chance to redeem himself, they give him several in fact. Daruizen is straight up just a villain who winds up deciding not to take it. He acts like he wants to to save his own skin but he never has any real intent of being redeemed. Despite physically evolving Daruizen is someone who is wilfully static and nothing anyone does reaches him.

Honestly all the generals are like that, none of them can find it in themselves to let go of their flaws and grow as people rather than as byo-gen. Despite their sapience none of them ever actually grow into fully fleshed out people, they all cling to their flaws as their core identities.

It’s not surprising that unlike other seasons’ generals who wind up figuring out their own villainous way to work together by watching the cures, this season’s generals rarely worked together and the few times they did being used to cement their opinion that they can’t, and in the end stabbed each other in the back one after the other. Their combined power only comes together when King Byo-gen absorbs them.

In the end the message send by ALL of the byo-gen generals was “sometimes no matter what you do, some people are just toxic and are not asking for your help.” And in Daruizen’s case, it is also “You don’t have to sacrifice yourself for their sake when you know it won’t do anything but hurt you and enable them.” Daruizen never met anyone half way, and he never asked for help to be a better person, only to dodge the consequences of his actions. When asked if he would still be the way he was after the help he didn’t reply, because the answer would be yes and they both knew it.

All the generals somewhat subverted the expectations of the stock character they were built from tbh; the ambitious but stupid Guaiwaru actually went through with and briefly succeeded in becoming the big bad, Shindoine’s value as a loyal minion was seen by the villain despite her also suggesting the act that in any other similar character would be the thing that made them realize they were being used, and Daruizen never let himself be redeemed, all of which cement each of them as legitimate complete villains that weren’t changing. None of the generals were willing to change because none of them saw what they did as a problem, they just saw themselves as superior and it to be their right to treat other people poorly. Daruizen was no different from the other two, and unlike them he didn’t even have a reason, he simply decided he was too smart to be good.

#healin good precure #daruizen #rant #all in all #Daruizen was a good CHARACTER who used viewer expectations to be surprising and say something important #but on reflection with hindsight and expectations removed his character makes complete sense #and does not come off as some last minute rewrite due to fewer episodes #just because they redeemed villains in a few episode span in the past doesn't mean it was good or they should

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hiii I'm really new to the fandom, like I just discovered the show this month and I loved the end but I should say that even if the 3rd and 4th season weren't as good as the first two to me tfp was amazing, the only thing that I hated was how they portrayed Mary as a saviour and how in tld she was the one that told John to save Sherlock because John would've done that alone and honestly I would've never forgive her and I was just about to stop watching the show because I hated that part, to me is unrealistic how they forgot everything and were fine with her and I was glad when she d*ed tbh but they still used her and well but I thought that tfp was an amazing chapter and I was surprised to see that the fandom hated it :( why do they hate it so much?

Hey Nonny!

First off, welcome to the fandom!! We’re happy to have you here!

Secondly, I want to preface this with: it’s totally okay to have liked S4 / TFP, and it’s totally okay if you saw something there that I certainly haven’t. It’s not my place to gatekeep the fandom. You’re allowed to enjoy it, and as a heads up to my lovelies who want to reply to this ask too, to please be respectful to my Nonny and their enjoyment of S4. 

That said, PLEASE know that this WILL get ranty and it is NOT an attack on you, Nonny. I really am not upset at you and I am very happy that you enjoy the series. I, on the other hand just get very emotional whenever I talk about S4 and what it could have been. Quite honestly, I envy you Nonny; I’ve been too deep into fandom and meta and learning about narrative storytelling for WAY too long to think of it as anything other than a terrible conclusion to what was once an amazing series all because Mofftiss wanted to “shock” people.

With that segue, I’ve essentially summed it all up in a few other asks here, so you can go down that rabbit hole if you like:

Why do most fans hate S4, especially TFP? (THIS POST HERE LISTS A LARGE CHUNK OF WHY I DON’T LIKE S4)

Why Do You Hate S4, I’m Just Curious (huge discussion post)

 FOLLOWUP: Can I Tell You that I love you?

Why Does Everyone Seem to Hate S4 and Mary So Much?

How do I respond to people who say they liked S4

Controversial Opinion: S4 Sucked

S4 Didn’t Feel Like BBC Sherlock

The main TL;DR for me about why I dislike TFP: It didn’t feel like an episode of Sherlock AT ALL, the characters were ALL out of character, and it essentially erased 7 years’ of plot / character development: 

Molly regressed to S1E1 Molly after establishing that she moved on from Sherlock

Moriarty was essentially a patsy and not a mastermind, and in turn leaving Carl Powers as a HUGE plot hole

who the FUCK is Mycroft in this episode??

Sherlock would NEVER ignore Vatican Cameos

Eurus’ whole character destroyed the world that these characters existed in for 12 episodes prior (ie. BASED IN REALITY). They made her essentially an X-Man. Her very role in the whole season was too fantastical. Why would you break out of this prison only to go back in so you can play a weird Escape room with Saw traps?

John’s entire character was destroyed

Sherlock’s entire purpose in the entire series was reduced to being a woobie because Mofftiss has a “hurting Ben” kink, it seems

Mary basically saying if it wasn’t for her, John and Sherlock could never be, even though they WERE before her stupid face ever was in the picture

They ruined Mary’s character; she could’ve been a badass villain but they made her a martyr through an unapologetic, undeserved, non-redemption. And her DVD’s were stupid and disgusting and just proves what a cruel character she was while trying to convince us that she wasn’t.

Anyway, I could keep going, but you get the idea. Check out the posts linked above for even more.

I think for me, it stems from being someone who wrote meta to help understand characters and narrative constructs, and the narrative took a complete 180 and did something completely different than what people assumed would happen all because I feel Mofftiss was spiteful that we guessed most of TAB, so they wanted to “subvert expectations” and did a piss-poor job of it. I don’t know. It’s not good writing when watching the entire show as a whole. S4 doesn’t feel like Sherlock, because the John-and-Sherlock relationship (regardless if you ship it or not) just ISN’T THERE. It turned into the “Mostly Mary, Occasionally Sherlock, and maybe John when we need someone’s character to destroy” show. I’ve a sneaking suspicion AA had a lot to do with that, but it’s all gossip and hearsay, so I’ll leave it there.

Anyway, Nonny, this whole thing isn’t meant to insult you. I’m GLAD you enjoyed S4 / TFP. I can’t even watch the series without cringing, and the only way I can sit through S4 is if I read it as John’s TAB. I’m envious that you can enjoy it on the surface. I want to say give it a few years and you’ll be one of us old jaded folks, but mreh, not my place. If anything, I hope that my reply and all the links posted above let you understand why the fandom and critics at large didn’t enjoy it. I genuinely can see why people do like it: Ben and Martin are fantastic with what they have to work with, and the first two episodes look really pretty. But I just... can’t be swayed. I made a genuine effort to like it, I really did, when it first came out. But I guess just examining it too closely and trying to understand why Mofftiss made such a decision to destroy their most profitable property, it’s just really bizarre to me.

Hope you have a good day, Nonny, and I do hope you’ll stick around! <3 I’ll understand if you hate me now, LOL. <3 

#steph replies #chatting with nonnies #writing meta instead of working #s4 shitposting #shitposting steph #my thoughts #inconsistencies #something's fucky #Anonymous

[motherstone]

Thoughts on Vigo?

Back then, I hold some bitterness, wanted him to suffer a bit for his actions but now I’m older I just feel resigned that he did the best he could, even if he went absolutely the wrong way. Dude’s been through enough, further narrative punishment is sadism at this point since he literally just lost just about everything (and also what am I, Catholic?), but tbh I really wished the author explored his dark parts more because I think it’d be an interesting topic to think about. 

I think it’d be fun if Vigo is a very flawed adult, subverting the old wise mentor who always make the correct choices. Surely yes, he made some huge mistakes, but it’s an intriguing idea to me to see him subconsciously  blurring the lines between actions stemming from good intentions vs. actions stemming from fear. He legit did not get therapy in his years of isolation and likely some parts of him never really god proper closure with his decisions, and as a result, he would make choices on the grounds of him intending to avoid a repeat of past mistakes, but unintentionally doing the same thing he criticized the Guardian Council about.

I’d want him to catch on that he is burdening the stonekeeper children under his ward with his projections and expectations, just like he did to his son, so he snaps out of it and tries hard to be a better adult Emily and Trellis could actually rely on.