#hes not /actively/ influencing the fire but him just being there is not exactly helping the situation

[sesamenom]

Quick hand sketch that turned into elrond with athelas water

I always forget to draw him with it but I headcanon him having pretty bad burn scars on his right arm/side from the kinslaying

#silm #silmarillion #lotr #elrond #also hc that elros burned his left hand pulling elrond out of the fires #which is why elrond became a healer in the first place #even up to the third age he still has to rinse it w athelas water once in a while #bc maedhros' fire-fea may or may not have been making the fire a lot worse than it would have been naturally #hes not /actively/ influencing the fire but him just being there is not exactly helping the situation #elrond only really heals Shadow-wounds by the late TA #bc they have other healers for smaller stuff that dont necessarily need the attention of a part-maiarin legendary healer #and in the war of the ring theres enough people that he needs to focus on tending to the most grievously wounded #kind of like those super specialized surgeons #but hes actually better w burns #the first thing he healed was elros' burnt hand (with some help from maglors song he regained almost full use of it) #later he helped soothe maglor's silmaril burns #but during the war hes needed the most for treating the Shadow because hes like one of two people in the world who can properly use athelas #aragorn taking frodo to rivendell was basically like those cases when a patient gets helicoptered to a specific hospital #to see a specific surgeon about a really rare/difficult/dangerous procedure

[hajimeshoe]

Here's the request I promised!

Octavinelle with a bottle nose dolphin s/o.

S/o tends to say some really fucked up shit, and does really fucked up shit at times.

They can sing really well, and they sing at the Mostro-Lounge.

Enjoys toying with people and animals because dolphins are ass holes like that!

A bully to any and all sharks in Octavinelle.

They have their moments of purity and kindness, but overall they're a devil disguised as an angel.

Let's just say, damn near everyone is afraid of s/o

This is going to be insane, and Floyd is loving every damn minute of it

Octavinelle with A Bottlenose Dolphin S/O

Azul

Azul, Azul, Azul

Canonically an insecure boyo, he was unsure if you even liked him at first

However, he was absolutely enraptured with your voice. The second he heard it, he knew he needed you to work at the Mostro Lounge - after all, you could bring in so many customers!

(He just wasn't prepared for how many customers you'd drive away either)

It took nearly a year of pining for you two to finally end up together

Between your mixed signals - being nice to him one minute and bullying the fuck out of him the next - and his doubts, nobody was even sure either of you would confess.

Unsurprisingly, you were the one who eventually just kissed him one day

You two are absolute terrors together. He makes deals with poor, unfortunate students and you help the twins make sure those students have no way of fulfilling their end of the bargain

But you and Floyd have only hospitalized a few!

One of those cliche "You're mean to everyone but him" couples

Of course, fights between the two of you have the entire student body hiding for their lives

He'll use his arsenal of spells from contracts and you're just...creative

Lighting his vault on fire when he's out, putting TnT in the oven - no, I will not specify how you got it - all the way to blackmailing the twins to get you a picture of him when he was younger so you could print out more and glue them into every book in the school.

Jade

Jade finds you amusing

You'll be the definition of angelic whenever the teachers are looking, but the second they turn their backs you're pushing students off of their brooms, adding gunpowder to a potion, or charming a students history textbook to shoot glitter into their eyes when they try to open it.

Some of your more dangerous activities have him catching the back of Floyd's shirt to keep him from helping

But this eel loves you nonetheless

...when you aren't making it so they have to get new security sharks in the Mostro lounge each week because you threatened to give them an impromptu C-Section in order to make new meals out of their guts

"Love, I don't care if they were being rude, you can't casually threaten people with homocide-"

"It's not a threat, Jade."

"Goo-"

"It's a promise. Floyd, come with me in case I need more muscle!"

Cue your boyfriend quickly trying to drag both of you to his room before you both get expelled for murder

Floyd

The most fun he's had in months!

Azul and Jade are cursing everything, the students are running for the hills, and the teachers are standing there with fire extinguishers!

You help him to get out of trouble when an authority figure is looking, and he helps you with any student you feel like messing with.

You two absolutely TERRORIZE Leona

Like, he doesn't even like Floyd, but he can't exactly avoid both of you easily

And you messed with his favourite napping spot! He woke up, strung up by his neck with vines in the Botanical Gardens.

"FLOYD! Y/N!"

"I wanted to see if beastmen have claws"

Turns out, they do! Leona was not killed by being hanged that day

You and Floyd will eat Takoyaki while looking directly at Azul

He made himself scarce fairly quickly - Floyd alone? He'd have nothing to worry about. Floyd with your influence? He would not be testing those waters

#twisted wonderland #twst #azul ashengrotto #azul ashengrotto x reader #jade leech #jade leech x reader #floyd leech #floyd leech x reader

[greenerteacups]

hihi i saw you were semi-active on tumblr and figured i would ask if you'd be willing to elaborate a bit on the whole push/pull relationship theo and daphne have in lionheart? i've done a couple rereads but i still can't quite figure out how they feel about one another.

hope you're having a great christmas gt <3

i've got good news and bad news. the good news: you've read it perfectly well, because "can't figure out how they feel about one another" is exactly what's going on with them at any given moment. so this is greatly vindicating for both you as reader and myself as author. the bad news: you have just given me license to talk about theodore nott and daphne greengrass, a dynamic that gets an understandably small amount of attention and yet consumes large volumes of my headspace. so. spoilers ahead!

daphne and theo break my heart, because they're a story in wasted potential. theo and pansy are obviously old childhood friends, but i think daphne is just someone who knew them socially and only really got close to them at school — cf. her conversation with draco at the yule ball — because first year forced theo to make friends who weren't pansy for the first time, and daphne finally had a chance to socialize without her parents coddling her. they get along like a house on fire, pansy rocks up to join them in second year, and this is the cute little nega-Trio draco meets in book 2. it's a fashionable nucleus of dry humor and ferocious mutual protectiveness, which theo demonstrates especially in the hospital wing at the end of book 3.

but theo continues to suffer the chronic condition of Being Theodore Nott, and so when the plot comes knocking, things go south for him expeditiously, especially his personal relationships. daphne develops a crush on him as early as book 3, and being daphne, she's incredibly obvious about it, but being (1) a teenage boy and also (2) an incipient domestic terrorist, he naturally avoids dwelling on it — and then maybe-kind-of-starts-to-reciprocate, because hey huh wait a second you sure do care about this girl a lot, don't you, theodore? — but by that point the war's started revving up in the background and he has Other Shit To Deal With.

it doesn't help that the two of them are being drawn in radically different political directions, partly because of her friendship with draco, but also because of her own choices. theo's mistake here isn't malicious, but he really does ice daphne out (as he does everyone but pansy, pretty much, in fairness) for most of book 4, and by the time he realizes that he could actually lose her, it's too late. probably he doesn't realize how far she's migrating once she drifts out of his influence — daphne is incredibly susceptible to suggestion and is deeply influenced by those around her, which becomes clear once she's transplanted into gryffindor and discovers this much kinder, more chivalrous side of her nature. given that chameleon-quality of hers, it's understandable for theo to be shocked when she pivots away from him and pansy the space of less than a year. but also, I think it's telling that he's that surprised, since daphne hasn't been in good with the rest of slytherin for months at this point. and in turn, this surprise angers her, because like — dude, seriously? forget the romantic stuff; you're supposed to be her best friend, and you couldn't tell that she was doing a Character Arc behind your back? (strains of this feeling heavily inform what she says to draco during the Yule Ball, especially re: theo and pansy being each other's platonic soulmates. she feels locked out, in every sense: from slytherin, from her friends, from her parents, from everything. she wants in on something, and it drives her to do something pretty callous to draco and hermione, as she realizes and regrets. daphne is not always a kind person, even when she's a nice one.)

that anger, and theo's unfortunate failure to do anything useful about it whatsoever — slytherins! purebloods! low EQ! not great at the whole making-amends thing! — is what makes it possible for her to sever ties with slytherin completely, effectively terminating the close friendship she had with him and pansy (who's slightly less reconciled to that separation, but pansy is also much less politically involved than theo both philosophically and functionally, so it's easier for her to double-dip). it's my headcanon that if theo had even 15% less to worry about, he'd be making more of an effort to revive that relationship, but kid is in hardcore Survival Mode for most of book 4, and just knowing that daphne's not in immediate physical danger has to be enough for him. meanwhile, upstairs, daphne is discovering the Life-Changing Magic of Real Friendship, and like, it's kind of a blast? and lavender and parvati are really cool? and gosh now that theo isn't the center of her living universe, isn't it funny how all these tall good-looking boys are wandering around? funny, that!!

this isn't to say that their story is finished — it isn't! there's still a lot of gas left in this tank, and many, many things these two have left to say to each other — but that's where the story leaves us. they were close; there was a real possibility of something, and likely some degree of mutual interest; but the timing was never right, and it's not going to get any easier if things keep going in the direction they are now. (but who knows?)

#lionheart #lionheart spoilers #daphne greengrass #theo nott

[i-need-to-touch-grassss]

Here is for the anon who asked for the yan!Pure Vanilla!

warnings: yandere behavior (i don't support behavior like this this irl)

(i tried to make this one as long as possible as an apology for not updating sooner)

✧ GENERAL HCS FOR Yan!Pure Vanilla ✧

✧ Pure Vanilla is someone who gets jealous easily and is very possessive

✧ probably uses his reputation of being nice to hide his real intentions

✧ he has definitely tripped over his robe at least once while stalking you 

He fell into a bush and made a noise that sounded like a squeal several cookies heard it, including you

When you checked on him and helped him up, his face was literally so red it could rival Chili Pepper’s hair, and he looked as if he could barely stand (it took everything he had to not start gushing)

After that, he wore something easier to get around in

✧ He is so touch starved 

Like sure, he's surrounded by people, but what's the point if it isn't you?

Exactly. There is no point. 

✧ he thinks as long as it doesn't get out of hand, it should be fine

But because it's up to him where to draw the line, chances are, that line is as non-existent as his mental stability 

✧ he lets you live in the castle with him, but should you want to leave for whatever reason, he will have to take extra precautions in order to keep you with him 

he manages to delude himself into thinking that this is for the best

“It's for your own good, if you stay here with me, it won't be so bad! Just give it a try won't you, darling?”

he'll be sure to be sweet and gentle with you, even if you upset him and tell him you’d like to leave

✧ Whether you know it or not, you're stuck with him. There isn't anything you can do to sway his decisions 

✧ he partakes in couple's activities with you, things like tending to the flowers, sitting by the fire and reading peacefully, and taking walks around the garden

he‘ll give you anything, anything but freedom

✧ Sure, he doesn't have the power to make anyone do anything they don't want to (you're an exception to this rule)

But he does still have the power of influence over many so it shouldn't be hard to remove any disturbances

✧ overall, there’s totally worse, compared to some others, he is decently tame (can you even consider a yandere tame??)

He’s already lost so much. He can't lose you too. He will make sure of it. Just go along with him, for everyone’s sake

Guess who just got better from a 103-104 fever and almost got sent to the emergency room! Me. It's me. I'm finally better though and ready to start working on my requests again! Keep sending them in, also I don't mind you guys sending in prompts too! It's not needed but it's helpful for when i have writers block

#crk #crk x reader #pure vanilla cookie #pure vanilla x reader #cookie run kingdom x reader #cookie run #cookie run kingdom

[transingthoseformers]

Tarn didn't have much of a plan once he saw Rodimus, he kind of just blanked out. He took Rodimus since he wasn't firing full cylinders at the time. But the plan was always to "convince" Rodimus that the Decepticons were "right" and for Rodimus to help lead them. Hot Rod was always the more active "leader" in Tarn's point of view, and as Damus/Glitch he admired how he took an active role in Nyon and as proto-Tarn how he took charge of Nyon's resistance bringing him to Megatron's attention. Hot Rod was supposed to be a symbol like Soundwave and Starscream and Megatron and given a special place within the Decepticons.

Tarn knew he wouldn't be suited for the same kind of work as him but put Hot Rodimus on a pedestal as the kind of leader they needed.

If only he could get him away from Optimus's "bad influence" and make him see the "truth" like Megatron showed him. He fully intended to lock him up and slowly reveal the "lies" Optimus told him to convince Rodimus to join him. So repeating what Megatron did only in a creepier context because Tarn is genuinely interested and "loves" Rodimus while Megatron was purely using Tarn. Tarn is fully convinced Rodimus can be convinced.

In the series, though, Tarn doesn't have the long leisurely time he planned and is aware he will need to rush things. He has to make Rodimus see from his perspective and force him to be unable to leave and then show him over time.

So he intends to force a Full Spark Bond, which in the version I am playing with is incredibly rare and slightly dangerous. Lighter, less shallow bonds allow a connection and sharing spark light of interfacing makes temporary ones but a Full Bond of Sparks forces them together permenant like exchanging pieces of each other and generally one doesn't survive the others death but they can help each other survive.

Drift and Rodimus in this have a particularly strong Amica bond because Rodimus's Spark is prone to bonds and creates shallow ones with most people if he is around them long enough. The two of them only had to share their Sparks once to make it, and it is much deeper and longer lasting than most. Which is very rare.

Rodimus is going to be changed by it because Tarn is going to become part of him. It'll get pretty dark, and I have the end pretty solid. Tarn intends to use a Spark bond to keep Rodimus in check and see his side of things, refuse to physically hurt him, and fet him to bond with his team to convert. Part of that includes revealing every lie and dark thing he knows the Autobots had a hand in. He knows Rodimus cares more about people and intends to use that to his advantage.

Ohhhoh Tarn you are going to cause so much trouble

I can exactly see that's his thought process about Hot Rod / Rodimus, and that's intriguing. Why does this thought process for Tarn sound vaguely familiar?

oh Tarn that's trying to Stockholm syndrome him (let me use a noun as a verb okay)

So he's gonna try to replicate what Megatron did in a fraction of the time, which already is NOT gonna go well because I'm sure Megatron's process was slow on purpose like the whole metaphor with the frog and the boiling water— except Tarn isn't turning up the heat bit by bit, he's flipping that dial all the way up immediately.

ohh not the spark bond, I've played around with the idea of. Well. Forced spark bonds being dangerous in various internal plotlines of my own and they never go well. Never.

ohh Tarn. damn.

Even though Tarn "means well", this is an incredibly fucked up thing of him to do, and it's gonna have some rather serious consequences.

#roditarn #or well past roditarn #this is a twisted up version of that because of course tarn of course #mtmte tarn #mtmte rodimus #mtmte ratchet #mtmte drift #mtmte megatron #maccadam #transformers #so we know this version of tarn has already completely fucking lost it. he is literally and legitimately delusional #oh rodimus. he's been put in quite the mess. #roditarn au

[mrfippstuff]

This is just a vent post about some thoughts I have about the current Chainsaw Man arc.

I don't think it's a bad arc per say, I just think there are some obvious missteps which I think boil down to three points in particular.

Denji's Arc

To start things off, I don't actually think Denji's arc is bad, I actually like it, it builds off of how things ended with Denji at the end of Part 1. Having an arc about how Denji sees himself and his place in the world, of having him try and think about what exactly he wants out of his life, all while having other people try and further manipulate him while he has no real ability to take his life into his own hands I think is great, I think it's an interesting arc to watch. However, having one of the protagonists remain completely passive while they are beaten down with everyone telling them they are not allowed to take part in the story does not make it an engaging plot to go through, especially when the co-protagonist is (seemingly) actively engaged in their own plot off screen (we'll put a pin in that for now). Even less so when you have to go through it on a week by week basis, sometimes bi-weekly.

The Church's Presence

I really liked the set up for the Church, and how it affected certain character, and I really do like on paper how it all ended with Fami's chainsaw zombie plans, but at the same time I can't help but feel as though we sort of blitzed through its existence. In the same arc it was introduced we saw that is exploded in popularity, the effects it had on people and society, became this massive influence before it met the truth behind its purpose all in the same arc, and the only time we ever really got a good look at it was when Denji had his brief visit to it. I really feel like something that was made to be that big should have had been something more of a central focus between it being formed and Fami's ambitions were realized, just give the concept time to breathe. Which brings me to my final point

Asa's (Lack of an) Arc

When Asa joined the Church for the purpose of saving Chainsaw Man and became their poster girl she vanished from the manga for roughly three months, with only a couple of short scenes with her before we got to the recent chapter with Yoru's power boost and the 606 Sword, and during this time I had expected that her return would have meant some large change for her rather than the circumstances that she found herself in. I honestly expected that Asa should have had her own arc in the Church and how she interacted with the Church and its members and how it affected her. I've said it before, but a major part of Asa's character is wanting to be praised and loved but being to afraid of actually get close to people, so having her have a sudden following would been a conflict custom made for her, and we only ever saw a brief glimpse of it. She wants to save Chainsaw Man, but does this ever conflict with her desire for love and validation? We could have seen more of the workings of the Church, gotten more for characters like Haruka and Seigi and maybe even the Hybrids with actual introductions to the Spear and Whip Hybrids. Denji was only at the Church for five minutes and he was able to see all the red flags they had going on, from the propaganda about America firing stupid lazers at Japan to having their teenage members get married, but how does Asa, who has always tried to be a moral person, justify being a prolific member of this place when they are spouting things like that? How exactly does she interact with the Church? Asa could have had a Rise to Fame arc, occasionally spilt up by Denji constantly being cast low for contrast, before we she suffered her inevitable Fall From Grace, where all of her efforts get turned against her, which fits with how things always go against her.

To me it honestly feel like there was no real point in Asa joining the Church since I don't feel like it actually did anything for her character. She was off screen her entire time there, we barely saw her, she didn't go through any significant development, and I feel like any personal consequences she may suffer from being in the Church, such as wanting to Chainsaw Man to never have to fight devils only to end up having him fight the most powerful devil or being the reason people join the Church only to get zombified, won't really feel all that impactful because we never saw her in it. Asa could have had an A Plot that would build the Church up better with Denji's arc becoming a B Plot which I think would have made it more digestible, but instead it feels like she and Yoru could have just sat on their shared ass for the month this story took place in and nothing much would have changed for her. Even if we do get some extended flashback sequence, I feel like that should still have been something we saw in the present. In the end it feels like Asa was only in the Church just to get her from Point A in the story to Point B and nothing else behind it.

Like I said, I don't think the arc was bad, and despite my complaints I do find myself looking forward to what we get next, but at the same time I can't help but feel we ended up missing some rather obvious targets for the story.

#chainsaw man #denji #asa mitaka #criticism

[anonymous-astronaut]

Team Fortress 2 blunt rotation, would it be a disaster or not

Haha oh this sounds FUN

Disclaimer: for reasons, I do not personally 💨🍃so this is just my best guess. I might totally be wrong about stuff lol

Scout: He tries to act cool about it, but he’s actually super nervous. Never smoked before, but totally claims he has. He asks like eight times if he’s doing it right and needs someone to explain how to take a hit. Nearly coughs up a lung, and after like two seconds he claims he can feel it. He’s the guy going like “woah guys this is CRAZY” until it actually hits, and he gets super paranoid. Poor kid just gets wildly anxious, and the weed veterans of the group end up having to kinda take care of him lol.

Soldier: He definitely thinks it’s a hippie activity and scoffs at it, but I feel like Demo could get him to give it a try. And… it actually goes surprisingly well. It’s gets him to fucking calm down for once, and he just… goes kinda quiet. Soldier just sits there trying to count how many nose hairs Sniper has or something, and every once in a while he’ll say some wild shit like how great the sun tastes.

Pyro: Tries to smoke it through their gas mask so… nothing happens? Pyro acts exactly like they usually do and play with the lighter for most of the time, perfectly content. Will be more prone to impulsively lighting peoples sleeves on fire if they aren’t paying attention. They will also try to comfort anyone who has a less then good experience.

Demo: Probably the one who suggested the do the rotation in the first place. He drinks when he’s sad or trying to cope, but he smokes when he wants to have a good time. It makes him fun super prone to laughter, so he gets really jokey and amicable. He is a calming presence to be around, and is probably the main reason nothing goes south. He makes sure people have fun and that no one feels pressured.

Engie: He enjoys himself, and thinks it’s funny to see the weird shit the others do/say. I think he feels oddly guilty about the fact that he enjoys it though, he takes so much pride in his intelligence and he doesn’t like the idea of being under any kind of influence. That said, it’s very relaxing and fun for him, and it sparks a creativity he feels he doesn’t tap into enough. He is hesitant to join in, but ends up having fun.

Heavy: He has not tried weed before, but if Medic tells him it’s fine he will try it. Everyone is low key excited to see if it will loosen him up a bit, but… it doesn’t have that much of an effect on him. He refuses to try very much, and his tolerance is so fuckin high he barely feels it. It just makes him want to go to bed He doesn’t find the other’s shenanigans amusing, and doesn’t particularly want to try it again.

Medic: The others think he’ll try to stop them, but he’s into it! He doesn’t smoke on his own time, but socially he thinks it’s fun. He loves the conversations he has with Engie when they’re both lightly toasted, and he’s all good vibes. It’s one of the few times he’s not actively scary and he drops his sort of “doctor persona,” he just acts like one of the guys. It’s the most comfortable anyone has felt with him ever.

Sniper: He brought the blunt. This guy has taken “vision quests” in the fucking oz Outback, he knows how to handle a little grass session. i feel like he a Demo hang out and smoke. It relaxes his nerves, helps his anxiety, helps him sleep, all round a good time. He shows the newbs how to do it properly, makes sure everyone’s doin alright, weirdly takes on a team-dad sort of roll that would usually go to Medic or Engie. Afterwards he goes back to his quiet self and acts like it was no big deal.

Spy: Acts like he is WAY above everyone who partakes. Will watch from far away and make scoffing noises or straight up leave. Then, he’ll straight up go smoke with Pauling on her break 😂. Probably takes fancy edibles to help him sleep.

So in general, not a disaster? Idk I guess that’s for you to decide

#tf2 #tf2 headcanons #don’t do drugs kids

[snackleggg]

Labyrinth Runners spoilers, my thoughts during and after the episode

Much like Edge of the world I cant organise them coherently so here is just a list:

Gus powerful boi

At least we dont have to worry about Gus getting trauma... because he ALREADY has trauma!

Honestly the whole opening, just the little babies, they need comfort.

💖Breathing exercises my beloved💖

Gus recognising Flapjack, I can't, my heart

Also love how when this show decides to give us responsible and caring adults they go the whole mile, these adults want these kids to have a happy and healthy learning environment and actively learned from the things they didnt like during their school years! They dont pretend they were never students and I love that!

Bumpy you done it again you fabulous haired man

God so much hex mix, Hunter please eat a vegetable

OOHHHH THE WALRUS BACKPACK WAS A GIFT FROM GUS! OHHHH

Luz disappeared???? Concerned older sibling Hunter??? Also Amity with the "the hearts are for me"

"Learned alot of bad stuff" UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE CENTURY LUZ

GUS AND HUNTER EPISODE GUS AND HUNTER EPISODE GUS AND HUNTER EPISODE GUS AN-

I was sus when only Willow came around the corner

Also love how the flyer derby team are like "That's our boy! Our sad little meow meow! Our teammate!"

The comment about Hunter not showering in a while PLEASEE SOMEONE GET THIS BOY A PROPER PLACE TO STAY

Me@Belos: you ruined a perfectly good grimwalker is what you did! Look at him! He has anxiety!

Honestly though Gus calming Hunter down from his panic attack is really sweet

"Dont scare him away" Ow Luz is still worried about Hunter! Dont worry he is okay now Luz, he just needs a shower!

Hunter being all sinister "well rest assured Gus I-" baby just let your teammate help you

Gus going "What are you doing here, Hunter" more softly, he can tell the boy isnt in a good place rn

There are a bunch of books in his little makeshift den, Hunter still being a lil nerd is everything to me

Hunter's little yellow purse, that's it that's the whole point

Flapjack pulling his little forelock to get him to talk to Gus! Like yes, make him confide in people he can trust!

"How... vague of you" Gus atusjtsgjdjg

The concerned little "She's not with the owl lady?" like yes, older sibling instincts

I knew that coven head guy was sus like "Yeah they will just be illusions and totally fake!"

Also Matholomule (I cant spell his name) in illusions and Edric in beast keeping and potions, Yes!

Gus spotting the illusion like "I know bullshit when I see it!"

I love how this episode demonstrates how illusions isnt just about funny conjured images. Its about altering the perspective of what you see around you and also performance

I wish the illusionist coven head wasnt a little bastard man, but we had to check fruity and theater kid villain off our list

Yes Severine! Go back to the tiny cat coven! I love her design and she is a great actor! And her prioritizing her self esteem, yes!

Hunter shoulder checking the coven head to get him away from Gus is everything

"Put him-" "out of his misery?" "Put him to sleep, dude!" what is wrong with you, he's teenager! Also the little look of fear on Hunter's face, that's exactly what he was afraid of

I already said this in another post but the "You're a witch" comment made it seem like Hunter doesn't consider himself a witch, he didn't say "you have magic" or "you cast it" he specifically went "you're a witch"

"Are these real steps or illusion steps?" *falls* oh the boy is having a hard day, give him a break

Hunter wearing his flyer derby uniform I CANT

"Because of a sandwich?" "It was a good sandwich" "no sandwich is that good!" This whole interaction

When they said "he's been worried sick" and Hunter's nervous little "you don't say"

Gotta love Gus knowing how to make glyphs and just pulling it out while Hunter distracts them. Luz's influence from Through The Looking Glass Ruins when she gave him glyphs and he didnt know which was which but now he KNOWS the fire one

Hunter literally shaking when they question why he isnt in uniform 🥺 baby is so scared

The pictures on Gus' bedroom wall, the one with Matholomule, my heart cant take it

Hunter not knowing what a high five is and flinching, no baby it's a good thing dont worry

Also the fact that fake Willow was immediately distrustful of Hunter but real Willow immediately stood up for him

Hunter has only known Willow for a like half a day but he (in contrast with Amity which I find interesting) KNOWS this girl isnt one to be frightened easily

The little blush when he thought he saw Willow, he down bad

Another little detail is fake Willow calling Gus "Augustus" because Gus was the "human nickname" Luz gave him

"That's not the captain" Hunter still calling Willow captain

"Have you ever seen her play flyer derby, theres no way she'd be afraid of me" and Gus being like oh wait he right

"The note inside the note" dysywyducjfu this man

Hunter immediately freezing at the Belos illusion, like noooo the baby is traumatized dont do that!

"Yes this is my favourite part!" Pure little Skara

Honestly the whole fight scene is awesome, everyone helping eachother. Emira healing, Amity and Willow combo, just Bump fighting at all looks awesome.

"Are you listening? This is my monologue" little theater kid man, as a theater kid myself this hits home

"I was looking for the gaulderstones, they'd make great gifts for the emperor" flashbacks to grimwalkers needing a gaulderstone for the heart & power source

"Oh dont be so dramatic" says the drama queen

"Then how about just two of us" YAAASS QUEENS GET THEIR ASSES

"I REALLY need to talk to my parents about this" Yes Amity, you really do

Oh, Hunter having to see his worst memories dont double traumatise him. I noticed while most of them were from Hollow Mind there was also the one from Any Sport In a Storm, when Willow and the others are locked in a jail cell.

"And some part of me still wants to believe that lie" 🥺🥺🥺 I'm not crying, you're crying

Hunter trying to do the breathing exercise again and it whistling when he exhales because of his lil tooth gap. He needs to be protected

Gus pocketing the magic amplifier like "mine now"

Hunter trying to walk away and then getting pulled into a hug

Also Hunter doesnt know what a hug is but he is a little blushy boy, even his ears!

Hunter answering eveyones questions at the end and explaining

Also Bumps "then you better get started", they better set Hunter up with an actual proper room in the school

So Hexide and it's students are gonna be an active part in the rebellion now huh

This episode was amazing! Even the side characters with barely a few lines like Skara and Matholomule (still dont know how to spell his name) were very in character and entertaining. The episode focused on the school, Amity & Willow's friendship, Gus, Hunter's situation and it makes it work! Hunter now having a safe place at Hexide, my little heart cant take it. Definitely one of my favourite episodes.

[zackcrazyvalentine]

me seeing the ask masterlist realizing most of them are mine : 🤡

BUT ANYWAYS

CONCERNING THE FAMILY DAY

THE SIBLINGS 🛐

i’m not saying that i have a crush on ace’s brother , cater’s sisters and sebek’s siblings because of that some fanart but that’s exactly what i’m saying

ACE’S MOM DESTROYING HER SON LIFE IN FRONT MC ? FORGET THAT ACE’S BROTHER CAME IN WITH THE RECEIPTS . HE HAS BEEN WAITING FOR THIS MOMENT AND 👏🏾HE 👏🏾IS 👏🏾PREPARED👏🏾

“hey did you know that ace used to looooove going around butt naked when he was younger ?” “DON’T YOU DARE-“ “here i have pictures , videos , posters and mugs printed of it-“

CATER’S SISTERS WOULD PROBABLY BE ALL OVER MC

“oh they’re so cute ~ !” “(new nickname)-chan ! do you wanna see some baby pics of cater ? look at this one he couldn’t quite stand on his legs and he-“ “HAHAHAHAHAA yeah so funny ! but would you like at the time it’s to go-“

sebek’s siblings would probably resemble their parents ? i see his sister being just like his mother and his brother as calm as his father ? ACTUALLY THE WHOLE ZIGVOLT COUPLE GIVE ME BAKUGOU’S PARENTS VIBES-

JACK’S LITTLE SIBLINGS-

I- THE LOVE I HAVE FOR THEM WHEN WE DON’T EVEN KNOW THEIR NAMES-

his brother is in middle school if i’m not wrong so just like all these AnGsTy teenage boys (and his brother-) he would be like “i-it’s not like i needed your help or anything o(｀ω´ )o” sure whatever rocks you boat-

HIS LITTLE SISTER WOULD BE LIKE CHEKA . THE MINUTE SHE SAW HER BROTHER SHE WOULD BE LIKE “hey big bro ! look i grew a lot since last time ! i’m a big girl now so i can go with you do luge next time ! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ” PLEASE SHE WOULD BE ADORABLE WITH THE EARS AND ALL DOWOWODKWOMEODMEKWOWKSOWKSDKSOWKEOEOOEE

TREY’S LITTLE SIBLINGS. you’re watching from afar as a flock of children come and proceed to pummel your friend to the ground-

they would be the kind of siblings that’s asks questions about everything and anything at any time i just know-

LETS NOT EVEN TALK ABOUT KALIM’S SIBLINGS BECAUSE ITS A FUCKING ARMY AT THIS POINT-

imagine this

in a dark room somewhere in nrc . multiples children are sat besides a round table with sunglasses on and glass of grape juice adult beverages in their hand .

Okay i don’t know how to write so that it would makes sense BUT BASICALLY ITS JUST A “MY BROTHER/UNCLE BETTER YOU POO BECAUSE HE-“

yes the same would happen with the older siblings i am convinced-

also don’t worry it wasn’t too long i’m happy it gave you inspiration-

ASK AND YE SHALL RECIVE!!!!

HONESTLY, SAME ANON!! I HAVE A BIG FAT CRUSH in Cater’s Sisters and Ace’s Brother (and Sebek’s, Azul’s & Deuces mamas) 😭😭😭

Sorry, but I'll do a hard pass writing for Kalim's mansion-full of siblings 🙇‍♀️ (plus I don't think Crowley would let 30+ kids-teens-toddles-babies come into NRC lol, maybe just the following 3 after Kalim) BUT INSTEAD!!! I hope you like the bonus character~

LOL THE FIGTH TO FIND OUT WHO'S BROTHER IS THE BEST, A CHAOTIC BATTLEFIELD FILLED WITH BABY PICTURES AND ANECDOTES OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND CUTE/STUPID/HEARTWARMING THINGS ALL OF THEM DID

-- -- -- --

MC attentively watched as skilled hands mix card in different flashy ways, while Ace sat beside them with a bored and irritated look on his face.

“This is your card!” The older redhead took a random card and showed it to MC. Sparkles shone in their eyes as they smiled a big bright smile, amazed at the card trick.

Ace interrupted the moment. “Oh, yeah, duh! The easiest trick there is! You just had to cast a simple spell that allows only your eyes to see which card [Name] picked highlighted in red!”

Big Brother Trappola looked at his sibling with an unamused face, MC mirroring the look at having their momentary joy crumbled like that. “Sure, a simple trick, but it was I who taught it to you. Don’t forget little Ace! You’re always following my steps~”

The heart suit boy sighed exasperatedly, shaking his head and looking some other way.

“Ah, he definitely is following a~ll your advices, Big Bro! Ace is always mentioning how you taught him many useful tricks for life!” MC became a little tattletale to antagonize their friend.

The Hearstlabyul student tensed, blushing as he looked at the other two. His sibling smirked, “Really now~? Oh, I didn’t know you loved me so much, baby bro! Say, [Name], let me tall you all my favorite stories of Ace when he was little! I even brought our old photo album for you to view! You can keep it if you like~” The aforementioned photo record appeared, “Look at this one! Ace used to wear his tighty whities like a superhero mask!”

At that, the 1st year tugged his friend away from his mischievous older brother, dragging them far away from his influences.

~°~  ~°~

“Cay-nii! Look look! We found your cute little friend before we could find you, and they were so kind to bring us here!” The younger of the two Diamond sisters waved at her brother. However, her arm remained linked with MC’s.

Cater looked scared, despair quickly painting his face. All his attempts to hide, ruined But now that his sisters had MC in their arms... He couldn’t run the risk of them embarrassing him in front of his crush.

“A-Ahaha..! Yeah, look at that..!” The orange haired boy awkwardly laughed, approaching the menace that were his sisters (with a cute, clueless MC between them).

MC spoke up with that bright smile on their face, "Your sisters are so lovely, Cater! I wouldn't mind having siblings as nice as these."

"Oh if only you knew, little Prefect." Cater though to himself.

The sisters looked at each other, then at their younger brother. "Is that so, [Name]-chan~?" The older one inquired, words drawled out in a playful yet dark tone. Oh no, Cater tensed at what they were planning.

Acting quickly, the girls dragged MC over to one of Heartslabyul's many couches. "You're always welcomed into the family, [Nickname]-chan!" "To show you you're a Diamond now, let us watch some of Cater's old baby pics! He was the most adorable little brother back then!"

The Heartslabyul student hurried up to his siblings, trying his best to ruin their "bonding" activity.

~°~ ~°~

The evening was nice, warm with a comfortable breeze... The surprising thing was that MC shared many laughs with Sebek and his siblings through the day.

They were nice, very nice! The girl was intense like their friend, while the boy was tamer, on the shy side.

They shared many stories about their family life: the fishing trips to catch salmon, what their parents were up to in the clinic and the new patients they got to work with (quite a colorful array, one must say), life in Valley of Thorns, tales of their magical awakening and how Sebek threw up when his magic woke up, funny stories of childhood games, and thought MC many songs!

With how much they butt heads with Sebek, MC wholeheartedly welcomed this wonderful day filled with happiness, shared with their friend and his siblings!

~°~ ~°~

A Magift practice match supervised by Leona

MC sat on the sidelines, a bouncing wolf pup sitting on their lap. The small child marveled at the highspeed tricks and plays of both teams. "Big Bro Jack!! Go go go, Big Bro Jack!!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, cheering her brother on.

At their side, an embarrassed sigh could be heard. Jack's little brother, who held striking resemblance with him (specially with that attitude), tried to hide away from onlookers' eyes after his sister's cheer.

But then...

Jack snatched the disk from the enemy team, sending it flying through the air with a mighty powerful flick from his magical pen and--!

"SCOOOOORE!!!!" Both young wolves screamed in happiness, tails wagging a couple times as their adrenaline kicked.

Leona laughed at the reaction. "Not so indifferent now, huh, squirt?" His hand ruffled the wolf boy's hair. The boy blushed at getting caught cheering like that.

A sudden snicker startled the siblings as they looked at the hyena beastman. "You resemble your brother a lot. I'm sure you could become as good of a player as Jack some day."

The little girl gasped in amazement, siblings looking at each other with excited sparkles in their eyes at the compliment the older of the two just received.

"Ah~, they're just as adorable as Jack!" MC gushed internally.

~°~ ~°~

"Trey-nii!" "Big Bro!" "Trey-Trey!" Many voices came their way, sounding excited about finally getting to see their beloved brother once more.

Trey chuckled nervously, "Here we go..." Suddenly, MC saw three little kids glomp their friend. Two hugged his legs while the other climbed up to cling to his torso.

"How have you been, big bro?" "Have you made friends?! Many friends?!" "Do you have sweets? I smell cake!" "Your house here looks funky!" "Can we go inside the big house, Trey-Trey?!" "Can I pick a pretty rose, Trey-nii? I really want a pretty rose!"

They fired multiple questions at their 3rd year friend. So young, so curious, a perfect embodiment of childhood...

MC giggled, "You never told me your siblings were so inquisitive. It's so cute!"

Their attention immediately turned to MC. In a hurry, they let go of Trey and approached the magicless human.

"You're a friend of Trey-nii, right?! Right?!" "You're pre~tty, no wonder Trey-Trey likes you!" "Hey, hey! Do you also have a big house like big bro?!" "Do you have any siblings? I wanna befriend my brother's friends' siblings!" "A pretty person like you deserves a pretty rose... Trey-nii! Can we pick roses to make a crown? Plea~se?!"

"Now now, let's not overwhelm [Name] in our first meeting, yes?" Trey's call silenced them in a second. "I do believe you must first introduce yourselves before asking so many questions to a stranger, don't you think?"

The trio looked to the ground and fidget with their clothes. "Yes, Big Brother Trey..."

The glasses wearing student shot an apologetic look to MC. "Why don't we go inside and get your introductions done, as well as your questions answered, over a slice of tart and a cup of tea? Sounds good? Maybe you can meet some other friends of mine, too."

The kids perked up, happy smiles brightening their faces as they nodded and took each of Trey's hands. The remaining child looked at MC, who smiled and stretched their hand for them to take before making their way into Heartslabyul dorm.

~°~ ~°~

"My Ruggie really did that?!" The old woman was surprised, wrinkled face showing her emotions.

MC affirmed with their head, "Yes, he's always helping me forage for herbs and tasty plants to use for meals! Really useful for cutting off expenses. He even taught me few recipes with said plants, recipes taught by you, Miss!"

Ruggie's grandmother smiled proudly. "He's such a nice soul, isn't he? Always bringing cans of food when he comes visit us to ensure the little ones back home have something to eat." She held MC's hand in both of hers, using the one on top to give the prefect's a couple taps.

"You treasure those recipes with your life, young one! And please," Her eyes were so gentle as she looked up at them, "Keep an eye out for my Ruggie, yes? He tends to overwork himself. Please, fulfill my role while I'm away from him, make sure he eats and sleeps well, that he stays hydrated and relaxes his mind. That is all I could ever ask from you."

MC's heart contracted with adoration at how kind this old lady was, a beautiful old soul still full of vigor.

They nodded, squeezing those calloused yet warm hands of hers.

Meanwhile, the eavesdropping hyena sniffled at the sweet moment between his grandmother and friend. He was deeply touched.

Two peopled he held dear to his heart were getting along swimmingly! More over, they just showed him they care equally as much about him as he does for them.

-- -- --

BUT WE ALL LOVE YOUR ASKS, ANON!!!!

KEEP BLESSING US WITH YOUR IDEAS!!!!

#zask #twisted wonderland #ace trappola #sebek zigvolt #cater diamond #jack howl #trey clover #ruggie bucchi

[preemshots]

the definitive post of WHERE IN THE WORLD IS JOHNNY SILVERHAND’S BODY?

AKA the post of HERE’S WHY I WANT TO BELIEVE WE ARE GONNA GET JOHNNY’S BODY BACK IN DLC. 

buckle up, gamers. it's time for some lore. this is a very long post. 

warning: this will contain a million spoilers. both for details of multiple game endings, a wee bit of the “where’s johnny” comic, and the cyberpunk RED book. if you want a sparknotes version this is the post for you. my main source here is the cyberpunk RED book as well as as some references to the cyberpunk 2077 world book to cross examine the lore. 

i have no idea if someone has made this post before or what anybody else has been finding in their own lore diving. this is just me documenting my own findings from the sources i’ve been using.

it would be disingenuous not to preface this with the ways in which cyberpunk 2077's telling of the arasaka assault differ from the version told in the TTRPG books. the books =/= the game. pondsmith acknowledges in the intro of RED that this is a bridge between the old cyberpunk world and the new world of cyberpunk 2077. 

we also know that johnny's an unreliable narrator and his memories presented to V are often different than real events. but on top of that we don't know if the reason why many elements are changed is simply CDPR editing/adjusting/condensing the storyline for their own canon, or if it's due to johnny's construct being manipulated by outside influences such as arasaka.

some of the main differences you need to know from cyberpunk RED canon:

in 2023 johnny doesn't bring the nukes to arasaka tower. he's solely there to free alt.

johnny and rogue and their team from the atlantis/the aldecaldos are actually hired by morgan blackhand. 

morgan blackhand is the one who plants the nuke, unbeknownst to many members of the team. 

morgan blackhand promptly disappears after this event and no one knows if he's alive or dead. (claire confirms this fact to jackie and v before the heist in 2077 canon)

johnny's silver cybernetic arm is its own character, separate from himself. it seems to have a mind of its own and johnny interacts with it and/or is influenced by it.

when he, spider murphy, rogue, thompson, shaitan, and a team of los lobos from the aldecaldos (who are there in place of santiago, as he’s busy as the leader of the aldecaldos at this point) are attacked by adam smasher, johnny and his arm actively choose to draw smasher's fire in a deliberately suicidal move. smasher downs him instantly, but the distraction is enough to also save his friends.

spider murphy shoves a mysterious chip in johnny's dying head as they escape that alt had downloaded to her a long time ago.

johnny's body is later "rumoured" to have been retrieved from the rubble by a full-body borg groupie that was a first responder to the ground zero of AHQ and then hidden away in a nearby garage.

here comes the political lore that makes my eyes cross, so hopefully this accurately summarizes it: the 4th corporate war begins to end. arasaka is ultimately blamed by the NUSA government to have nuked themselves in a political move to protect their secrets and promptly banished from the USA. arasaka denies this all the way back to japan, then eventually returns to “liberate” night city in the unification wars.

but what the public doesn't know is that kei, saburo's oldest son, had actually hidden an EVEN BIGGER MORE DEVASTATING NUKE at the bottom of the tower to, well, do exactly what they were being accused of doing, even though blackhand was the one who actually dropped the smaller nuke on them. and luckily the bigger one didn’t go off.

arasaka tries to find their nuke in the rubble so they don't get in even bigger trouble, only to discover that it was moved and hidden away to... surprise! a nearby garage.

to compare with 2077:

in RED: we have no johnny loading the nukes into the elevator. no johnny being carried off the premises. no meeting saburo. no johnny getting soulkilled.

in 2077: there's a parallel moment to RED's version of events right after johnny uploads "liberator" from alt's old cyberdeck with spider's help into the arasaka mainframe in saburo's office. adam smasher comes for him as he's trying to escape, knocking him off the second floor of the atrium into the rock garden below.

visually this is the same atrium we always meet alt in in cyberspace and also where V meets johnny for the first time. hmmm. meaningful, perhaps.

not unlike what happens in RED, johnny unloads a clip into smasher at that point, but from there the scene instantly cuts to him running to the roof attempting to board the AV with rogue, where smasher shoots him down again. it’s possible johnny actually died to smasher in the atrium and we have some fabricated memories going on. 

either way, in 2077, we lose the character beat of johnny dying for his friends, and the current-day general consensus from rogue and others is that he’s perpetually a selfish asshole with ulterior motives. 

and, just to wrap up the politics of it all: morgan blackhand is rumoured to have been secretly hired by the militech-backed NUSA government to help end the 4th corporate war by... you guessed it! nuking arasaka.

HERE'S WHERE JOHNNY'S BODY ENDS UP IN CYBERPUNK RED (SPARKNOTES VERSION):

RED ends with a story called "black dog" set in 2045. black dog is the last song johnny recorded right before the assault on arasaka tower, but the final copy is a bootleg copy of the song and only a fraction.

we're introduced to a fun group of cybernetic-enhanced characters that represent the classes in the TTRPG and based on/designed by real people in collaboration with CDPR.

this group includes trace santiago, santiago's son, who is a media that is curious about the mystery surrounding the circumstances around his father and the arasaka bombing. 

just connecting lore here: if you talk to saul at the aldecaldo camp in 2077, he confirms that santiago was killed for his involvement with johnny and the bombing, something that rogue and johnny reference when they talk about their now-dead crew from the afterlife, and in chippin in, santiago is a friend that johnny lists as someone he had disappointed.

the group sets off to find any info about black dog, and meet up with a full conversion chrome woman named samantha in a garage who is blatantly a johnny silverhand fangirl. trace discovers she has a history with johnny, having rescued him from a studio fire at some point in 2015 and speculates she could have been a groupie also.

she mysteriously has a more complete recording of black dog, though not perfect, and offers to trade it for a service: she wants the group to transport a large crate to a facility in new mexico, asking them not to open it.

shit goes down. evidently everyone in night city wants to kill them for this package once it starts moving. eventually they open it. it's the arasaka nuke that had been hidden and never went off, emblazoned with warnings.

trace inquires about the circumstances surrounding the arasaka assault with an older member of the lobos who had been present with rogue and johnny. the man mentions that it was weird, because morgan blackhand organized the whole thing and then ran off immediately with a mysterious bag that we now know contained the nuke. 

michiko arasaka intercepts the gang, explaining the situation around the bigger nuke, that other factions in arasaka want to utilize it for their own goals (presumably hanako and yorinobu) and her father's legacy, that she feels responsible for. she escorts them to new mexico so that the nuke can be dismantled once and for all.

they meet up with a woman named angel in new mexico that takes the crate from them, at a facility that specializes in nuclear material. she gives the group the full recording of "black dog". the group leaves successful.

this woman is also a johnny silverhand stan. once alone, she calls up samantha, who says, "i promised i would get him to you in the end" and reveals that she had already gutted/dismantled the original nuke and discarded the material into the bay.

angel opens the "nuke" to reveal a hidden cryochamber, and greets the face of the person inside with, "hello, my love."

i mean, holy shit. okay! so that’s DEFINITELY johnny’s body. cool!

now let’s go into all the references to this story in the actual game of cyberpunk 2077 that SUGGEST we are going to pursue this story AND johnny's body since it’s such a HOT FUCKING TOPIC. 

and i know many of the following can just be considered easter eggs. but my personal interpretation of this game is that it has a really delightful way of intentionally glossing over important story details—and not by ONLY putting them in shards (which people tend to dislike because lol reading) but by also hiding them in plain sight, constantly deferring to V's own ignorance, distracting us with shallower, shinier things, encouraging us to actually play as the fool hero of this story. 

so here's the fun list of “””evidence”””:

this one’s a reach, but fun. in the initial arasaka assault flashback in 2023: we can interact with the groupies at kerry's show as johnny. samantha doesn't appear to be present, but the first person and groupie you can encounter in the flashback has a passing resemblance to angel in that she has a cybernetic arm.

in chippin' in, where we go to johnny's "grave" in the oil fields: if we are to take the 2077 retelling of events as truth, the story could instead be pretty easily be changed that samantha procured his body from there.

mike pondsmith, who wrote these stories and created the TTRPG can be heard on the radio narrating various conspiracy theories. and sure, these can just be easter eggs, intended to reference the differences between the TTRPG lore and the game, so take it with a grain of salt:

johnny. bro. tell him it was morgan blackhand

to top it all off, mike also directly references the actual WORSE nuke arasaka had hid in another arasaka conspiracy: 

SPOILERS FOR GAME ENDINGS AHEAD.

in the rogue ending of the game we discover rogue has a son. it's possible her son is trace (edit: nvm NOT LIKELY, since in RED’s black dog story rogue is listed separately from santiago’s mom in conversation) OR possibly one of the other characters. she tells her son to "pull over and look at the stars" or something along those lines. maybe just details, so that screams nomad to me.

rogue also has a photo of herself and johnny with mike pondsmith in her apartment/office in the afterlife. i initially read this as a delightful cameo but it also can mean mike the CHARACTER knew johnny and rogue, and rogue therefore has some kind of relationship to him and these conspiracies on the radio. and why the fuck not make him a full on character? we have a smattering of streamers and personalities already integrated into quests in the game. the creator of all this should be no exception. fuck it! 

rogue and johnny constantly dance around this accusation of her “selling out”. it’s repeated over and over that she and adam smasher worked for "the same people". i'm beginning to wonder if this wasn't meant to imply only arasaka since smasher mysteriously disappeared after the AHQ assault in 2023 and returned to SOMETIMES take jobs from arasaka... but possibly morgan blackhand and/or by extension, the NUSA or any other greater influences. (like nightcorp? we still don’t know where all this shit with nightcorp/the peralezes/sandra dorsett’s discovery about their research into mind control is gonna go) this also doesn’t account for the multiple factions inside arasaka with VERY different motives. 

morgan blackhand and adam smasher are rivals in the TTRPG, a role that appears to be at least partially filled by johnny instead in 2077. in relation to the arasaka factions, it’s worth nothing that smasher specifically works for yorinobu as his bodyguard at the beginning of the game, in part i assume because yorinobu is avoiding working with arasaka security details as he stole the relic and is plotting against his father. he is then promoted to head of security by yorinobu when yorinobu assumes power. 

in the ending as you work your way through arasaka tower with rogue and shaitan and johnny, rogue remarks:

michiko at this point in 2077 is the leader of the more “liberal” faction within arasaka, so it’s possible we’re seeing that while rogue and smasher work for the same people/family, they couldn’t be more different. 

you can also encounter rogue more than once on the phone fighting with wakako, who has apparently crossed her. wakako also seems to have her own ulterior motives and works mainly with the arasaka-backed tyger claws. she notably gives v/takemura the parade security info for “play it safe” without asking for anything in return, enabling hanako’s kidnapping. my theory is that yorinobu intentionally leaked the parade info to her to give away to put hanako in danger or at least continue to destabilize arasaka. 

in the takemura/devil ending of the game, there is a point where violence breaks out at the arasaka board room meeting when yorinobu-allied security open fire on them. one of the only people that survives along with hanako is michiko arasaka, who was at odds with hanako’s decisions, but  very involved in the preceding discussion.

and now for is my favorite detail! in the afterlife AT ALL POINTS IN THE GAME (but it can only really be inspected in the rogue ending when we are allowed behind the bar), we can find a photo of the squad that transported johnny's body from samantha to angel on the shelf below johnny's tequila, of them hanging out in front of the afterlife sign:  

this implies rogue has some relationship with them, and sentimentality, if we're to judge by the placement. she maybe even took the picture. i don't know, it's charming, it could be all easter eggs. who fucking knows.

either way, rogue and these kids both have in common that they worked with or at least interacted with michiko arasaka. 

and you know what my final evidence is? more wishful thinking! black dog plays on the radio in game. we got a full recorded version of it by refused. if not an oversight, i go ahead and take it to mean the final version was finally released to the public by those kids that were looking for it. 

i haven’t the slightest idea how this is gonna wrap up in future DLC. who has johnny’s body now in 2077, decades after it was dropped off in mexico? what is the truth?? where the fuck is morgan blackhand?? from the devil ending, we know that arasaka stole jackie’s body and put his soul into mikoshi, so the idea that they would just toss johnny’s corpse has always been laughable. the “where’s johnny?” promotional comic was even about thompson unsuccessfully trying to find johnny’s body. i know i am biased here but i cannot fathom all this talk about johnny’s body ending off with us NOT finding it, whether it’s just to bury it, shove johnny’s engram back in it, make out with it, or WHATEVER.

if you made it through this slog, congrats. thanks for reading! 

#cyberpunk lore #johnny silverhand #spoilers #cyberpunk 2077 #cyberpunk2077 #cp2077 #cyberpunk game #lore post

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Hey! I love your meta’s, a little while ago you talked about The Order of the Phoenix as an organization could you talk about the Death Eaters?

The post anon is referencing.

TL;DR the Order is incompetently hilarious and Dumbledore is a man who trusts no one.

Oh, the Death Eaters, what to say about the Death Eaters...

In a World Without Voldemort, They'd Probably Be Arsonists

One of the things JKR implies in the series, and something fandom seems to take for granted, is that Tom Riddle is the ultimate corrupting influence.

Were it not for him, the Wizarding World would be a much better place, and people like Bellatrix LeStrange would be productive members of society.

As soon as he is killed, even, by Harry, the good guys win, their problems all presumably solved, and Harry tells his son Albus Severus that it's totally fine if he's put into Slytherin.

I don't believe that though.

To me, it's not so much that Tom Riddle corrupted these people, but that he gave them an organized cause. The people themselves, oh, they were itching for a fight.

In a world without Tom I think they'd be a loosely, poorly organized, group (probably with Bellatrix as the ring leader) where they commit acts of domestic terrorism probably involving burning offensive shops to the ground or attacking muggleborns, halfbloods, and blood traitors.

Voldemort, to me, is designed to pander to them (and not the other way around).

The Death Eaters' Beginnings

So, first off, I think Tom's goals are not what he says they are. What he represents to his followers is exactly what they want to hear, wrapped in a grandiose theatric bow that they just love.

But how did this all start?

First, I don't believe in the Knights of Walpurgis. Instead I think Tom came relatively out of nowhere in the 70's uses parseltongue to prove his heritage as the Heir of Slytherin and thus of purer blood than any of them.

He throws these exciting rallies/parties that the rebellious, angsty, teenage heirs all go to. There he says everything they wanted to hear in the most eloquent manner they've ever heard, promises them the action that their fathers have never delivered, promises them a role in the glorious revolution and a place in history, and probably offers them mounds of cocaine.

All the Death Eaters we see, or the core of them, appear to be in this age range where they'd be in Hogwarts or just out of it when Voldemort came knocking. I can imagine they're all whipped up with excitement, YEAH LET'S BLOW UP THE MUDBLOODS and for some that's great, for others... things don't go the way they expected.

October 31, 1981: It All Falls Apart

Regulus famously steals Tom's horcrux. I imagine it wasn't so much that he learned the error of his ways but that he saw what Tom Riddle was really after: the destruction of his very society.

Lucius is riding high until October 31, 1981 and he sees the complete destruction of the entire Black family. Lucius' priorities greatly shift and as he grows older he prays Voldemort never returns. Unfortunately, Tom does, and he charges interest.

Bellatrix absolutely loses her mind, refuses to accept reality, and tries to torture the Longbottoms for information they do not possess. She is imprisoned in Azkaban and never truly recovers from this.

Snape ends up the cause of death for Lily Evans and must forever live with the guilt and be tied to her prophesied son. He also becomes Dumbledore's lackey forever, which ultimately gets him killed.

Point being, no one's having a good time. Some because they figure out being a Death Eater wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and others because they had the Voldemort rug pulled out from under their feet when Tom Riddle disappears.

Pettigrew flees and lives as the Weasley rat for nearly fifteen years.

They're left making a mad scramble as they try to pick up the pieces of their lives.

Canon Catches Up

More than ten years go by and then suddenly, in a muggle graveyard, the surviving Death Eaters discover that they are bound to Voldemort for the rest of their lives.

Death cannot stop this man and he has branded them: there's no escape.

Some are still enthusiastic supporters of the cause: Bellatrix is vindicated that her lord has returned, he rescues her from hell on earth, and everything's finally coming up Bella. Barty is similar in actively working for Voldemort's resurrection.

Lucius, meanwhile, lives in constant terror. Karkaroff desperately flees the country and hopes Tom will not find him. Snape, is in fact, Dumbledore's agent. Pettigrew only returned in utter desperation and has now cut off his own hand.

They're not the young men they were, some of them have families, to some of the past ten years have been utterly miserable. They have to watch as their children make the same damn mistakes they did, be sucked into this same hell hole, and there's nothing they can do about it.

There is a notable reluctance for the cause, and yet, they have to try with the same vigor or this madman will kill them all.

And it's all worthless anyway: come 1998, Voldemort dies again (perhaps for real this time, who knows, Harry Potter seems to think so for whatever reason) and then they are imprisoned for their acts as Death Eaters.

And they just laugh, because how badly Lucius wishes he could go back in time and tell his eighteen-year-old self, "YOU DUMB FUCK, LEAVE NOW!"

But Do They Learn Anything?

No.

Just because we see some of them regret being Death Eaters doesn't mean they regret their beliefs. Their beliefs were fine, even blowing up people here and there, a bit gauche but fine.

But maybe following Voldemort blindly was a bad idea.

Are They More Competent Than the Order?

No.

Tom Riddle is terrifyingly competent in that he infiltrates the government with ease, has spies everywhere, and all but proclaims himself minister one day and nobody blinks.

He gains the full support of most of the wizarding world's wealthiest and prestigious families.

But he doesn't actually give these people anything to do. Because there's nothing for them to do, with them, Tom's won. He owns the Wizengamot, the Ministry, everything.

There's no need to fight. It's over, there never was a war. Society is primed to accept Tom Riddle as their ruler.

However, the likes of Bellatrix LeStrange thinks there's a glorious war on, so "uh, go out and blow up a few muggles, have fun." And the young Death Eaters (and the older ones), think they've committed this great, daring, brave, and very important act.

Tom only seems to hand out real assignments when in desperate straits or else when being particularly vindictive.

Lucius, after messing up with the diary, is told to retrieve a prophecy he is not allowed to touch in a department of the ministry he should have no access to. If he fails: Tom kills his entire family. When Lucius does fail, Tom assigns his son to assassinate an already dying Dumbledore. These aren't real tasks, though they do have the appearance of one, and consequences for failure.

Barty, Tom is forced to rely on, as he is trapped in this dying infant's body. And better Barty, someone who is truly loyal and seems fairly clever, than Peter Pettigrew who is a miserable scum bag who'd sell his grandmother for a bar of soap.

Barty, of course, fucks this up. Rather than just kidnap Harry Potter at any of the many easy points this could be done (Hogsmeade trip, lure Harry out to Hogsmeade with super secret serial information about Voldemort/Snape being a Death Eater, etc.), Barty is determined to make use of the Triwizard Tournament to destroy his father's legacy.

This means rather than a few weeks, it takes months to kidnap Harry, and even then they bring along an extra boy who then gets killed and provides some evidence that Tom Riddle has in fact returned. (Somebody murdered Cedric). It takes months and Barty actively ensuring Harry makes it through the tournament and does well, leaving open the possibility that he might get caught helping Harry cheat at any moment. And of course, Barty has to pretend to be Madeye Moody for months, keeping his man locked and drugged in his trunk.

Thankfully, Moody's such a paranoid wreck, no one even notices.

Quirrell, Tom is forced to rely on. Quirrell fucks up, though admittedly not as badly as Barty. Quirrell fails to steal the stone when it's in transit/in Gringotts. He fails to murder Harry Potter, an eleven year old boy in the world's most dangerous school. He rouses Snape's suspicion almost immediately. Then of course he doesn't get the stone. He at least gets to the room with the stone and nearly overpowers Harry and gets it had he not been mysteriously lit on fire by the power of love/Lily Evans.

The only one Tom ever really relies on by choice is Snape. Snape is charged with spying on Dumbledore and later running Hogwarts (which he fucks up).

There is only one competent man in Britain: Severus Snape. Which is, of course, why he's a double agent that Dumbledore and Tom both extensively rely on despite his being a double agent.

There's no one else.

Tom Riddle doesn't make use of the Death Eaters but given they prove themselves enthusiastically incompetent at every turn I don't blame him. Just pretend to give them something to do and hope it makes them feel important.

That's all I've got in general, you want anything else you'll have to ask for something more specific.

#harry potter #harry potter meta #harry potter headcanon #tom riddle #voldemort #the death eaters #lucius malfoy #bellatrix lestrange #regulus black #barty crouch jr #anti barty crouch jr #anti bellatrix lestrange #quirinus quirrell #anti quirinus quirrell #severus snape #peter pettigrew #anti peter pettigrew #draco malfoy #the wizarding world #albus dumbledore

[maxwell-grant]

You have done an (excelent) post on how to reinvent Batman as a Pulp Hero. Do you think you could do one to Superman as well? Or do you think it is impossible to do this with the progenitor of the Super Hero genre without transforming him in a totaly diferent character?

Well, you saying it as impossible only makes it seem ever more tempting of a challenge, but yes, it is a bit harder. I'm gonna link my Batman post here as a reference point.

Partially because Batman's a franchise I've thought extensively about for a long time in regards to what I like about it or how I'd like to approach if given the opportunity, which is not something I can really say for Superman until more recently the Big Blue to start orbiting my brain. I don't have years worth of redesigns or fan concepts saved on my galleries and files to comb through to pick and choose here, and my experience with Superman as a character is considerably different, in some aspects more deeply personal, and not really something I'd like to go into in this blog, at least not now.

Part of the reason why it's harder is also because Batman and Superman have very different relationships with their pulp inspirations. Batman was, ostensibly, a pulp character adapted to comics, a dime-a-dozen Shadow knock-off who picked up and played up diverging traits from other characters and gradually ran with them to gradually forge a unique identity. Superman right from the start was rooted in a much stronger conceptual underpinning: the Sci-Fi Superman and Alien Menace who, instead of being a tragic monster or a tyrannical villain, becomes a costumed adventurer and social crusader. Even the name Super-Man was taken from an early story of Siegel and Shuster about a telepathic villain who ends the story lamenting that he should have used his powers for the good of mankind instead of selfishness. I hesitate to call what Siegel and Shuster were doing “subversive” because that term's picked up a real negative connotation, and it's not like Siegel and Shuster were out to upend their influences (they were pulp aficionados themselves), but rather putting a more positive, new spin on them.

Which is why it also becomes a bit harder to do what I did with Batman and align Superman with some of his pulp-esque inspirations, like John Carter, Flash Gordon or Hugo Danner, without just making it "Superman but he's John Carter", "Superman but it's Flash Gordon", and "Iron Munro / Superman but everything sucks" respectively. It's harder to create a character that wouldn't feel reduntant and derivative at best, and actively contradictory to Superman at worst.

I guess if I had to come up with a "Pulp Hero Superman" take I liked, well first of all I'd have to take steps to distance it from the likes of Tom Strong or Al Ewing's Doc Thunder, those two are as good as it gets in regards to Pulp Supermen. I stipulated for Batman a "No Guns, No Murder, No Service" policy partially to distance my takes on Batman from all the "Pulp Batmen" that just add guns and murder and take Batman back to the barest of basics. Likewise, I'm adding a "No Depowered Science Hero" rule here, which means it's a take that's likely going to veer off a lot more into fantasy and probably enough tampering with Clark's character that it does risk becoming a different character.

Frankly I don't think I'm gonna succeed at doing these without just making it a new character entirely, because with Batman you can get away with just upending the character's aesthetic and setting and even origin and still keep it recognizably Bruce Wayne (in fact Batman does that all the time), which isn't really the case with Superman, who needs those to remain recognizably Superman as he goes through internal changes and character shifts. I guess what I'm gonna do here is more taking the building blocks of Superman/Clark Kent and see a couple new ways I can rearrange them to create a Pulp Superman

Perhaps something we can do is to scale back or recontextualize the "superhero" parts without diminishing Superman's role as a superpowered fantasy character.

One way we can start is by picking on that connection between Superman and the sci-fi supermen/alien monsters of pulps I mentioned earlier and play it up further, to create a Superman who's deeply, deeply alien in a way that no mild-mannered disguise or colorful outfit can really disguise, something so dramatically powerful and alien, that instead you could get tales about the kinds of ensuing changes and ripple effects this has on the world upon the The Super-Man's arrival. And for that I'm gonna have to quote @davidmann95's concept for Joshua Viers' absolutely stunning Superman redesign on the left side of the image above

The red, the goldish-orange and white, the alienness, the angelic, sculpted feeling, the halo, that innocently curious expression: it’s genuinely beautiful. Superman as a redeeming science-angel from beyond our understanding, as much past the uncanny valley of limited human comprehension as a Lovecraftian monster but tuned to the opposite key - you could spend an endless procession of human lifetimes trying and failing to understand this being, but all you’ll ever know for sure is that it is beyond you, and it knows you, and it loves you.

Superdoomsday from Earth 45, healed and transformed into the savior it was originally envisioned as? Some descendant of his, or a future of the man himself? An alien who picked up on a broadcast of Superman from Earth, and so inspired reshaped itself in his image to spread his ‘gospel’ to the stars?

Alternatively, to come back to Earth a little, many, many pulp characters and series were built off the antics and personalities of real people, celebrities getting their own magazines or serials or fictionalized takes on them, so perhaps one way to make a "pulp" take on Superman would be to emphasize a bit more of Superman's real-world roots, trends that inspired his creation directly or indirectly at the time. The Jewish strongman Sigmund Breibart and Shuster's interest in fitness culture, Harold Lloyd's comic persona, the rising "strongman" film genre in the early 20th century, actors Clark Gable and Kent Taylor that supposedly named his secret identity, Clark Kent being a socially-awkward journalist based of Siegel's own school experiences.

Maybe one start to an authentic Pulp Superman, who would still be Superman, would be to just ask the question "What if Superman was a real person and/or a celebrity, and they started making pulp magazines and serials dedicated to him? What would those look like?". You wouldn't even have to restrict it to just a story set in the 1930s, in fact you could even play around with the rise of new mediums over the decades.

This third one is a little closer to some plans I have for my own take on a Superman character, not necessarily what I would do with Superman proper but one of my ideas for a Superman analogue. Superman's a character I'll always associate strongly with childhood and childhood fantasy, and to tap into that I would emphasize the other end of the fiction that influenced Siegel and Shuster: comic strips, in their case specifically Little Nemo and Popeye.

In my case I would bring additional influences from some of the comic strips I personally grew up reading like Monica's Gang and Calvin and Hobbes, and I already talked a bit about Captain Fray in terms of how he’s a Superman character despite being a villain. I guess you could call this one "What if Superman was a public domain comic strip character, stripped of the importance of being the founding figure of a super popular genre or extended universe, and also was kind of ugly?".

He's not "Sloth from the Goonies" ugly, I swear I didn't actually have Sloth in mind when typing out this idea, I've never watched that film nor did I know until now that he actually spends the film in a Superman shirt. That's not really what I'm going for. Visually I was thinking of modeling my take on Superman heavily after Hugo from Street Fighter and his inspiration Andre the Giant, to really emphasize the “circus strongman / freak wrestler” aspect of Superman’s inspiration, particularly in regards to how Hugo’s SFIII version strikes a really great balance in making Hugo ugly and both comedic and fearsome in battle, as well as lovable and even a little dopey (without being outright stupid, like his IV self) in his victory animations and endings.

He's still Superman, he still goes on fantastical adventures to help people, he's still a deeply loving and compassionate soul whose face beams with joy and affection and who's got wonderful eyes and a great smile. It's just that this smile has a couple of mismatched stick-out teeth or some missing ones, and he's got a crooked smile some people take as smug or malicious, he’s got a strongman’s gut instead of a bodybuilder’s abs, his nose is a little busted (maybe he’s had too many crash landings), and his hair is a little wild or greasy, and he doesn't exactly have very good people skills because of how others usually react to him and, y'know, he doesn't get the kind of publicity Superman would get despite doing ostensibly the same things. He’s not deformed, he’s incredibly intelligent and capable, but in comparison to how superheroes are usually allowed to look, he might as well be Bizarro in the public eye.

It becomes a running gag that people tend to assume some nearby fireman or cop was the one who rescued the hundred orphans out of a burning building single-handedly, meanwhile he's getting accosted off-panel by police officers who think he set the building on fire, or think they can bully this weird man dressed funny. He goes to rescue old people in peril and occasionally they yell at him that they don't have any money. He doesn't get asked to lead superhero meetings or teams even though many in the community advocate for just how much he does for the world, he gets censored out of tv broadcasts or group shots (even his face is sometimes pixelated when they do show him), people invite him on talk shows and don't really let him talk or assume they got the wrong guy. He goes to rescue a woman dangling off a building, and then he gets attacked by like three different superhero teams who assume he must have kidnapped the poor damsel. He was the first superhero, he is the strongest of them all still, but he never really gets credit for it, it nor does he even want to. None of this at all stops him or deters him, except for some occasionally funny reactions.

This never really changes for him, he doesn't really earn people's approval nor does he have to, instead the stories, outside of the gags and adventures you’d expect from a comic strip, veer more towards others learning to be less judgmental and him learning ways to better approach people. He isn't any lesser than Superman just because he doesn't look like most people would want him to look and he doesn't have to look like Superman. Really I think we could use more superheroes that don’t look all so uniformly pretty.

Again, probably not a take that would work for Clark proper, but it’s one way I would take a shot at doing Superman with my own

I have other stuff in the works for this character but I'd like to keep them to better work on them for now, but yeah, these are three of my shots at developing a Pulp Superman.

Alternatively here's a fourth idea that's more pulp than all of these: Join up Nicholas Cage with Panos Cosmatos again, or whatever weird indie director he decides to pair up with next, and let them do whatever the hell they want with Superman. Give us Mandy Superman. Superman vs The Color Out of Space. Superman vs Five Nights at Freddy's. Superman’s quest to find THE LAST PIG OF KRYPTON. Anything goes.

#replies tag #dc comics #superman #clark kent #superheroes #comic books #nicholas cage

[ectonurites]

idk how to quote tags on mobile where is the conner kent essay i NEED it

ALRIGHT OKAY! here’s 5k+ words plus panels & screenshots of me comparing and contrasting the two drastically different versions of Superboy (comics vs young justice cartoon) and going over what makes them such distinctly separate characters. someday i’ll refine this a bit more its kinda just a word dump that’s been living in my brain that i wanted to actually articulate after i read through Reign of the Supermen but here we go:

--

Pretty frequently I see the question “Why is Superboy so different in the Young Justice cartoon?” float around in DC circles. I think there are two main approaches to answering this:

Why did the writers of the cartoon decide to create a very different version of Superboy?

What factors make this Superboy so different from the comic version?

For the first approach the answer is relatively straight-forward, from the start Young Justice as a cartoon was never meant to be a direct adaptation of the comics. They just used the title and a few elements so they could create their own approach to the DC universe with a focus on younger heroes. For example, Artemis Crock in their show is also COMPLETELY different from her comic counterpart, Zatanna is aged way down to be a member of the teen team, and Kaldur’ahm was created for this show (and integrated into the comics as Jackson Hyde). They were always trying to do different things than the main comics universe, so them making a different version of Conner also makes sense. Their approach to him is also very clearly influenced more by how he appeared in the Teen Titans comic run that was still coming out as Young Justice started airing (his design, and some other elements we’ll discuss along the way), as opposed to his original version from the 90′s/the Young Justice comic.

So the basic “why” is that from the start they wanted to create something unique to their universe, which they definitely did accomplish.

The much more interesting subject to dive into, though, is looking at the differences in Superboy’s story that contribute to him becoming such a different person. 

The drastic changes made to the following factors are what I view as the main source of his differences in personality/outlook/characterization:

The conditions and history of the world at the time he is introduced

The circumstances around him being introduced/leaving Cadmus

The reaction Clark has to him and how their relationship starts

The people he first interacted with & became close to, and how he interacts with the world

The timing of him finding out about his connection to Luthor

The State of the Worlds

In the comics, Superboy is first introduced in Adventures of Superman #500 by iconically saying “Don’t ever call me Superboy!” 

during a 1993 event called “Reign of the Supermen”, a follow up to the 1992 event “The Death of Superman”. Based on the title of the 1992 event, I think you can, uh, guess what one major difference in the setting here was vs. the state of the world at the time he was introduced in the cartoon. Obviously Clark didn’t stay dead forever, but Superboy first comes onto the scene as a young clone of Superman who insists he is the new Superman (one of the four characters trying to do so during the event). This is in the main DC universe in the early 90’s, which means that heroes in general, including teen heroes, aren’t a new thing! Not only has the Justice League been around for a while but so has the Teen Titans. Once Clark is alive again, Superboy goes off on his own to establish himself as an individual teen hero. 

So how is that different in the cartoon?

In the cartoon, Superboy is first introduced in the pilot episodes “Independence Day” and “Fireworks” 

on the 4th of July in (what most people consider to be) 2010. This was supposed to be the day that Robin (Dick Grayson), Speedy (Roy Harper), Kid Flash (Wally West), and Aqualad (Kaldur’ahm) would get to see the true Justice League HQ at the Hall of Justice, which... doesn’t go exactly as planned. 

In this world, superheroes are a newer thing, this is something that the creators have talked about before. At this point, while there is an established Justice League, there are no known teams of teen superheroes. Just the fact that as of season one Dick Grayson is still Robin is a pretty good indicator that this world is early in it’s time with a Batman. Now, the sidekicks aren’t a secret, as they appear very publicly in this first episode, but they are almost always seen acting with their mentors at this point. Again, there is no Teen Titans in this setting, and there never has been. 

So when they do form the first teen hero team? It is kept covert-ops. They do not publicize that they act as a superhero team, and the members who weren’t already publicly known heroes (mainly Miss Martian and Superboy) end up being pretty… unknown to a lot of the world outside the hero/villain community! Again their existence is not strictly kept a secret, but they keep the fact that there’s a team of minors who are heroes going on independent missions VERY under the radar on purpose. Thus, those who aren’t going around doing super public hero activities just don’t have nearly as much of a presence.

So to summarize:

In the comics, Superboy is immediately put in a spotlight (he befriends a reporter and is all over tv and literally trademarks the name Superman) becoming known to the world and establishes himself as a solo acting hero YEARS before joining any teams.

In the cartoon, Superboy is kept relatively out of the spotlight, immediately becomes part of a covert-ops team and doesn’t act solo very often. The well known teen heroes in this setting are sidekicks working under a mentor, and Superboy does not actually act as a sidekick.

What does this mean for Superboy?

Superboy in the comics gets to, right away, act on his own and get a taste of what being Superman is like. In the cartoon, he’s brought into the world at a time where there already is a Superman. I think back to this bit from the therapy episode, where he says:

“See, from the moment I first opened my eyes in that Cadmus pod, there’s been one thing I’ve wanted, and feared. To know what it is to be Superman.”

Comics Superboy started out getting to do that! He immediately got a shot at filling that role, and he then makes the choice to relinquish it back to the original once he’s alive again. He (begrudgingly at first) understood that it wasn’t yet his time to be Superman, and knows he’ll someday fill those shoes for real- but in the meantime being Superboy is gonna be his own thing and he’ll embrace it and make it work.

Cartoon Superboy is left in a shadow, not ever truly knowing what it’s like to fill those shoes (except in a doomsday scenario training exercise gone awry that he then just feels intense guilt over). This leaves him a lot more frustrated and lost, and I think is a major contributor to how angry this version of Superboy is compared to his much more ‘chill go with the flow’ attitude in the comics.

Cadmus

In the comics, in that same issue he’s introduced, we find out that Superboy broke out of his cloning tube prematurely and left Cadmus with the assistance of the second Newsboy Legion, who also gave him his first leather jacket, before the programming that would allow Cadmus to control him was implemented.

He quickly gets up to speed with the situation, that Clark is dead. So he comes on the scene starting to save people and saying he is Superman, or at least the clone of the original one. A major thing that does influence his character here is the fact that… this is the 90’s. He is designed around the idea of what is ‘cool’ back in 1993. (look, even his original character design sheets call him cool)

So right off the bat he’s got a stereotypical ‘cool teen guy in that era’ personality, which is often played for comedy to add a little lightness to some of the dark things happening during this event. 

Anyways, he has left Cadmus, he’s acting on his own, and he starts realizing that his powers aren’t exactly the same as Superman’s over the course of the Reign of the Supermen story.

After the main conflict is settled and Clark is fully alive and acting as Superman again, the two of them end up going back to Cadmus to find out what the exact deal is with him. I’ll go into this more in a later point, but they find out he’s not exactly a clone of Superman (or Lex- him being actually involved as a DNA donor is a retcon that happened a decade later). They agree to let someone from Cadmus (Dubbilex- the grey guy with the horns in this pic) leave Metropolis with him, as he sets out on a press tour to establish himself as Superboy now that he relinquished the trademark on the Superman name back to Clark. 

Let’s pause and look at how this is different in the cartoon.

In the cartoon, when the trio of Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad decide to prove themselves to their mentors they run off on their own to attend to a fire at Project Cadmus when the Justice League got called off to do something else. Upon arriving, they accidentally uncover some weird things about Cadmus, like the crazy amount of sublevels, the creatures roaming around, and the fact that it’s not on the main power grids. They eventually find Superboy, still in his cloning tube. They break him out, but then get captured themselves.

When they are then put into tubes by Cadmus personnel, they manage to convince Superboy to help free them by promising him things like getting to meet Superman, and see the moon. The group of four now working together manages to escape from the building and it topples down, where they are then greeted by the Justice League who are Not Happy.

Superman flies away shortly after, and the group of kids explain to their remaining mentors that sure, they disobeyed orders, but they accomplished something good here, and they are going to keep doing it, whether the League likes it or not. The compromise is the formation of The Team, to be covert-ops while the Justice League acts publicly, and the boys are joined by Miss Martian.

So to summarize:

In the comics, Superboy leaves Cadmus pretty independently (with some assistance) to go act on his own as a hero immediately. He returns to Cadmus later for more information, and they reveal truths to him about his existence. After he knows his truth, he goes off to continue establishing himself as a solo hero but lets Cadmus still supervise what he’s doing through Dubbilex.

In the cartoon, Superboy is rescued from Cadmus by Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad, without knowing pretty much anything about himself besides the fact that he is a clone of Superman, and is immediately put on the covert ops team. 

What it means for Superboy:

Comic Superboy goes to act on his own, even after he admits he’s not the real Superman anymore. Yes he’s not 100% alone in terms of ‘he’s got people (Rex, Roxy, Dubbilex, Tana) around him’, but as a hero he’s a solo act and ends up taking residence in Hawaii. In the cartoon, by joining a team right away, he’s taking on a very different style of being a hero, especially because the team itself is covert-ops. Rather than regularly saving the day all on his own much like Superman, which can help comic Superboy feel like he’s still living up to the name more, cartoon Superboy is working under the radar in a group setting, while still wanting to desperately fill those Superman shoes. 

He is overconfident in his abilities and wants to be the hero he was created to be, so him being put into this very different type of superhero situation is another major contributor to the frustration/anger. Even later on when comics Superboy is part of forming the Young Justice team, they were never a secret covert-ops team, they were always publicly known. (hell, a reporter is the one who gave them the team name Young Justice because he’d misheard Bart)

Superboy & Superman

In the comics, as we have established, Clark was dead at the time Superboy first came on the hero scene. Clark comes back to life, during a little bit of a lull in the middle of the huge conflict. He immediately accepts that Superboy is one of four who came forward to try to replace him, and one of the only two (Superboy & Steel) who genuinely only had good intentions in doing so. Clark, Steel, Supergirl, Hal Jordan, and Superboy then all work together in the big battle against the Cyborg Superman.

Once things are settled, Clark is curious about him, and where he came from and his origin, so they end up going to Cadmus together with Guardian and learning more about him, as I previously mentioned. Once it is established that Superboy is in fact a metahuman clone who was created to mimic Superman, but is not actually a clone of him, Superman still accepts him and thinks he’s earned his right to continue using the ’S’ shield and have the name of Superboy. 

They part ways so Superboy can go on his press tour, but in general they have pretty positive interactions where they mutually respect each other! Not too much later in the comics even (I forget exaaactly when this happens but it’s definitely before the 1998 Young justice comic), Superman is the first one to give Superboy a real name, “Kon-El”, something he is so happy about he literally cries.

How is this different in the cartoon? 

When the boys first escaped, and Superboy first meets the Justice League, Clark is standoffish. Other members of the league need to nudge him over to go actually talk to Superboy, and it’s not much of a conversation before he flies off and away, leaving Superboy frustrated and alone.

This… turns into the standard for almost the entire first season. Other characters constantly telling Clark that he needs to reach out and be support for the boy (like in this iconic diner scene with Bruce and Clark), but Clark consistently being too freaked out by the fact that someone made a clone of him without his knowledge to properly accept Conner. While this does over time get better, this being the immediate reaction when Superboy is brand new in the world definitely… has an impact! 

He is rejected by the person he idolizes, and feels neglected and abandoned, and definitely kinda overcompensates with ego to try to make up for it. 

So:

In the comics, Superman and Superboy work together from the start, not falling into a hero/sidekick situation but rather acknowledging each other as individual heroes with respect for one another. They grow to see each other as family much faster, and little tension between them. A crucial difference in situations, though, is that at the time these versions first meet Superboy is not actually a clone of Superman.

In the cartoon, Superman at first avoids Superboy, and does not offer guidance or mentorship or anything the boy needs. It is clear that he wants to work with Superman and be like him, since it was what he was created to do. It takes a lot of time for Clark to accept Conner in this setting, and there is a lot of tension for the first several months Conner exists. (they seem to settle this towards the end of season 1/during the gap between season 2, but it still has it’s impact on who Conner is early in his life)

What does this mean?

I feel like this is another major factor that contributes to Conner being so angry all the time in the cartoon, he feels immediately rejected by the person he’s supposed to be someday, rather than accepted by him. Again, very different from how comics Superboy got a chance to be Superman, and a chance to then work with the real deal as equals. 

Friendships, Relationships and Identity

When Superboy is freed by the second Newsboy Legion, it’s primarily out of a ‘we’re clones who are stuck here, but you need to be out there, you’re what Metropolis needs right now!’ kind of idea. The first person he actually becomes close to is a reporter named Tana Moon.

Tana and Superboy’s relationship is… bad once it actually becomes romantic due to their huge age difference (she’s around 23, he is for all intents and purposes 16), but during the Reign of the Supermen where they’re still just friends for the most part, it’s not as bad. Tana becomes the GBS correspondent who focuses on everything Superboy (at this time still insisting he is the new Superman) is doing as a hero, and they become close friends.

GBS then also brings in Rex Leech (and his daughter Roxy) to be his agent, to promote Superboy and manage things for him. Rex is exploitative as hell, but Roxy does become another really important person to Superboy. These characters along with Dubbilex are his main supporting cast at the start of his solo comic when he’s in Hawaii.

In this whole era, Superboy is pretty much a celebrity. He’s cool, he’s a superhero, and I think it’s very notable he does not have a secret Identity. For a decent chunk of time, he is always just ‘Superboy’ (until, as I mentioned earlier, Clark gives him the name Kon-El. Even so, he doesn’t adopt a regular secret identity [Conner Kent, although he actually used a different one, Carl Grummett, before that!] until he begins living with the Kents in the early 2000s). By the time he joins any teams, Kon is pretty damn confident in who he is as a hero and has a relatively good grasp on who he is in general, if anything he’s a little too confident.

Young Justice was created in the aftermath of World Without Grown Ups when the trio of Superboy, Robin (Tim Drake) and Impulse (Bart Allen) had teamed up. After they saved the day they realized they worked well together and formed their team, utilizing the old Justice League base in Mount Justice. They were eventually joined by more members, especially relevant here is Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark) who Kon later dates for a portion of the Teen Titans run that these four are in after Young Justice ends. 

The four of them become close, and when Kon dies during Infinite Crisis it rips a hole in everything they had established growing up together over the past several years (Cassie joins a cult dedicated to bringing him back, Tim tries to clone a new Kon, Bart got aged up and took on the mantle of the Flash, etc) and Bart’s death that followed similarly shook the remaining Cassie and Tim. This group eventually does get to reunite, with Kon and Bart coming back during Final Crisis, solidifying how even things like death don’t keep them apart for long. It’s hard to look at the comic book versions of these four characters and imagine how they would be without their connections to each other... until you look at the YJ cartoon and see a world where they’re not even all part of the same generation, let alone a friend group.

Now in the cartoon…

The first people Conner primarily interacts with are Dick, Wally, Kaldur, and M’gann, along with the League members who interact with The Team pretty regularly, Red Tornado, Batman, and Black Canary. He’s shown to be friends with the other memebers of the team and get along with them relatively well, but in general he’s not much of a social person. 

Much like in the comics, Superboy is considered very attractive, and immediately upon their meeting, M’gann is interested in him. Very, very interested in him.

At first it definitely does seem more just like an innocent crush, but it’s later revealed to be a little more… concerning than that. As in ‘Megan subtlety influencing Superboy to become her dream boyfriend based on a TV show she likes’ concerning. Like… she literally gives him the name ‘Conner’ after the TV show character that was the boyfriend of the character she bases her human self and entire identity on. The two date and once that becomes a thing, a lot of their plot lines in the following seasons revolve around the ups and downs of their relationship.

In general in this show, Superboy doesn’t really get much of a chance to establish himself on his own terms. Within months of him leaving his cloning pod, he and M’gann start going to high school with secret identities, so he’s already having to hide who he truly is to blend in with other people, before he even knows who he truly is. 

So to compare:

In the comics, Superboy gets to figure out who he is as Superman’s Clone/Superboy very publicly, has multiple love interests and a celebrity status, and over time becomes part of a tight-knit group of friends. He doesn’t use a regular secret identity for the first several years he’s active.

In the cartoon, Superboy has one love interest with a very large impact on him, not nearly as much focus is given to his other friendships, and he immediately adopts a secret identity meaning he needs to hide who he is from the start. 

What it means:

These factors play a big difference in his attitude, particularly highlighting how extroverted his comic version is and how introverted his cartoon version is. Comic Superboy never really needed to hide who he was until years into his career, vs being told to do so early on in his life. When you get used to needing to hide things so early, that can definitely lead to being more private/disconnected from others. Also somewhat related- in the comics, when Kon is given knowledge in his cloning tube, more pop culture got included. He mentions knowing Star Wars without having seen it, and references a ton of TV and Movies, vs the cartoon version of him that seems to have been given a lot of history of the world but not the current fun stuff. It’s the difference between knowing what’s going on in the world and what’s popular, vs only knowing the past and what’s fundamental. Not knowing pop culture like this can also really contribute to feeling alienated and lead to introversion. (I just... I think about how in the comics Kon’s favorite TV show is Wendy The Werewolf Stalker, in the cartoon Conner just... watches white noise static)

Also, having a completely different set of friends with different personalities has a big effect, people are always gonna be influenced by the people they’re close to to some extent. Bumping Conner up to Dick’s generation of heroes instead of Tim’s not only gives him completely different friends, but it also puts him in this position of being one of the ‘Original Team Members’. By this I mean, a member of the first iteration of the only teen team, one of the people that younger heroes coming onto the scene and joining the team in later seasons see as an experienced and older team member to look up to (despite the fact that cartoon Conner is permanently 16- they never fixed that for him like in the comics). That just creates a different dynamic entirely, because in the comics even when the Tim/Kon/Cassie/Bart group are more experienced on their team late in the Teen Titans run, they are still always going to have heroes like Dick Grayson, Donna Troy, Wally West etc as the older generation of ‘original teen heroes’ who came before them.

Also, while I am talking mostly about in-universe reasoning here, I do wanna bring up one slightly more meta reason that might also have contributed to them choosing to go for a more ‘introverted brooding hero’ characterization with him: the fact that their version of Wally already filled the ‘flirty jokey’ archetype original Comics Kon fits into. Having two characters like that in the show from the start would definitely get... overwhelming. And at the time this show was first airing, in the comics, he was relatively devoted to Cassie and not nearly as flirty anymore anyways.

Lex Luthor / Details of Cloning

In the comics, as I have already mentioned and will now actually explain, when Superboy was first introduced he was not the clone of Superman and Lex Luthor as we know him to be today. Kon was a metahuman clone, made with the DNA of Paul Westfield who worked at Cadmus, that they genetically altered to look like Superman, and gave powers based on the energy aura they discovered to exist around Clark’s dead body. This telekinetic field gave Kon the distinct powers he had for his first decade of existence: His Tactile Telekinesis (often referred to by him as TTK)

Lex Luthor was originally not directly involved in his creation, but he was aware that it was going on as is revealed during the Reign of the Supermen arc. Kon’s TTK allowed him to mimic Superman’s flight and strength, but not all of his powers. TTK also gave him powers Superman DOESN’T have, such as his ability to dismantle machinery or mold materials he is touching into different shapes. (The reason this is called Tactile Telekinesis is because there needs to be a tactile element, he needs to be touching the things) 

It is not until 2003, a decade after Superboy was created, that writer Geoff Johns in his Teen Titans run decided to alter Superboy’s origin. He established that Lex Luthor had been the real human DNA donor and that Superman’s Kryptonian DNA was actually used in the cloning process. Around this time, Conner also begins to exhibit more of the typical Kryptonian powers, like Clark did around this age. 

This information is at first only known by Conner and Tim, because the email had actually been sent to Tim directly. The two keep it a secret as Conner was not ready to tell the rest of the team, because he fears the implications it has, and is afraid of becoming evil or being rejected. This revelation about Lex being one of his ‘parents’ DNA-wise coming years into his hero career changes a lot of things for Conner, and makes him begin to question who he is. Unfortunately, Lex does at one point take control of Conner and force him to break Tim’s arm and attack Cassie directly (as well as the rest of the team, but these two specifically are what Conner expresses the most guilt over after the fact). This era of Conner in the comics is where he’s definitely closest to his cartoon counterpart, because he’s very troubled and dealing with a lot of heavy stuff regarding himself as a person. Yet there’s still traces of who he has always been in there. I mean, if you’re only familiar with cartoon Conner, can you really imagine his final words as he’s dying after saving the world being “Isn’t it cool?”

Now, looking at the cartoon…

Conner finds out about his connection to Lex in November, only a few months after having existed outside of a cloning tube. He finds it out on his own, from Lex speaking to him directly, after Conner went back to investigate the remains of Cadmus and ended up having a fight with Match (another clone who is able to pass for Conner’s duplicate who they… their version of Match is another thing they drastically changed from the comic version but as we’ve established that’s something they like to do so I’m not gonna dwell on it).

In the cartoon, Conner’s powerset is, from the start, different from both Superman and comic Superboy. Here he has heightened senses and strength and the ability to leap really far, but he lacks actual flight and some of the other standard Kryptonian powers, and has no TTK. The cartoon explains these gaps in his powers as being due to his half human DNA, and they introduce these patches that are able to suppress his human DNA and give him temporary access to full powers. Lex uses these patches as a way to manipulate him. Much like in the comics, Lex has a code word programmed into Conner that effects him, although it isn’t quite used for the same amount of ‘total mind control’, and he doesn’t get fully brainwashed and turn against the team or anything. Instead, the code word (here “Red Sun” rather than “Aut vincere, aut mori” [Translated as “to conquer or die" / "victory or death”]) just leaves him stuck in a hypnotic trance.

So:

In the comics, Kon finds out after years of believing he was a metahuman clone who was given powers to mimic Superman, that he is actually a clone of Lex Luthor and Superman, which alters his entire perspective on himself! This causes him to become a lot more unsure and anxious about who he is, in stark contrast with how confident he was before. There are still traces of his old self within him, but this is a development in his character that influences him moving forward, making him a bit more serious but still at his core the same person he used to be.

In the cartoon, Conner finds out after months of thinking he was a clone of just Superman, that he has half human DNA and the donor was Lex Luthor. While he always had confidence in his abilities, he was still somewhat lost as a person in knowing who he really was outside of things other people have assigned to him (teammate, boyfriend, superhero, etc), and finding out this information about himself just adds to the uncertainty and frustration.

What it means:

Having this struggle be something Conner has to deal with so early in his existence is one of the most fundamental changes in my opinion. Finding out that Lex Luthor is one of your clone parents is something that will alter your entire perception of yourself and who you are! In the comics, Conner had already been confident in who he was so it shakes his world in a really big way, but in the cartoon he still didn’t know who he really was so it just adds to further confusion. 

I think that even with the more serious characterization Kon starts getting in the 2003 Teen TItans run, his history and past as the fun cool 90′s Metropolis Kid isn’t entirely forgotten, it’s still a part of who he is/was. Sure, maybe he’s sometimes even embarrassed by how he used to be, but it’s not treated as though it didn’t happen. All of his history comes together to create the character and who he is by the time he wears just a T shirt as a costume.

By skipping over the fun era of his life and jumping right into who he was when he started facing these huge changes, it creates such a completely different set of challenges for him and that contributes directly to how he’s characterized. 

Putting it all together

The ultimate point I am trying to reach in all of this is that, beyond just ‘they made a writing choice to make him different’ the environment that Superboy was brought into and the events that took place right when he came into the world greatly influenced the type of character he would become. Every time an adaptation is made of something like comics, there are going to be changes and alterations to fit the world the creators want to make. Sometimes these changes are minor and don’t actually change who a character is (an example for the YJ cartoon’s universe itself: In the tie-in comics [issue 6] it’s established in this universe that the Flying Graysons weren’t just Dick and his parents, but other family members were active parts of it too. One was an uncle also named Richard, who actually survived the fall that killed the rest of his family but was left paralyzed and thus unable to care for him. This uncle already used the nickname ‘Rick’ which is likely why Dick ended up using ‘Dick’ as a name in a modern setting even though it has fallen out of popularity as a nickname because uh, connotations. This is something that is mostly unique to their world and helps to explain some things, but it’s not like tragically losing a few more family members changed their version of Dick and his backstory that drastically. At his core, he still has many similarities to his comic self) but they’re still changes, and that’s okay. Superboy, though, is such an extreme case where they made so many changes that at his core he really does become a completely separate character. Sure he has the name and design, but I was able to write five thousand words about differences here and am struggling to come up with more similarities beyond that.

I think there still could be specks of the original Superboy buried inside cartoon Conner, and that maybe he could have been more like his original version under other circumstances. Looking at these differences and where they come from is, I think, a cool way to begin to understand what elements contribute to who each version of Conner Kent really is. I think it’s clear from how I wrote this that I prefer the comic version, but there are definitely things that are fun to look at and think about with both.

--

if u read all of this UH thanks for listenin to me ramble! sorry if this is incomprehensibe!

#rainbowroadimpulse #sam writes #conner kent #superboy

[miyanom]

DEVILS PARADISE (part one)

MASTERLIST | JEAN KIRSTEIN X FEM!READER

synopsis: growing up in marley, y/n learnt the devils of paradis are her greatest enemy. though they shared the blood running through her veins, their mere existence led to constant discrimination against y/n’s people. knowing all of this, y/n enlists in the marleyan warrior program; a program designed to turn eldians like herself into titan shifters. however, joining the program leads y/n to the devil’s paradise, and she realises the truth marley so desperately hid from them.

warnings: spoilers for season 4, blood and violence. reader has hair long enough to be tied up, but only in a flashback.

notes: i’m leaning toward this being a 5 part series at most with jean as the love interest, but i’m not too sure, it might be shorter or longer than that!

word count: 2506

"When you become a Marleyan Warrior, you'll make all of us proud here in Liberio, Y/N." Her mother spoke, pulling the child's hair back as she tied it with a crimson red ribbon. "You'll show them that we aren't like those island devils."

Her mother spoke with disgust as she mentioned the Eldian devils of Paradis. By now, Y/N knew to keep silent and agree with her mother about everything.

"You'll become one of the Warriors for me, won't you, Y/N?" She glanced down at her daughter, a stern expression on her face.

Y/N nodded her head, smiling up at her mother. "Of course."

It was a decision completely out of Y/N's hands, she could only train as hard as she could and hope for the best. But in her mother's eyes, the best just wasn't good enough. It was never good enough.

Looking back, Y/N could hear the words "this is the only way" repeating in her head over and over again until she began to agree with it too.

The only way for the Marleyans to see her family as just a little bit more human, was if Y/N were to become one of the warriors.

Earning that red band and becoming honorary Marleyans was the only way to be happy.

Y/N leaned against the wall of the courtyard her and the others in her Warrior training unit were waiting in. The tip of her shoe digging into the ground in front of her as she stayed buried within her thoughts.

With the previous warriors terms coming to an end, she had heard from the army that she was a prime candidate for one of the Titans, it was almost guaranteed at this point considering the Warrior unit had been narrowed down to the 8 of them.

But soon, one of them would be left behind, while the others are turned to Titan shifters.

“Did you guys hear? We’re attacking Paradis Island in just a few years,” Zeke spoke from where he was sitting, before chucking an apple in Marcel’s direction.

“Huh?” Y/N breathed out, raising her head to look over at the older man.

“It’s almost time for us to inherit Titans,” Zeke continued. “Out of the eight of us, they’re picking seven!”

Y/N looked back at the ground for a moment, the 10 year old’s shoulders becoming stiff. Yes, she was almost guaranteed to receive a Titan, but if something happened and she failed to earn the title of honorary marleyan’s for her family…

“Yes! I can finally be Marleyan!” Reiner spoke excitedly.

“Huh? Why so excited?” Porco glanced over at him. “If anyone’s the worst, it’s you.”

Reiner’s head snapped in the boy’s direction, his hands clenched into fists. “Excuse me?!”

“What’s your strong point?” Porco continued. “Your strength? Your brains? Your aim? Combat ability? Nope. The only value they see in you is your loyalty to Marley.”

Y/N kept her gaze off the two boys, knowing Porco was right. The only thing that made Reiner appealing to Marley was his unrelenting loyalty.

One day, that wouldn’t be enough.

“I’ll slaughter the island devils real good for you, sir!” Porco mocked.

Reiner stepped forward, grabbing Porco’s wrist, causing the boy to drop the apple he was holding. “You making fun of our mission?! Or maybe you’re a stray Restorationist?! You are, aren’t you?! I’ll report you to the Commander!”

“Report this, you little shit!”

When Y/N finally lifted her head, Reiner was already on the ground. And Marcel was holding his brother back from attacking the boy again.

“Hating the island doesn’t make you special!” Porco told him. “Have fun waiting 13 years alone!”

Knocking his brother away, Porco began to storm off, causing Zeke to finally stand up. “Let’s go, Pieck, Y/N.” He spared a quick glance at the girls standing near him.

Pieck, older by just a few small years, was much like a sister to Y/N. Looking out for her during their time in the program despite the fact they were possibly competing for a place.

The raven haired girl took Y/N’s hand, gently pulling her along to follow after Zeke. It was a habit Pieck had taken up after noticing Y/N’s tendency to space out when things got too quiet.

“Don’t cry too long or the Commander will chew me out,” Zeke called back to Reiner, who remained in the dirt.

Y/N glanced over her shoulder as Pieck continued to pull her along, her eyes falling onto Reiner as Bertholdt helped him onto his feet.

Becoming a Warrior was a privilege, Y/N knew that. But why would anyone want to shorten their life to a 13 year term dedicated to fighting Marley’s enemies?

Y/N didn’t want to die in 13 years, she’d rather take the hatred from Marley for the rest of her life, like many others had done before her.

If she had a choice, that was exactly what she would do. But it was too late now.

In a few years, she would be an official Marleyan Warrior, headed for the devil’s island to attack their self imposed century long quarantine.

Y/N’s eyes flickered up to the sky, as a bird flew overhead leaving her to wonder what the island devils were doing in this moment.

Did they really deserve what was coming?

The weeks leading up to Y/N being sent to Paradis all passed by in a blur, whether it was the shock of finally being an honorary Marleyan or the memories of the former host that kept her awake at night, Y/N wasn’t sure.

All she knew was that she was on Paradis Island, headed with Reiner, Annie, Bertholdt and Marcel to break through the wall that kept the devils safe from the Titans Marley had filled the island with over the past century.

Did they really deserve what was coming? Did they deserve it? Did they-

“Y/N, can you?” Bertholdt held the can in Y/N’s direction as he whispered.

Y/N carefully took the unopened can of food from his shaky hands, peeling it open before handing it back. She had been doing it for him the past few nights, his hands too shaky to even open a simple can as it came closer and closer to the day he would kick through the wall.

It couldn’t be easy being the successor for the Colossal Titan, a god of death.

“You alright?” Y/N questioned quietly, taking note of the fear in his eyes.

Bertholdt quickly averted his gaze, letting out a hum as he nodded his head.

He was always quiet like this, and Y/N found it oddly calming. It was a nice difference when compared to the louder members of their unit back in Marley.

It was nice because it reminded her of Pieck, who had stayed behind with Zeke to protect Marley while the others attacked Paradis.

“We didn’t cover much ground tonight,” Marcel commented as he poked at the fire with a stick.

“Can’t do much about the clouds.”

“Will the King really not use the Founding Titan, even if we break the wall?” Bertholdt asked, remembering what they had been told in preparation for their mission.

“What’s the use asking now?” Reiner glanced at him. “Trust Marley’s research.”

Y/N stares at the fire in front of her, one hand coming up to rest against her forearm, right where the material band showing her status would be sitting if she were back in Marley.

It felt weird to not have that constant reminder that she was nothing but Titan shifting scum.

“That’s right. We can’t turn back,” Marcel nodded. “Tomorrow, we reach the wall… and then…”

Y/N remained silent, a shaky breath falling from her lips. Right, tomorrow they would be breaking through the Wall. They’d come face to face with the people they were sent to kill.

It’s not like they haven’t done it before, they were sent to destroy an enemy base as part of their Titan training.

But those people had been actively trying to harm Marley… the devils hadn’t done that in over a century.

Reiner’s eyes scanned the group, a shocked expression painted over his face. “Huh? What? Are you having second thoughts about killing the devils? Have you forgotten what they’ve done?!”

Y/N hugged her legs close to her chest, refusing to look in Reiner’s direction or answer his question.

It was impossible to forget the sins of the Eldians, it had been drilled into their heads for years now, after all.

Reiner stood up quickly. “We’re the world’s chosen Warriors sent to punish the island devils!”

Marcel averted his gaze. “I’m sorry.”

“Huh?”

“Reiner, I’m sorry. You were never meant to be chosen as a Warrior,” Marcel continued.

Y/N’s head shot in the boy’s direction, her eyes widened. She couldn’t say it was a surprise, no, Reiner was the weakest of the warriors in their unit.

Maybe it was a shock?

Marcel’s voice came out like it hurt him to finally admit it. “I talked you up and criticised my brother to influence their decision. I… just want to protect my brother.”

Tears began to fall from his eyes. “I’m sorry, Reiner… I’m sorry!”

Y/N turned to see Reiner’s frozen form, unmoving and engulfed by shock— it was the same thing he did when he watched Marcel get eaten by a Titan.

Frozen, unmoving, and engulfed by shock.

Y/N could still hear Marcel’s screaming, as the other warriors ran for their lives.

Her chest felt heavy as they finally came to a stop, her knees giving out beneath her as she fell to the grass. Teardrops falling against her clenched fists.

How long had she been crying for?

She couldn’t tell, not when she was too focused on escaping the mindless titan that devoured Marcel before their very eyes.

She choked back the sob that threatened to fall from her lips as she realised what they had done; they could’ve saved Marcel, they should’ve saved Marcel, but they ran.

And they lost the Jaw Titan.

Marley was going to kill them, they weren’t even going to reach the end of their 13 year term. They were going to die for failing the mission before even reaching the walls.

Would it even be worth it if they came back with the Founding Titan but not the Jaw Titan? They’d still be left with the same number as before.

Y/N’s eyes widened when she felt a hand press against her back, though she relaxed just slightly as she realised it was Bertholdt.

He looked just as terrified as her.

As Annie caught up to the group, she immediately kicked Reiner, causing the boy to start screaming as he moved away in fear.

“Not bad,” Annie spoke, her voice coming out almost breathlessly from the running. “This is a first. You actually beat me… in a long distance race…”

Y/N wiped her tears away as she pushed herself up, looking back in the direction they had come from.

“If we took out that Titan we wouldn’t have lost Jaw,” Annie told Reiner. “Shit! Now Marcel’s gone for good.”

“They said there wouldn’t be Titans this far out,” Reiner whispered.

“We’ve gotta go home,” Annie averted her gaze. “Let’s find Jaw and leave. They would’ve changed back to human. Besides, without Marcel to lead, this mission is doomed.”

“Do you… do you think they’ll just come willingly?” Y/N breathed out, still trying to catch her breath.

Though just as Y/N moved to follow Annie, Reiner began to yell. “We can’t!”

Y/N turned around, her eyes widening as Reiner held his outstretched hand in their direction. “We can’t go home! We’ve gotta continue the mission!”

“Oh, yeah…” Annie’s eyes narrowed in his direction for a moment. “If we go back now, you’ll just get eaten by the next Warrior.”

Reiner began nodding his head.

Y/N looked away from the boy, biting her trembling lip gently. Porco was the next warrior… he would see Reiner’s memories, see his brother getting eaten…

“You think only I will?” Reiner spoke up, causing the other three to turn back to him. “That only I’ll get the blame for running away? You guys are certain you won’t get eaten, too?”

Y/N swallowed the lump forming in the back of her dried throat, an uneasy feeling returning to the pit of her stomach as she stared at Reiner’s grim face.

“Catching Jaw won’t be easy either. If they used its power and ran, our titans could never catch up.”

“They can’t control it right after becoming-”

“You controlled the Colossal Titan, no problem!” Reiner cut Bertholdt off. “Anyways, we’re doomed at this rate! Without the Founding Titan, there’s no going home!”

He was right, Y/N realised. None of them could catch up with the Jaw Titan, and if they returned empty handed, they would all die.

“Back there, if you were a fraction as calm as you are now, we wouldn’t have lost Marcel or Jaw,” Annie stated. “But you’ve got no problem intimidating us to save your own ass, huh?!”

Walking back toward Reiner, she let out a shout as she kicked the boy in the face, sending him flying backward onto the ground.

“How about you come clean to Magath?! Tell him, “it’s all my fault!” Honorary Marleyan, my ass!” She shouted, continually kicking him over and over again. “Chosen warrior, my ass! Marleyans, Eldians! They’re all liars! Everyone only thinks about themselves!”

Y/N remained silent, knowing Annie was right. The predicament they were in now could’ve been avoided had Reiner remained calm back then.

Marcel died saving him, after all.

If Reiner had just sucked it up, if he just didn’t let what Marcel said get to him, they would’ve been long gone before the Titan even woke up from its slumber.

“Should we… should we stop her?” Bertholdt glanced at Y/N.

Y/N stared at Annie who kept kicking Reiner in her anger, before she looked to Bertholdt and shook her head. “Annie’s right.”

“If you feel guilty, just die! Take all the blame and die!”

With that, Annie began to walk away, leaving Reiner face first on the ground, blood pooling on the grass beneath his face.

A perk of being a Titan shifter was that they could all heal from wounds like that.

Y/N’s eyes widened as Reiner pushed himself up, jumping at Annie and holding her in a headlock. “Reiner is dead,” he spoke. “If we need Marcel, then I’ll be Marcel.”

Y/N’s throat went dry once more as she stared at Reiner in fear, her hands shaking at her sides.

“Please, stop this…” Bertholdt muttered, tears falling from his eyes as he watched.

“This is the only way we’ll be able to go back home!” Reiner kept his grip on Annie. “Let’s go back… together… to our hometown!”

#aot x reader #attack on titan x reader #jean kirstein x reader #shingeki no kyojin x reader #snk x reader

[bakugoulvr420]

by your side

thank u for the request 🐸 anon!! i hope that i understood the prompt correctly and this lives up to your expectations!!

f!reader x bakugou

tw: mentions of domestic abuse

“what, another villain attack?!”

today was supposed to be just like any other day, but unfortunately some villains found a way to infiltrate UA’s shitty security system and had invaded the gym that your class happened to be training in.

“well isn’t it a surprise to be seeing the infamous UA students here?” an unfamiliar villain chimed and he pointed at you all.

“who the fuck is that…?” bakugou muttered, barely audibly.

it was visibly apparent that everybody was more confused than scared because seriously, who the hell were these unfamiliar faces?

the villain pack consisted of 5 people that looked ridiculous in their costumes, which didn’t really help their attempts to look intimidating.

“i suggest you trolls leave our campus right this second. i’ve already contacted the security department and they should be arriving any second now,” your teacher aizawa threatened as he activated his quirk and bundled up the guy that just spoke.

“h-heh, it seems like somebody is real scared!” another guy snickered as he let out a couple of giggles.

for some unlucky reason, you happened to be the closest to the villain pack, in fact, you were closer to them than you were closer to your classmates.

“y/n, come here fast!” kaminari whispered aggressively at your direction.

of course you wanted to run into bakugou’s arms but it felt like if you made any subtle movements, the villains could attack you any second. you weren’t scared but this particular villain made you feel uneasy. it didn’t help that he was glaring at you since the beginning with a nasty glare plastered on his face.

“if you move i’ll kill your parents!”

naturally your eyes widened. out of all the things he could’ve said, he chose to threaten your parents. everybody in your class knew that your parents had passed away a long time ago. they all knew that it was a touchy subject for you.

“the fuck did you say you gremlin?!” your boyfriend screeched as he began approaching the group of villains. bakugou wasn't mad about the fact that the villain threatened your parents, but because he was threatening you.

“bakugou, do not attack. this is an order,” aizawa quickly said. “we don’t know what their quirks are.”

you took this opportunity to run to bakugou but unfortunately you were caught by the same villain that threatened your parents. he had knocked you down and was on top of you now.

“what was that reaction?” his eyes widened as well as his smile.

"you fuckin-" bakugou immediately reacted and blasted himself towards your direction.

“come any closer and i’ll kill her,”

everybody tensed up. your classmates and aizawa looked visibly shaken. didn’t aizawa call for help earlier or was he just bluffing to win some time?

“if you lay one more finger on her, i swear to god that i will be killing you,” your boyfriend growled.

“yea mhm. we’ll see about that,”

without wasting a second, the villain must’ve either killed you or activated his quirk, because you suddenly found yourself in your old childhood room.

“where am i…?” you thought as you inspected your surroundings.

you were in the bed that you used for almost half of your life. feeling confused, you got up and walked towards the exit of your room.

“what are you doing?” a familiar voice cooed.

almost as if your body was programmed to react, you flinched and looked towards the direction of the voice. it was your mother. she was right outside your room, staring at you from the crook of the door.

“m-mom?” you stuttered as you instinctively walked backwards.

“i asked what you’re doing,” she repeated, this time sounding much more hostile.

“i.. i’m not..” you struggled to find your words.

what exactly was going on? was everything a dream? you entering UA, meeting your friends- meeting bakugou?

“y/n,” your mother sighed. “what did i tell you about trying to leave your room?”

her body was now fully in your room, directly staring you down from above. her hair was messy and her clothes filthy. what on earth was going on?

“hm?” she hummed as she smiled. “are you not gonna answer me?”

the moment you tried opening your mouth to speak, her hands had already landed on your face. she had struck you, hard. the pain was immense. you swore you felt like your cheeks were on fire. though, the numbness that followed indicated that your cheeks had gotten used to the hard impact.

“answer me!” she shrilled as she slapped you once more.

“please. please stop mommy,” you were crying. you now remembered the countless amount of times that your mother had hit you.

“mommy? don’t fucking call me that. you know how much trouble i go through because of you?”

your little body was on the floor, instinctively covering your head with your arms. tears rolled down your cheeks, your throat noticeably dry from probably crying a lot just a few hours ago.

“you’re the reason i’m like this. you’re the reason my life is a living hell!” your mother cried as she began digging her nails into your skin.

“please mommy, please. please stop,” you begged.

the feeling of her clawed nails on your back began to dissipate. maybe she had dug in too deep to the point of triggering a nerve which made your back go numb. you weren’t too sure but this familiar was very familiar to you.

“y/n?”

“y/n! wake up!”

"are you okay?"

a pair of voices called out your name. you didn’t know why but those voices were soothing and made your heart beat a little bit less intense.

“i’m here, PLEASE wake up!”

you lifted your head and opened your eyes slightly. suddenly the room was no longer dark and it was a different setting. you were at the UA training gym.

immediately you were embraced by a pair of warm arms that managed to calm you down almost immediately. you didn’t have to waste a second to identify whose arms these were.

“bakugou,” you began sobbing.

his arms wrapped you even tighter as he planted a kiss on your head. “it’s all okay now. the villains are gone,”

you weren’t too sure of what he was exactly talking about, but you wanted to continue hearing his voice. the familiarity of his scent and touch overwhelmed you with a wave of comfort.

“what happened…?”

your classmates had surrounded you. it was visible on their faces that they were all worried for you.

“yeah… you kept saying momm-“

“idiot!” kirishima silenced sero immediately, hoping that you didn’t hear that.

“everybody get the fuck out!” bakugou growled, still holding you in his arms.

despite aizawa also being worried for you, he understood that bakugou would be the best at comforting you. after all, your boyfriend was much more familiar with your history, though not completely.

even after everybody had left, none of you exchanged a word. it was almost as if his physical presence was enough to communicate meaningful words to you. bakugou only continued to gently pat your head and readjusted you so you’d be more comfortable.

“bakugou,” you started. “i don’t know-“

“you don’t have to say anything,” he cut you off.

you looked up at his face and saw that he was experiencing a bunch of feelings simultaneously.

“i’ll kill that bastard for you, i swear,”

you weren’t too sure if bakugou hadn’t heard you say what the rest of your classmates had heard, or if he was trying to help you not think about what had just happened. either way, bakugou didn't torment you with questions.

“no bakugou. i saw my mom,”

he didn’t looked surprised at all. afterall, he must’ve heard everything yet decided to wait for you to address it yourself.

“i was in my room. my childhood room. then my mom came out of nowhere and,” your voice cracked a bit. “she began hitting me,”

bakugou had a slight idea of what you had went through but he never knew that it was this graphic.

“you’re safe now, okay? it’s all in the past and she’s dead. i’m here to protect you too, you know?”

you nodded and let all your tears stream out, eventually getting absorbed by bakugou’s shirt. during the whole time you were crying, bakugou stayed by your side without saying anything. it’s not like he had to say anything either, just him being there, it was enough.

after this incident, nobody really approached you to ask you nothing more than if you were doing better now. nobody ever mentioned the thing with what you were crying about while being under the quirk’s influence but, you knew that your boyfriend had done something behind the scenes to handle the situation for you.

#bakugou #katsuki #bnha #kacchan #bakugou headcanons #bakugou x reader #bakugou x y/n #bnha x reader #katsuki x reader #bakugou fluff

[youwontlikethisblog]

She's Ugly!

In a previous post I briefly touch on the subject of Armando and his belief of love. Here I will be going into more detail on my personal experiences as a writer who has written complex OC's with a very similar nature to that of Armando. I will be talking about some pretty heavy topics here so this is your warning if they make you uncomfortable or trigger you.

As a writer you spend most of your time doing research. You don't really spend it writing as more than 75% of the time is dedicated to researching the entirety of your story and it's characters. That means you research on mental health, social behaviors, addictions, learned behavior, coping mechanisms, ect... to create an authentic and realistic character.

When I was doing research for my OC, based on the past I wrote for them I had to look into the consequences that it carried into adulthood. I had to do a lot of research on coping mechanism and seggs addiction(I write really sad characters um but that's besides the point. Also try explaining your search history when you've got tabs and tabs about centers that deal with that addiction and so on).

[Below this I will talk about Seggsual Addiction and such. if it makes you uncomfortable skip to the next [RED]].

Doing that research I found out that many people who do have that addiction often use it as a form of escapism, control, or due to a lot more severe trauma. Sometimes it's just the feeling you get from that. Some have this addiction because of low self-esteem, feelings of worthlessness, and also because it's something they can control, or at the very least in their denial stage they believe that they can.

Seggs Addiction is when someone cannot function without it. When it becomes a problem in that person's life and ruins friendships, relationships, and their professional life. It can range from content watching to actual action of the addiction. This is a serious problem as it often leaves the people feeling helpless, dirty, lowers the quality of life and they feel a lot of shame due to it and it's something that they need professional help to be able to control and overcome, just like drug addiction.

[Now I will be talking about Armando and why this relates to this breakdown. You may proceed.]

Do I believe Armando has that? Not necessarily. I am not a professional so I cannot diagnose someone with that. I just know a lot about the subject because I had to do research on the topic in the past.

Armando is a complex character. The reason I bring this up is because he does show traits of it. Do his affairs get in the way of his professional life? Somewhat. Does it ruin friendships? Yes. Does it ruin relationships? Yes, mainly his.

We know Armando has had an array of women in his life. He is desired by a lot of women(I seriously do however believe that Mario is a s. addict).

I've thought about this part of his character for a while. I really don't know what Fernando Gaitan researched or what inspired him to write Armando's character so this is really just my own personal speculation and is not a fact of the show.

From the start we are told that Armando is a man with refined taste and high standards for his women. The secretaries tells this to Betty, if I'm not mistaken Marcela mentioned it once, and Mario tells him all the time.

A poster here in the tag made a post about the situation of Mario and Aura Maria and they did a really good job at breaking down this side of Armando; that he doesn't have a refined taste or high standards for women but rather he doesn't like involving himself with women who are not in the same social statues and circles as him because of the abuse of power that it entitles.

When he told Mario he wanted to fire Claudia for being crazy Mario reminded him of what he told him when he wanted Armando to fire Aura Maria and because of that Armando decides not to personally fire Claudia, it wasn't until Marcela asked for her head that he asked Hugo to fire her.

Now let me step away from the story and explain why I have this speculation.

Armando's parents aren't very active in his life. They're only there when it comes to the company or his relationship with Marcela(I already talked about his parents in The Art of Subtly in YSBLF post) now imagine that as you're growing up. That your parents aren't actively in your life unless you're achieving or accomplishing something. We know Armando has a sister that doesn't talk to their parents and is only in contact with him. That their mother possibly ruined her marriage to a man because he was poor. This tells us that his parents aren't the best.

A child who grows up having to overcompensate and over achieve grows up with low self-esteem, feelings of worthlessness, and other problems. They grow up believing that the only way they are worthy of love is by being perfect and they become obsessed with achieving perfection.

Due to this upbringing Armando is a control freak, neurotic, egocentric, and obsessed with perfection. He gets stressed out when things don't go his way. He has grown up in the fashion world and beauty has been fed to him that it is tall, thin, and above all has to be perfect.

A child is a product of their environment.

This has molded Armando into the person he is today.

On top of that Armando basically has his entire life planned out by his parents as a child who grew up hearing about the desire for him to be with Marcela to honor his parents best friends, for the good of the company, ect.

To receive his parents love he must do what his parents tell him, no exceptions. He must be the best at everything so he always aims high. In his proposal to be president he did exactly that.

Ironically Armando too is a people pleaser and feels like he has little to no control over his destiny.

So flings with Models become a form to cope. Though for a long time he enjoys those flings and what it entitles as it makes him feel good about himself, he is able to decide who he has a fling with but then it no longer is that.

My OC's addiction is driven by the desire of feeling wanted and needed. It boost her self-esteem though when it's over with she feels empty and hollow inside and we get a scene of Armando expressing those exact feelings to Mario the night he meets Ms. Colombia.

As they are leaving the cocktail Mario is upset that he[Armando] was leaving because he was so close to closing in on Ms. Colombia being his next conquest and that he couldn't change her for Marcela, who was always going to be there. Armando goes to explain something to him. He tells him that though at first he does get excited over the women and he does want to sleep with them that as soon as it's over he feels nothing anymore, that he doesn't enjoy it anymore.

This is part of a cycle and we see that.

Armando, before Betty, has the idea that if he falls in love it will be with a physically perfect woman who knows where she's standing and the only person that is like that is Marcela. He's got three reasons to marry her: He wanted her vote, his parents, and because she's what is mentioned above.

When Betty is introduce into his life she isn't what he expects in his dream woman. He expects perfection in a physical sense. However Betty has everything he wants in his dream woman in substance and personality.

He knows he likes Betty's personality but because she isn't physically perfect, he believes he isn't interested in her or attracted to her but because he likes her personality so much he believes he's entitled to her which is what drives his jealousy, it is not love.

Armando isn't in love with Betty here or at least not yet.

Betty embodies everything he wants and desires in a woman. She is humble, kind, respectful, unconditional, faithful, smart, like really smart and he likes that about her a lot, submissive and selfless.

However because the package isn't what he thinks is perfect, he cancels out. He denies that he likes her and he denies that he cares about her because of it.

So when Mario suggest for Armando to make Betty fall in love, Armando is apprehensive and disgusted by it.

Let's be honest, Betty isn't ugly! She's adorable! I will fight anyone who disagrees with this. Betty is cute and has always been cute.

I have spoken about Armando's emotional confusion a lot in the past few days but I haven't spoken about the mechanics of the confusion he is dealing with.

Denial is a strong defense mechanism. Subconsciously he has feelings for Betty and is attracted to her because of her personality but consciously he isn't. The mystery of the mind is never ending.

sub·con·scious /səbˈkänSHəs/

adjective of or concerning the part of the mind of which one is not fully aware but which influences one's actions and feelings. "my subconscious fear"

Armando's behavior towards finding out that Betty is in love has been dominated by his subconscious. However when it comes to facing those feelings he enters denial, therefore he cannot fathom the idea of ever being involved with someone so "ugly".

con·scious /ˈkän(t)SHəs/

adjective aware of and responding to one's surroundings; awake.

Armando is aware that Betty isn't his ideal of the type of women he is physically attracted to. He is aware the she isn't the standard of beauty.

Due to this he is refusing to listen to Mario.

Now that we understand this we can continue with the episode breakdown.

After Betty leaves, Armando is upset because Nicolas is the General Manager of Terra Moda(it feeds his paranoia talked about in the Betty, My Betty Part 3 post) .

Once again Armando and Mario switch roles. Armando is now aware of his conscious desires and he's sticking by them. Mario however is aware of Armando's subconscious desires.

Mario tries to level with him. He tells him that they can tell Betty to fire him but Armando rejects that by telling him that he does a good job and that Betty says he's important for Terra Moda, therefore Eco Moda, again this shows that Armando doesn't distrust of them in a professional sense. So they both agree that they shouldn't tell Betty to fire him. Mario first suggested that they reverse the seizure against Eco Moda and Armando goes on to reject that and explain why they can't do that. So Mario tells Armando that they need to think of something because it is a business deal involving them three; Armando, Himself, and Betty.

They agree that asking Betty to fire or take away so much responsibility from Nic could give way to Betty becoming hostile and resentful. Mario tells him that it would also be unfair since she's always been so unconditional with the both, Armando agrees.

We get to divides here. Two sides of the nickel.

Mario's priority and main concern is keeping Eco Moda and Armando as president for what it gives him.

Armando's priority is Betty's love life(Why else would he be so worried about her love life? A normal boss wouldn't care about your love life. Armando knows that Betty is a good and trustworthy employee and he said so himself).

Mario as always watched Armando carefully. The third and best option would have been to simply talk to Betty and be professionals and leave things alone and not doing anything about Betty's love life.

Mario tells Armando "Well the best option is to make Betty fall in love with you."

Armando goes on to say that he would never do that because he doesn't have the desire to and doesn't want to because Betty is ugly(this is why I said what I did above). Mario stops using the fear of losing Eco Moda and goes for the emotional because he knows that it will affect Armando's subconscious that will dominate him like it had been all day long.

"You're the perfect candidate because if it weren't for Nicolas showing up, I could have sworn she was in love with you. No, seriously, look at the way she looks at you, she's always been unconditional with you(he knows this is one of the qualities that Armando likes about Betty as he always lists it). My friend, if there's anyone that is capable of fighting against Nicolas Mora, it's the president of Eco Moda(here he is appealing to Armando's ego)."

What does Mario get out of all of this? Reputation in tact which allows him to continue living his best single life, which he said himself is his most prized possession. So it is important to him that Armando does whatever it takes to keep Betty from doing anything to get a husband(post Betty, My Betty! Part 3).

Fast forward Armando is in Marcela's apartment after the new collection launch and they're fighting because Armando let Betty into the event.

He not only defends his decision of inviting her as his guest but Betty's job and her role in the new collection. Marcela scoffs and they continue to argue.

What captured my attention though is that Armando tells Marcela that she can't be in a competing so absurd with a woman like Betty and shouldn't be in a feminine competition with her.

Armando is now go to the otherside of the room so we get his back as Marcela starts to speak ("You're wrong Armando I don't view her as a woman")and as she says "I am offended that you would think I feel she's a feminine competition-" Armando now looks at her confused.

Either he is confused because he doesn't understand what Marcela is trying to say or once again his subconscious is dominating him here.

The takeaway is that in Armando's mind Betty is a woman, ugly, but a woman nonetheless. He is confused as to why Marcela doesn't view her as a woman but still behaves the way she does.

We again get a classic scene of Betty writing in her diary as we hear her dialogue and get scenes of Armando in Marcela's bed.

We see Armando thinking about what Mario told him earlier that night.

When Mario told him that he would've sworm that Betty was in love with him[Armando] in that scene we didn't really get a reaction from him. He had a poke face but here, as he is thinking about it all he has a different look.

We stop getting a visual flashback, only an auditory one after Mario told him "I could've sworn she was in love with you." and the frame we're getting is Armando's face while laying in bed. He seems hopeful. The exact same expression he had when Betty told him that she didn't have anything with Nicolas.

We hear Mario's voice when he told him "If there's anyone who can fight Nicolas for Betty's love, it's the president of Eco Moda." Armando shifts in bed and covers his face. We then fade to Betty asleep on her bed and get another fade to Armando, this allows us to know that they are about to have another shared dream.

Armando is the mvp of this dream ss the camera focuses on him right away.

He seems happy in this dream as he runs around with Betty in a field with bright green grass and trees. He continues turns to look at Betty or allows Betty to lead him. Then in the dream Betty disappears and Armando is left alone, searching around him with a scared expression on his face until Betty finally appears in front of him. She nears him with her lips slightly puckered and Armando smiles and as well moves in closer until Betty runs away from him again.

The dreams shows us this two more times where Betty runs from him until the final time when Armando finds her and they near for a kiss we then get a real world Armando in bed shaking his head mumbling no, we can assume they are kissing in the dream.

This foretells what is to come. In Betty's eyes this is a good dream but we also know that due to her past Betty is afraid to love again which we're told this by her constant running away from Armando in the dream.

Armando's fear is brought to light in this dream that is of him losing Betty as it reoccurs more than once and each time he goes out to find her. There is times when he does want to kiss her but Betty pulls away and runs and then on the final one he becomes conscious in his dream(yes that happens, it's called lucid dreaming and sometimes it randomly happens).

The fact we kept getting fades from both Armando and Betty sleeping lets us know this was a dream simontainsly happening at the same time and it isn't until after they actually kiss that Armando's conscious starts to wake him up.

Marcela then finishes waking him up in the real world and asks Armando what he was dreaming, he tells her a horrible nightmare.

Again, Armando is aware that he doesn't find Betty to be his ideal perfect woman or the beauty standard. You know, she's "ugly" so having something physical even in a dream is a nightmare to him. The thing to take note of is that he was enjoying the beginning of that dream and it demonstrates his subconscious feelings.

We already Betty loved that dream.

The next morning Marcela mentions that if he doesn't talk about the dream he must secretly want it to come true.

His coping mechanism towards this entire situation has been denial. It protects him from having to face his true feelings and fears. It protects him from something he isn't ready to deal with yet.

He starts choking on his juice and coughing as Marcela watches him.

Marcela telling him this pushes him to face those fears of his, the fear that he does like Betty and that he does care about her more than just his employee however again, he is in denial therefore unable to understand this.

[You know I will write a post about how Aura Maria and Freddy are a parallel of Betty and Armando.]

Neither Betty or Armando talk about their dream to anyone, or at least the real content of said dream, which based on what Marcela insinuated, Armando secretly wants that dream to come true.

This is a fact because later on when Armando has that nightmare of Betty making out with Nicolas inside the new car they got, he tells Marcela about the nightmare or at least some distorted version of it, because he doesn't want that nightmare to come true. This time though he doesn't talk about it.

Betty clarifies the situation between Nicola and her roll in Terra Moda and Armando thanks her for it.

When she goes into her office Armando tells Mario that he's right about making Betty fall in love.

This next scene I already broke down in another post. Armando suggest Mario for the job because he knows that Mario would never fall in love with Betty but at least it would secure the company. However since Mario would never fall in love with Betty that would mean that he wouldn't have competition since you know these two pigs share everything.

Not only that but it would mean that he gets to avoid and deny his feelings without the worry of Nicolas and Betty ending up together and Nicolas turning her against him.

Armando tells Mario that he gets that it's the more logical thing that he[Armando] is the one to make Betty fall in love but that it's not morally correct.

He gets angry as he tells him that he can't do that to her, a woman who has been very special to him, too special towards him. Again this shows that Armando takes notice and likes that Betty treats him the way she does and because of that he doesn't want to hurt her and he knows that she doesn't deserve that.

However Mario then pulls the "your parents will be so disappointed and angry at you if you lose the company. So do you have to decide whether you'll be a rat to your parents or Betty."

As they discuss the sinister plan they solely based the problem in the physicality. As Armando even said himself the only bad thing about the plan was that Betty was ugly. If Betty wasn't ugly Armando wouldn't be afraid to face his feelings therefore be upfront about them.

However because she is it clashes with all his other traits. His ego, vanity, obsession with perfection and the fact he was unable to be in control over who he ends up falling in love with or liking.

I don't know what worse, Armando knowing how selfish the plan is against Betty and still going along with the it for the sake of the company and his unwillingness to admit to his parents that he was wrong or Mario knowing exactly what's going and how to manipulate Armando to do this and not caring about his best friends feelings and the guilt he will carry on as long as Armando remains president for his own greed.

In the next post I will breakdown the scene in which Armando drunkenly confesses somewhat his very confused feelings.

'Til next time :)

Ps. Sorry for all this typos! I'm an insomniac so I usually write these sleep deprived lol.

#armando mendoza #don armando #armando ysblf #beatriz pinzón solano #beatriz pinzon solano #betty la fea #betty ysblf #yo soy betty la fea #mario calderon #marcela valencia #betty pinzón solano