#luck's affection only shown in actions it's canon

[iliacium]

Congratulations, you're the only person to make me interested in xtale. And I have no idea where to start at this point!

TEHE IT'S AN HONOR!! If it was because of the xtaIecest then you're in luck! The xbros are canonically filled with angst and bromantic tension! /j

(All links go to devian/tart, youtube, twitt/er, and tumbIr only)

1. Seriously though, if you haven't watched/aren't interested in Underv/erse (or don't care about a bunch of Sanses fighting each other) and are only interested in the XtaIe lore, I highly suggest watching the complete XtaIe animated series first! they introduce each member of the XtaIe cast very well! (If you prefer splitting each timeline into parts instead of binging them, they also have a playlist)

2. However, if you don't feel like watching an animated series at the moment, there's a comic of the last Timeline (which is also shown in the previous animation but from a different perspective). You don't need to worry about spoilers because the lore in the preceding Timelines in the animation are mostly irrelevant to it (i still recommend watching the animation at one point because it introduces the rest of the cast, as well as provide context for some of the questionable actions that happen in this comic)

Below the cut, there are additional links to optional comics by the creator in case you want to learn more about the characters!

3. There's also a lot of lore and characterization (and more importantly xbro interactions) that happen in the unofficial comics. I have an archive blog that has a lot of the xtaIe comics that are not necessarily canon but still provide some background for the characters. It's not in order, so you kind of have to poke around with the character tags to help you.

(If you have Twitte/r, there is a new account that provides canon info on XtaIe characters! These include official comics that i didn't manage to find for my archive blog. Bless them fr)

4. When you're finished acquainting yourself with the au, Jakei has an ongoing comic called 21 Years that also takes place in Timeline X, but a lot earlier on when they were kids. They also update this comic @/xtaIeunderverse (<- their pinned post also has a more concise guide for new fans ٩( 'ω' )و)

5. This is totally optional, but if you'd like to see what happens to Cross at the end, you could watch Under/verse and start from Season 1 as well! Cross is the protagonist and the story is basically how XtaIe's ending affects the rest of the multiverse. We do see XtaIe characters interact with classic UndertaIe characters in it if that interests you!

TLDR: Start with the animated series, it's the most important.

After that if you want to dive into more lore, read the comic + unofficial comics. If you liked Timeline X specifically, read 21 Years. Watching Under/verse is optional, but watch it if you'd like to see what happens to Cross after the ending.

I hope you find enjoyment in this AU!! It's super interesting, has beautiful art and animation, and wonderfully complex characters. 💜

(If anything is inaccurate here pls let me know! 🙏)

#oh my god im so sorry this is so long #ask #silencium #dude i think the pinned post from xtaIeunderverse is a lot easier on the eyes im really sorry XD

[the-black-bulls]

This is my favorite so far, perfect! Thank you again @firefutte​ 😄

#not a quote #ask meme #black clover #magna x luck #magna swing #luck voltia #black clover meme #sobs my wild boys they're literal soulmates! #listen magna is ace because he's baseball themed and I live for a good pun :) #luck's affection only shown in actions it's canon #a kick is a kiss in his language #a fight is a date in his language #borrows hoodies more like steals hoodies #i don't really ship-ship them and i can't see them as anything but platonic soulmates #which is the best kind of relationships in my book :)

[merrysithmas]

Obviously the Falcon show should've shown Bucky coming terms with the fact that he should write his OWN name in his book of victims.

It should have been made visually clear by the end of the series that he doesnt have to apologize for heinous crimes committed by Hydra hijacking his body and obliterating his bodily autonomy to incomprehensible levels, easentially using him like a criminal pump n dump. Every new assignment, new agonizing training, new puppetry, another violent rape of his body and mind.

Bucky is not at all even akin to say Tony Stark, who suffered immense guilt during the entire Infinity Saga regarding his former life as a weapons dealer. Tony's (valid) guilt resulted in a compulsive desire to protect the earth, ultimately ending in his voluntary death. Tony is time and again shown as a tortured hero despite his initial complacency in his morally bereft actions. Bucky gets no such luck- even though Bucky, in his former life, committed no such atrocities and in fact was likely one of the most heroic pre-superhero normals in the MCU.

Bucky was a well-liked, smart, athletic, happy boy who cast aside any manner of social expectation to throw in his lot, time, and energy, again and again, with chronically ill, disabled, social menace Steve Rogers. Bucky canonically nursed Steve's injuries, was his stalwart companion through all life's difficulties (his illnesses, his mother's death, Steve's psychological inferiority complex and mental anguish resulting from his social standing) and the Crash, and mostly importantly, Bucky did not want to go to war.

He was drafted (something that seemingly would have been key to bring up in Falcon re: his lifetime as an unwilling soldier). And, emotionally, Bucky ardently tried to dissuade Steve from joining the army, for fear he'd lose him. Despite not wanting to fight and being tortured, Bucky stayed in the military post-rescue from Azzano because he could not fathom leaving Steve. He planted his feet in a burning building shouting "No! not without you!" refusing to leave without Steve even after his rescue from months of torture. Til the end of the line, regardless of what happened to him.

For the next three entire films we see the frankly epic level of value Steve places on Bucky's devoted companionship. How desperately Steve valued Bucky's goodness and innocence (even above his own life, reputation, and safety).

Bucky doesn't have to cross out names he feels guilty about as if atoning for his own sins - and while the thought behind this narrative choice may have been to depict some semblance of retribution, this notion would have been much better expressed in another way. Such as: members of the public or others who were vicitmized in some horrible manner (domestic abuse, sexual abuse, scapegoats, other victims of Hydra etc) coming to Bucky instead to comfort him, welcoming him into a group designed to alieviate this solitary mental burden, or at least comiserate in some manner. Showing him he was not alone and who, exactly, he could be fighting for should he ever choose to fight again. The voiceless and disregarded, who only have Bucky who understands.

Also (though it seems to have engendered some faction of fandom vitriol), the removal of Bucky's arm during battle deserves consideration. This visual act was obviously narratively intended to show the unmatched prowess of the Dora Milaje and the justifiable premeditated cautiousness of Wakanda re: the generous rehabilitation of a dangerous mass weapon.

Though, it has the double-edged effect of showing how Bucky is still not an agent of his own bodily autonomy. His mental and physical freedom, his very ability to do his job and make his own choices therein, is still under the jurisdiction of someone else. His disability is his opposition's advantage (whether well-intentioned or not). Essentially, he is mistrusted. And it doesn't matter how much therapy he goes to, how much he atones for his "sins", his mind is still considered not to be fully and truly his. This is one of the most injurious of all things Bucky suffers - even those who rehabilitate him doubt the complete success of his healing. Therefore, his entire arc in the series is at best questionable simply with that alone.

His entire arc should clearly have been reframed to display his victimhood, and how the fact that he is mistrusted is also another burden and misfortune that he can work through and call others out for, instead of absorbing the guilt for that too.

Falcon does a poor job of showing how this "Bucky can't be trusted" mindset is highly injurious to his status as a victim, while mostly asserting it is a byproduct of his (alleged) villainy. It does not separate "alleged villainy" and "propensity for villainous actions as result of the abuse his suffered for 70 years". Instead of clarification on this for the viewers and Bucky himself we are, among other things, posed with the question - is the Winter Soldier still in Bucky?

Right there, you know the show was not intended to show much closure for the character, but rather wring-out, refresh, and even retroactively assert his alleged villainy over his victimhood in anticipation of perhaps his own solo series (where the Soldat is reactivated). Yet, we are also oddly simutaneously expected to accept that Bucky is "healing" somehow, although we never witness anything truly happen him, internally, to suggest this.

Bucky plays an almost angry motherly role to Sam at the start of the series, initially chastising him for not accepting responsibility. Bucky sees himself as the protector of Steve's legacy, and is disappointed in Sam's (later he learns, complicated) reluctance to wield the shield.

In the end, Bucky is approving of Sam and proud of his rise to the Cpt America mantle in that same manner - bookended with approval from a distance where he almost, again, stands off to the side as a proud mother. He seems to see himself as a mentor in Sam's journey towards self-actualization. Why is he so happy Sam has become the hero he always was inside?

His newfound friendship and respect for Sam as his own hero, of course. However, it is also his love of Steve which is the next obvious answer, his deep pride in who Steve was and what he accomplished, but this is inferred and never said - thus taking away again, from an oppotunity for Bucky's emotional growth and healing. The writers didn't even know where Steve was (or if Bucky knows his whereabouts) but they could have indicated something to that effect.

Once Sam has embraced Cap, the series ends. However, despite the jubilant setting of the finale, Bucky is still narrartively unmoored. We are left with the image of him lighthearted and hopeful, but without much substance towards its sustainability and so there is not much satisfaction in it despite the sweetness of its visual impact. But its depth? We are unsure. This is because Sam's ultimate advice to him, that he "serve" others rather than enact vengeance, strips away another truth about Bucky's situation.

That Bucky's desire for retribution and vengeance against those that abused and tormented him is valid and a real victim response. Bucky's perspective is seen as "wrong" instead of a well-documented step stone on the path to solid mental survivorship. Bucky could eventually want to serve -- but serve who?

Again, obviously the answer is: other victims like himself. But the show won't call him a victim at all, and thus Sam's advice feels hollow (serve... the vague and faceless Greater Good?) and Bucky's emotional security at the end of the show feels as if it lacks substance and permanance for the audience.

The payoff for Bucky's healing is almost nonexistent because no one will ever say why he was hurt in the first place (a victim).

Could go on and on about how this is because of Disney's terror of Bucky's perceived compromised masculinity (victimhood, captured, mentally damaged in WWII and present day), visual femininity (hair, slapped by men for insubordination, physically touched and moved against his will, soft spokeness, powerlessness in the narrarive), queer subtext (Steve, his origin as Arnold Roth Steve's gay jewish best friend, perceived jealousy of Peggy, intense affection for Steve), his juxtaposition to Steve and role in Steve's narrative, and their desire to wipe his slate clean with a new Masc Bucky.

Hint: it doesn't work.

#bucky barnes #loved samcap but the rest uhh haha uhhhhh mmm hmmm #yeah.. disney #stucky

[thedragonnerd]

Rayaari headcanon - staying in canon for Flirting

(inspired by a lovely anon)

Raya thinks she is excellent at flirting. Granted, she hasn't had any opportunity before now to test it out, too busy growing up and trying to survive the world than find a partner. But considering how red Namaari's cheeks flush whenever Raya tries, she considers herself on a winning streak.

In reality, her actual flirting techniques consist predominantly of sarcastic and vaguely aggressive remarks, and an ability to use sparring as a way to get very close to her 'opponent' - although this coincidentally only happens to be whenever she fights with Namaari.

None of this would actually be considered skilled, but the Fang warriors who witness it are impressed anyway. They aren't impressed by her actual flirting abilities though; no, they are impressed by the fact that Raya dares to try in the first place. Virana has spent years sending intimidating glares at anyone who dares smile too long at Namaari, the threat clear in her eyes. Raya however seems to either not notice, or not care.

The truth is that Raya never intended to begin flirting with Namaari anyway. She's been so used to having their antagonistic war of words, where she would deliberately try to push Namaari's buttons, that she happily continues this way of interacting without thinking too deeply about it.

And if she has noticed how pretty Namaari's eyes are, or how adorable she seems whenever she meets a dragon, or how shiny her hair is when she tucks it behind her ear...well, Raya decides to avoid reflecting on that too much.

One day Sisu bluntly asks when she's going to confess her feelings to Namaari, considering how obvious she's been with her flirting, and Raya splutters and denies everything. Internally however, she thinks oh shit, as her mind suddenly realizes she really has been flirting all along. And then she thinks oh shit again, because if Sisu has noticed, Virana has surely noticed also.

The one person in the entire Fang kingdom who hasn't seemed to acknowledge Raya's escalating flirting much is the one person who is the target of it all along. So, Raya decides it's perfectly innocent to continue, since what will really come of it? Plus, she loves to make Namaari blush.

Namaari meanwhile is useless at flirting, and accepts her utter lack of expertise in this area. Any time someone has shown even a spark of interest in her, they mysteriously disappear or start to avoid her not long after ('How strange,' her mother muses, if Namaari mentions this).

This hasn't bothered her over the years, however. She's been too busy focusing on becoming a strong leader, training her fighting skills, and tracking an annoying binturi across the lands. Now however, it stresses her, especially considering said binturi is Raya, and Raya extremely beautiful.

Namaari finds it both embarrassing and slightly pathetic that whenever Raya says something particularly sassy, or traps them in an especially close position during sparring, her first reaction is to either flush bright red or stammer out something so awkward that it has her hiding her face in her hands whenever she remembers afterwards. These reactions also seem to just encourage Raya's behaviour.

She decides the best course of action is to simply ignore it whenever Raya acts this way, although it becomes increasingly difficult the more they spar together, and the more Raya demands they practice close-quarter fighting rather than with swords.

Namaari figures Raya surely can't mean for her behaviour to be taken as flirting. Raya's teasing makes her distracted, and so, the more often Raya manages to win - this must be her goal.

It becomes even more difficult to ignore whenever she visits Heart, and sees how many of the women and men like to try and flirt with Raya. Raya seems rather oblivious to these affections, but it makes Namaari realize that one day Raya will find someone to be with. 'Oh yeah, your girl Raya is super popular,' Sisu drops into conversation one day, having noticed Namaari staring at Raya talking to a Heart palace soldier.

Even this is not enough to give Namaari a push into expressing anything she feels, until she is cornered by Virana at dinner after a trade meeting. 'For goodness sake, Namaari,' her Ma sighs when she sees her longing gaze towards Raya. 'I thought I raised you to be a more fearless warrior than that.'

So the next time they spar, Namaari manages to focus long enough to trap Raya in her arms, her practice sword tip gently touching under her chin. Instead of letting Raya have the final word, Namaari smirks down at her, ensuring she keeps eye contact. 'Bad luck, dep la,' she says, holding the position longer than necessary. 'Try again?'

Raya is looking back at her with wide eyes. But at Namaari's challenge, she breaks free and her competitive side rears its head. 'Oh, you're on, binturi,' Raya says, and they jump right back into sparring.

Namaari wins more often now, delighting in throwing Raya off her game by responding to any flirting remark with one of her own.

She's working herself up to the moment she will try to confess her feelings to Raya. But after two weeks of this reciprocal flirting, Raya finishes one of their sessions by grabbing her shoulders and pulling her into a kiss.

Namaari considers this a win for them both.

#rayaari #raya and namaari #raya and the last dragon #raya #namaari #rayaari headcanon #flirting aww yiss #we didn't go AU today #because sometimes we need to reflect on how these girls succeed at flirting with each other #but also how much they can be useless lesbians too #so many headcanons #can't stop won't stop

[ac-liveblogs]

(1/3) Sorry for the long ask. I'd say that literally every vision wielder has an important stake, though, considering what happens when you take their visions. Granted, this doesn't fit with the game presentation (yoimiya wearing her vision in public is stupid as hell). Also, I'm probably reading in too much, but I feel yoimiya and Ayaka are meant to contrast in ideologies of resistance. Even though Ayaka is supposedly more powerful, her responsibilities

Sorry for the long response! I be like that.

I assume you're referring to @kyogre-blue's post, when she said Ayaka and Yoimiya have no emotional stakes in the Inazuma storyline? Because having no stakes vs having no emotional stakes are a bit different. What Kyogre meant was that neither of them are shown in a position where they're visibly upset or affected by the decree, and we are encouraged to empathise with the NPCs suffering under it, not Ayaka and Yoimiya.

They are portrayed as "I am a concerned government representative" and "I am a concerned neighbour" respectively, not as being under threat from the Decree themselves (in fact, they both say as much). They are perhaps the two characters least affected by and in the least danger from the decree, and they face 0 fallout for their actions against it.

Heck, both of them are perfectly fine swanning around festivals and going on searches for their mom's secret BFF, which is canon to the timeline, so that's a real tonesetter for how worried they are. Yoimiya balances helping a refugee escape Inazuma with setting up a fireworks show like they're of equal importance, only getting emotional about the refugee and his friend's damaged relationship.

And, you know, she attacked the Tenryou Commission and wasn't even slightly worried about any repercussions (nor did she face any), so you really do get the impression that these two are taking things easy - especially when compared to the NPCs.

(i... diluc's vision was stolen by kaeya from favonius hq and he wears it out in public. either pyro visions are extremly lucky idiots or... mhy just just couldn't be bothered with story/gameplay integration... yeah. theory: all pyro users drain bennett’s luck, thats how they manage this)

Also, I'm probably reading in too much, but I feel yoimiya and Ayaka are meant to contrast in ideologies of resistance. Even though Ayaka is supposedly more powerful, Ayaka in theory more capable of resistance than Yoimiya, but her res is useless bc of veto+ hamstringing by fam responsibility+ pushing too hard decreasing her power/res). This plays into her theme of struggling between maintaining face (tatemae) and justice. Yoimiya has no responsibility, (but somehow has social power as a fireworks owner???) so her res is more active. She prison breaks, fights the police, harbours criminals, etc. She's also v stupid, though I don't think MHY intended it.

Kinda hit it on the head there - I don't think MHY intended that!

In fact, I was kinda wondering where you got the idea that Ayaka was so concerned about those things - I was a bit puzzled until I remembered it's in her character story, because in the playable segments of the game Ayaka's stated reasons for not wanting to directly tangle with Ba'al are concerns that doing so could cripple the clan and she wouldn't be able to resist as effectively, and that challenging Ba'al was challenging a God (aka: bad move).

Additionally, since Ayaka's main concerns with appearing at the festival concerned her thinking she might ruin it, and she had absolutely no issues throwing down with bandits despite the issues that might cause, the game doesn't really present her family's reputation as important to her beyond its usefulness. As such, in the Archon Quest Yoimiya and Ayaka come across as less ideologically opposed and more having different strategies for how to effectively use their resources. Or rather that Ayaka strategises at all, I guess.

The issue with applying information from a character's profile to their portrayal in the game is that it doesn't always line up, or even sometimes presents a contradiction. Ideally, a profile would supplement your understanding, but it really doesn't work out that way all the time! E.g. -

Childe's profile states he's a direct person that doesn't like deceit and treachery and finds himself at odds with the other Fatui (who employ it quite often) because of it, yet in-game he spends most of the Archon Quest playing the schemer while La Signora is the one that has no problems walking straight up to a God and ripping his Gnosis out.

Xiao's profile states he hates the Lantern Rite because it's a time he has to fight a lot due to the resurgence of the ghosts of evil gods, but in-game there is no such danger, he has the free time to send you after Treasure Hoarders (because he's concerned him doing it would damage Liyue) and he doesn't like the Rite because he doesn't like being around mortals.

Liyue's Archon Quest says Rex Lapis only descends once a year to give the mortals one day of guidance, while Keqing's profile threw me for a total loop by stating he actually does a lot of work besides this.

etc., etc. So it gets to the point where you almost have to treat the NPCs and playable versions of a character as somewhat separate entities, because otherwise you will get a headache sooner or later. While you can apply this information to understanding a character better, you also have to bear in mind that the profiles and quests are likely written by different people, and one portrayal may not be accurate to another. I don't know if it ended up this way due to miscommunication or incompetence, but it is what it is!

Which is a long way of saying I don't think that reading was intentional, and I don't really agree with it either...

Forgot an important part of pt 2. I also wanted to say that, though this is optimistic, I can see Mihoyo working out Ayaka's character by either making her crucial to defeating ba'al (thereby making her standing by, even though she may want to act, a sacrifice for the sake of defeating ba'al), or her just deciding that her family's name isn't worth it after a great loss, and going full crime. It depends on whether mhy, in this optimistic scenario, would prefer chance from within vs revolt.

Now that would be optimistic! Ayaka in-game isn't shown as caring about her family's name beyond what powers it grants her in her resistance effort, so unless they use her a lot in Act III - which I kinda doubt given they just moved us over to the Resistance - I think if they do try it, it'll come across rather flat.

I'm curious how they plan to portray her after Thoma was targeted. I think that'll be what sets the tone for her character. I know Ayaka supposedly became the new Archon in the beta, but I don't think she's been built up enough to take on that role in the story as is. Besides everyone telling us how amazing she is and how much she cares about everyone, of course.

(3/3) I guess it just appealed to me as a humanities student to see how these character's personalities, resistance, and social class/status all interact. Probably reading in too much, though. I assume the resistance will become more lovable once 2.1 comes out, the archon quest continues, and their character quests start, but that's also optimistic. On the other hand, I despise that the traveler is apparently an archery master, and Thoma staying in Inazuma city is Yoimiya level dumbassery.

I think it’s really cool that you’re finding these interesting, but it’s not really much that’s extrapolated on in canon. I mean, Ba’al was fine capturing Thoma, so clearly social class as a member of the Kamisato clan didn’t actually help him much (I’ll be curious to see if that has any implications, actually). Despite being in a prime position to do so, Yoimiya’s social class isn’t used much at all as her status as a... fireworks... shop owner... somehow protects her? Man, I don’t know. Even Thoma being a foreigner is more a fun fact right now than anything narratively significant.

I kind of doubt the Resistance will become lovable (at least to me), because Genshin is really bad at selling me on characters during the Archon Quests at all. They just don’t spend enough time with them (unless you’re Zhongli) and when they do the characters aren’t really growing or developing or being challenged by the narrative, (Mondstadt is passable, but that’s mostly on Venti’s charisma, let’s be real). The only characters that grew on me through canon portrayal and not me thinking about all the interesting ways their story (as depicted in their profiles) could pan out are Venti and Childe, and that was mostly via their character quests (Venti has a decent showing all around, though). 

I say this about Xiao, who is my favourite: I did not give a shit about him til I realised how interesting his lore is and how satisfying a character arc he could potentially have, and then I thought he was cute in the Lantern Rite even though I was endlessly bitter it immediately squashed my hopes for his trajectory days after I started getting excited for it. I am so bitter about no evil gods you have no idea anyway don’t trust character profiles they will burn you 

I... kind of value strong narratives more than anything else, so I’m clashing against Genshin really hard. It’s a shame, because it has some really cool concepts and when there’s stuff to do the game is really fun...! But I kinda feel Genshin’s strength lies in getting you to fill in the gaps on it’s narrative for it, because once you comb through the text you realise there really isn’t that much there.  

anyway i’m super sorry this got long i am a very wordy person, so i deserve no apologies for long asks ahahah 

#replies #ac plays genshin impact

[darkpoisonouslove]

Winx Club Season 5 Thoughts Part 1

It’s been so hard for me to make myself start this season because I know it only goes downhill from here but here I am at last. I don’t remember anything from this season and am prepared to hate the transformations (Harmonix because it’s impractical and Sirenix because it’s ugly) so let’s do this.

- I already hate the hair and I haven’t made it past the intro yet. This is promising.

- This is off to a great start. I got the wrong episode. Not by my mistake, however. Now that I found the actual first one, let’s actually do this.

5x01:

- It’s weird to see magic so publicly on Earth. At least they’re having fun. Though, I have to say that I am not a fan of the idea of them having a band. And they have unfair advantage over every other Earth band because they can do their own advertizing without having to pay a cent and it will still be better than any other band can afford since it’s magic. They should have just dropped the band.

- I am gagging over the fact that they have Roxy praise Bloom for the help but not the other Winx girls. They were all there for her and fought to protect her and tried to teach her magic. And at one point she even said she wanted to be like Stella. But now she says that only Bloom is like a big sister. Obviously a plot device to bring in Daphne since she will be resurrected this season and they have to set it up. Especially after season 4 forgot all about her. I am still gagging, though.

- You know, I could have loved the whole ecological message but I am pretty sure they are going to fuck it up anyway. Or just not take it anywhere.

- Ugh, Helia’s hair is so ugly. But at least Sky’s is as well. But what is that box Sky has? Not another engagement ring, please, for the love of everything sacred!

- Ahh, pendant. Yeah, their relationship is going so well that they will need magic to keep it in tact. Though, good luck for both of them will be to just split up and find someone that is actually good for them. Also, why doesn’t Brandon know about that? He is literally the squire and best friend of the prince.

- Poor Layla. She must be missing Nabu like crazy. Please, let her have a season to mourn and don’t shove a new love interest in her face right away. It took her a season and a half to get the first one and he was killed. She needs some fucking time!

- Love that everyone agrees that Sky’s hair is terrible. Even Bloom’s “It looks... great” sounds like a lie.

- Why is Sky going back to Red Fountain? Didn’t he finish that? God, just let them move on already. Also, he is not A Crown Prince now. He was the Crown Prince ever since he was born. He was crowned as the king of Eraklyon. Man, are they retconning everything?

- If Bloom cared so much about what he had to say, she could have asked Musa to give them a sec. I like the little Flora and Sky interaction, though. If only it could have been on a topic different than Bloom. I wish the Specialists would interact with Winx other than their girlfriends more. It would sell the friend group vibe better.

- Aww, I wish Layla wouldn’t hide her pain over Nabu. She probably doesn’t want to affect the others with it and doesn’t want them fretting over her either but this is just so sad.

- Love how Bloom doesn’t even remember Tressa. For a moment there I thought that it was her getting crowned which would have been cooler but yeah. Also, Nereus and Tritannus are almost identical. What the hell makes Nereus hot and Tritannus not? I am so annoyed I started rhyming.

- I love the idea of underwater tech!

- Lmao, gotta love how the king has already picked a favorite. And it doesn’t seem to be a recent choice either. Idk about Tritannus yet, but I don’t like this guy. I am all for him being attacked. He even reacted like an absolute asshole. He reminds me of Erendor.

- Ah, of course. Trident. We couldn’t possibly have another weapon when it comes to merfolk.

- Tbh Tressa would be the best ruler. She seems to have learned her lesson and become braver. And if she’s protecting her brother and doing all the work anyway, why not just crown her?

- Didn’t Flora tell him to wait until he is alone with Bloom? Why did he think a good moment to give her the pendant would be when Layla is visibly worried about what is going on and everyone is there with them? I wish he’d drop it and it would break.

- How the fuck can Flora tell that there is oil spilling into the ocean? The ocean is Layla’s domain and Flora has never been shown to be able to communicate with marine plant life.

- I hate how they had to show that Timmy is obviously physically weaker than Sky. It would’ve made sense for him to had built some muscle at the very least after 4-5 years in Red Fountain.

- How the hell did Tecna delete the oil? You can’t just erase matter out of existence. There should be a rule against that.

- Yeah, I was just going to say that closing the pipes is not going to work if they don’t stop the flow of oil. The pipes might explode but it will keep spilling. Seriously, this is basic logic. Nice move. Now it will be harder to stop because the spill moved underwater.

- What happened to Layla’s wings? Is the oil sticking to them and hindering their movements? You’d think she could prevent that with magic.

- This is what happens when you carelessly put something so important in your pocket. You don’t even need to be running a rescue mission. There’s a high chance that you’re gonna lose it anyway. Also, love how Bloom just left the other guy to drown and no one else went after him either.

- Layla’s awesome. She even managed to pull that guy out even though she was struggling a lot with it. I hate the fact that they forgot she taught the others a spell to breathe underwater in season 3, though. They could have used it. But of course, that would have probably rendered Harmonix unnecessary.

- Wow, they renovated the whole platform to make it eco? Why don’t they just do that with all of the oil platforms on Earth then? It’s not like it took much effort. I want to add to this that if they’d just done that (which probably would have taken a couple of days), they could have easily defeated Tritannus later because his only source of pollution in the first half of the season has been Earth. Because there is ocean pollution only on Earth, you know. They could have used that to incorporate an ecological message, except that would have taken work on their part. And also, most of the toxic substances Tritannus consumed were spilled on purpose by the Trix. So there goes a great wasted opportunity for a thematic message.

5x02:

- Here are my bad bitches. What the hell are they doing underwater, though? It’s kinda cruel to put them in a prison that forces them to use magic if they want to survive it. What happens if they tire out? They could die,

- Aaaand for some reason Bloom is the vocalist of the band even though Musa is literally the fairy of music and the only one that was initially having a contract signed.

- I hope nobody is expecting any commentary from me on the musical performances because I am telling you from now that I will be skipping absolutely all of them.

- The selkies look ridiculous. I could appreciate the idea of having small beings being powerful guardians but they will certainly not serve any greater purpose than the pixies did so this is going to be annoying at best. Also, the selkie of Earth was still there even when the fairies weren’t, right? This somehow implies that magical beings couldn’t stop the disasters that mankind causes to Earth even though the previous season said that it was the disappearance of fairies that threw the Earth into chaos.

- Aww, look at Stella and Brandon! So good when there’s no stupid drama.

- People really went cleaning the beach not just willingly but enthusiastically? That sounds a little unbelievable. I mean, they were supposed to be at a concert and that was an abrupt change.

- Correction, I wish Sky hadn’t lost the pendant so that he could have given it to her and this would have been over. Now he is going to sulk about it for ages and he is probably going to fuck up in a self-fulfilled prophecy kinda manner and I am so not here for it. Just shut up about Bloom and Sky and focus on the action, please.

- Well, Icy is now canonically a monster fucker. Even though she thought Valtor was ugly as hell in season 3 when he turned into a demon. He was uglier than Tritanus in all fairness but still. This seems inconsistent. And I hate her voice. Not to mention that she is already acting OOC when she’s not thinking about getting out even but about fucking him. Come on!

- Is the whole turning into a monster thing some sort of reverse Beauty and the Beast? That could have been interesting... but, of course, this is Winx.

- Yep, the selkies are absolutely useless.

- If the Trix don’t have powers, then how are they breathing underwater? Also, how does toxic waste restore ice and storm powers (there is some connection to darkness at least)? And if they went that route, they could have made their powers have an element of toxicity to them to make it more interesting instead of just having a guy boost their powers yet again. Honestly, the only good thing that came out of this is that Darcy and Stormy seem to be thinking more independently now which would be necessary in order for the DramaTM between the Trix later (that is just about the only thing I remember from this season).

- I wish Darcy would have used her hypnotic powers more in the previous seasons. They are so cool and would be pretty hard to deal with once you’re hit. It could have made for more interesting fights.

- If Tritannus was good, he could actually help cleanse the oceans by sucking out all toxic waste. He likes being a monster anyway.

- Okay, but the Trix know Bloom is from Earth. They should have known it was Winx from the second they felt the fairy magic in the air. That took them long enough btw.

- Of course, the monsters can also go on land even though they are mer-creatures. Makes perfect sense.

- Love how Musa and Flora are using new spells yet they look and act exactly the same way like the old ones so it is just same shit, different story. The writers are so unoriginal.

- Layla is strong! And Winx seem to be a little too strong against the Trix. Although, Believix is supposed to be really powerful anyway.

- This could have been the perfect setup for an Icy x Bloom romance. Sky lost the pendant so his relationship with Bloom is doomed and he later lost his memory so why not just break them up. Diaspro can have him if she still wants him (I don’t know why she would but anyway) and Bloom can get with Icy after Icy realizes Tritannus is not the right one for her. Everyone wins, especially, us, the audience. And it could have been a good way to show that Diaspro has reformed and she and Sky could actually be an okay couple. Or better yet, she dumps him and gets together with Bloom and Icy.

- Layla just kicked Tritanus in the face. Boy, I stan! And the underwater battle with weapons instead of magic is super cool, I love it! Wish there’d been more of that but, of course, only Layla can pull that off and we can’t spend more than a minute focusing on anyone else other than Bloom. Why didn’t Tritannus recognize Layla, though? Or did he just not care?

- Icy crying out for help? By a man? So not here for this. It is ridiculously out of character. How is he so powerful? Once again the villain is so strong it is a wonder they ever got to live long enough to get to the finale let alone defeat him.

5x03:

- Well, Winx sure are at the top of the popularity wave again despite the last time we saw them at Alfea being very different. Also, why is it the beginning of another school year yet again? Honestly, I am so sick of all of this.

- Sky is seriously annoying me with that stupid pendant and he is also the one that is fucking up their relationship with his stupid behavior. He should just focus on being a good boyfriend and do the best he can. I get it that in a world of magic superstitions probably have more merit, but he still has control over his own life and the choices he makes. He can “save” their relationship despite the omen of doom.

- Ugh, don’t tell me there will be Helia and Flora drama in this season to compensate for the lack of such in the last? Why did he only introduce Flora as his friend and not as his girlfriend? And how is he so close with the princess of Linphea? Is he from Linphea as well?

- I agree with Stella. Just when we all thought they were done, they started making even more transformations.

- I don’t think we’ve seen Daphne be anything but calm but it’s understandable when she is talking about the thing that made her a disembodied spirit. Still it feels weird to see her not believe that Bloom can handle whatever comes her way. Especially after the defeat of the Ancestral Witches. I guess that is what bugs me in this scene.

- Wow, Darcy admitted that Winx are stronger than them and neither Icy, nor Stormy protested? It’s good that they’re self-aware. It just seems a little OOC. And another power up in two consecutive episodes? Seriously? Will they ever get anything done on their own again?

- At least Sky is asking for advice. I am surprised that they are letting him interact with Flora yet again but I actually kinda like it.

- Why are they all gasping in surprise. They have been to the archive already when Bloom stole the Codex in season 2. It is the same room; they have seen it. Get over it already.

(- *sigh* I just lost my thoughts on half the episode. This season is not agreeing with me.)

- Flora was acting weird while Crystal was helping Helia. It was kind of like she was mad it was Crystal who could save him and not her and that is weird for Flora. I think she would have just been grateful he was saved.

- I suffer when the books suffer... and they did suffer a lot in this episode. Also, how come Stormy is creating life again? This still doesn’t make sense to me but compared to other things, it is more minor.

- I love Darcy’s hypnotic powers and the fact that she was using them on Stella. I think I might be starting to seriously consider this ship (as opposed to just entertaining the possibility of a cool dynamic between them). I mean, Stella looked like she’s seen the hottest new fashion collection and I know it was the magic but still. I kinda want a Darcy who is on her own (without her sisters) and manipulating/spelling Stella into being with her so that she could make place for herself in the Solarian court. And then she falls in love, of course.

- Just please tell me Sky won’t be without his memories for the rest of the season because that will just be too annoying. If they are going for drama, it would be good to at least make it relevant instead of shoving it in there by the ton for the sake of it.

5x04:

- Since when is the whole school so invested in Bloom? They weren’t when she was actually there and even though Winx are kind of legends now, you can bet your ass that there were still fairies that don’t like them. Not to mention that they shouldn’t all know what the hell happened when no one was there to witness it. Why would they let the whole school know if Erendor doesn’t even know yet?

- You are seriously telling me that Stella hadn’t considered being a fashion designer before? Really????? She literally spent her summer after season 1 as an intern for a fashion magazine and has been designing clothes since about the same time. This is just too dumb for words.

- Love how adorably awkward Timmy is. And I love that Tecna doesn’t mind at all. They are just too cute together!

- Ooh, tension between the Trix. That is interesting. Or at least would have been if it were focused more on the power balance in their own dynamic rather than on hate vs love for Tritannus. Why does everything have to be about guys?

- At least Flora seems to like Crystal now which is cool. But I cannot express how annoyed I am by the fact that the whole thing with the pendant is preventing him from getting his memories back. And the stupid thing is that this actually has potential. Losing the pendant could be the peak of Sky’s guilt towards Bloom for all the pain he’s caused her (about Diaspro and not only) and that could be very interesting to explore but this show will never go that deep. It’ll just remain as wasted potential. Just like everything else is.

- Okay, why does no one ever start with amnesia patients by asking them how they would like to go about things, how they feel? Stuff like that.

- Tecna really turned into a robot. Again, no fucking magical system to explain how you can turn a human into a robot. Plus, this could be interesting as well and also really deep but, again, this is Winx. It is not going to be deep. Even though they could have done so much with that premise and given Tecna a really cool arc.

- Ah, yes, I forgot to mention this while I was on the previous episode. I am done with Neptune being so dismissive and even aggressive against his other son. Like, maybe if you had tried some parenting, none of this would have come to pass. Just a thought. I am not saying that parents can prevent any bad choices their kids make but I am saying that he doesn’t look like he tried too hard to be a good dad. Nereus only turned out okay because they are twins and one of them has to be good while the other is evil. I am glad at least someone is trying to reach Tritannus even if he is beyond saving.

- Oh, off, Tritanus is not messing around. You know what? I actually like that. It was about time they made the villains as ruthless as they are trying to make them out to be. Even if I feel bad for his family because they just wanted to help him.

- Why do the selkies talk in the third person? They just went from useless to majorly annoying.

- Why don’t they just go get Faragonda? She may at least know what they are dealing with and possibly clue them in on how to unspell Tecna. They don’t have to reinvent the wheel, just find someone who knows how it was made.

- Great, they just set fire to the archive and nobody bothered to put it out. And they also released the elements in there. The question remains - will the archive survive their search for the Sirenix book? (What the hell were those other books, though? I would like to know where they came from.)

- Okay, but wasn’t the book Tecna opened cursed? What happened to that? And why did the spell on her phone only activate after she opened the book? This doesn’t make sense.

5x05:

- I am very confused about the order of episodes. “The Lilo” should be before “The Power of Harmonix” because they are still using their Believix powers but it makes more sense for the Harmonix episode to be after “The Book of Sirenix”. Anyway, I am watching “The Lilo” because Wikipedia says it’s the fifth episode even though it looks more like filler that wasn’t even meant to be in the season.

- At least we get to see Flora do something this time. She is the most neglected and it’s good to see her use magic for something else other than growing ivy. Seriously, Flo, chill with the ivy.

- “When I think of you, Helia, I believe in myself.” Because she can’t believe in herself if she doesn’t have a boyfriend. The intro is so totally right! What a way to show girl power!

- Why is the animation overly flowy? Is it because it is closer to 3D in order to tie better with the actual 3D later on? It kinda pokes out your eyes sometimes. Or at least mine.

- Someone remembered that the Whisperian Crystals were a thing. I love how they just made them sort of like GPS for magical objects even though they were only supposed to track the Dragon Fire. Proof of that is the fact that they never used them to track the Ring of Solaria even though they wanted it as well. So this is just a cop out to give them a chance to find the Lilo.

- Of course, the Lilo is in the possession of Mitzi’s little sister. Why wouldn’t it be?

- Gotta love how even the writers realized that it was too convenient for everything to be in Gardenia so they started making up excuses for it.

- Wait, how does Mitzi know who the Trix are? Have they... They haven’t met, right? What the hell? Also, Icy was literally standing in front of Macy but she couldn’t just grab the plant herself and had to order Darcy and Stormy to do it? Lazy much?

- Darcy’s powers are going back to their peak this season and I am so here for it.

- Flora legit just hit Icy with her shield. That was a good move and a little more aggressive than I would have expected from Flora but I’m not complaining.

- Great way to almost hit Macy, Stella.

- There was zero point to this episode. I guess they just had to do something to get them to a total of 26 episodes. And putting it right before the episode in which they get Harmonix is just ridiculous because they just powered up their Believix... right before they’ll stop using it.

5x06:

- They can’t even open the Book of Sirenix? Huh, that’s... kinda interesting actually.

- Oh, come on! Just when Bloom was making progress, Crystal brings in Diaspro. You have to love how the writers are implying that Crystal is no good by having her being friends with Diaspro. I thought we were over the Crystal drama but it looks like there will be more. And why is Bloom not losing her mind? Diaspro literally mind controlled Sky! Goddammit, it’s in situations like this I wish I could trust Erendor to do the best for his son! If Bloom could trust he wouldn’t side with Diaspro, she could have called him to let him make sure Diaspro stays away from Sky.

- Oh, they can lose their powers if they fail the quest? I like that! Extra stakes besides the Tritannus situation. This feels more intense now and I am here for it.

- I like the implication that there are other great fairies in the Magic Dimension and it’s not just Winx. Less so fond of the fact that the other fairies seem to be underhanded but I’ll take what I can get.

- Awwwww! That scene with Stella, Tecna and Musa was so precious! I love Stella’s joking and the fact that Tecna is so upset about what happened but she still believes their reassurances! And Musa saying she might start talking about her mother... *sob* This is so precious! They are opening up to each other even more than they have already! And about the tough topics. Ah, my heart!

- Okay, I kinda like the solidarity between Bloom and Layla. Also, the fact that Flora finally figured out what they are doing. Though, that’s kinda weird to me. Flora has been more wary of the reckless plans but I don’t think she would put her powers above her friends and possibly Layla’s whole realm if not the whole universe.

- Really wish it would have been someone else that had saved the horse and not Bloom.

- “Shadow hand”? Man, I was right. Darcy’s powers are peaking! Also, whatever spell Icy used on Winx to make it harder for them to move was super cool as well. I like it.

- They have to complete the Quest in one lunar cycle? That’s 28 days... On Earth. Maybe they should have specified which moon. Since Solaria has 2 suns there are probably millions of moons out there. Okay, that isn’t working out and I wish they had been more specific with it. This episode had some cool stuff about the Magic Dimension already and they could have done more. Anyway, one lunar cycle sounds like a short time but since it’s Winx, it is probably a long time.

- Oh, they just all got Harmonix without doing anything in order to earn it. Greaaaaat. And I have to say that the Harmonix design is so impractical. Why so many veils? They’re just gonna boggle them down. Of course, nothing ever gets wet on shows but seriously? If you’re fighting with someone, they can grab you by the veils or the veils can tangle around you and become the reason for your demise. This is stupid.

- Okay, so Tecna was being really insecure but they left her behind in the search of the Gem of Self-confidence? Like, you just threw away a golden opportunity. I am into the idea that they are going in the Magical Reality Chamber to still be at the place of the action so to speak and be able to help the rest better, though.

- Love the idea of the boat that can go to any water body. I would like one. Less so enthused about the contradiction in this very episode. Stella was complaining about wearing heels when she could have just changed with magic. The proof is right there since she changed hers, Bloom’s and Layla’s whole outfits just about 10 minutes later. This is ridiculous.

- Not @ the way the writers already threw Roy in despite the fact that it has been just five episodes since the beginning of the season. Also not @ the way he seems to be the stereotypical “girls need my protection” guy. Wish Layla would just keep not liking him. But they are probably trying to emulate what happened with Nabu at first. Ugh, I hate this so much I can’t even tell you.

- Oh, come on! They’ll be bonding with the selkies now? Let me guess, that was only written so that the selkies can get their powers back through the bonds, So Tritannus will enter the Infinite Ocean with the stolen selkie powers and Winx will enter it with help from their bonded selkies. This is so transparent, I can’t even. Also, totally needed their selkies to be matching the color of their Harmonix. I mean, how else are you gonna tell that they’re their bonded selkies? Not like they have personalities or are relevant in any way. Also, can another fairy bond with a selkie that has been “taken”? Like, there is a pixie for every fairy but the selkies are much less so... what the hell? This doesn’t make any sense.

- I hate what they did with the challenge for self-confidence. They could have done so much better. But first, Bloom’s test is all about Sky (which is dumb as fuck because it literally tells you their relationship is the biggest source of insecurity in her life) and Stella’s is about her not having confidence in her fashion taste? Really? Layla’s was most cutting as always but they didn’t even try to make it hard. It was so obvious that Nabu was an illusion because he was being cruel to her and the real Nabu would never. They should have gone for something else that would have really made her struggle with figuring out it is not real. Plus, by figuring out it is not real, she didn’t exactly confront her issue with confidence. And Bloom and Stella couldn’t even break out of it on their own and needed her help. How is that successfully passing the test?!?!?!?! And I was just starting to think that this could be getting better. It was I who should have known better.

5x07:

- Aww, I love how dedicated Stella is to knowing stuff about Solaria. She is going to be a precious queen. Also, her guardian of Sirenix is so beautiful.

- Ugh, the Trix are pulled apart again. I hate it. Darcy and Stormy do have a point. I just wish Icy would keep her head in the game. Also, do they sleep out in the open? In a swamp or whatever the hell that is?

- Wow, Sky that has no memory treats Bloom better than Sky that has memory of her. Interesting. Like, if he can calm her worries about Diaspro so easily when he doesn’t even remember how much he loves her, why didn’t he do that in the previous seasons? Honestly.

- Roy is annoying me just by cheering for Winx. This is not going well.

- Oh, damn, Flora got turned into stone. What did Tritannus do to that jellyfish? Turn it into Medusa (lmao, fun fact - jellyfish is called medusa [more like meduza but still] in Bulgarian)? Seriously. And why is Flora the one saving the selkies when she is the only one that isn’t bonded to any?

- Since the Trix also didn’t put any work into earning their powers, it is only fair that Winx get a free upgrade as well. I am just glad that at least the Harmonix spells look differently even though they function in the same generic way.

- Hey, Sky is actually starting to remember? Good. I was prepared to suffer through this amnesia arc up until 5x13 at least but now I have timid hope that it will not last that long. I guess the writers haven’t heard of muscle memory, however.

- How did the Gem of Confidence turn Flora back into herself when the jellyfish that turned her into stone had nothing to do with it? It was Tritannus’ doing and not even intentional. It shouldn’t have had petrifying powers in the first place. None of this makes any sense. Not to mention that the Gem somehow multiplied to six gems. I mean, really? Would’ve been much better if they could only choose to complete one box aka everyone else would lose their powers but then through their shared goal (aka Faragonda telling them that they have to be of one mind and heart) they could have all gotten the Sirenix. Just no other powers. That would have been way more interesting (obviously Layla would be the one whose box they’d complete and I don’t believe the Dragon Fire can be extinguished anyway so Bloom could even have a loophole out of that). And besides, they don’t use the old transformations anyway.

5x08:

- Stella is rocking that outfit. But why streaks? Stella, no!

- Tecna and Timmy are absolutely adorable with their mega nerdiness. I love it.

- Jeez, really? Sky is a better dancer with amnesia than Brandon is? I mean, this could have been plausible if they hadn’t established already in the previous episode that his muscle memory has fucked off into oblivion as well. Otherwise, yes. As royalty, he is probably better at dancing. Even though battle requires a lot of coordination as well. But nice of Kiko to try to help.

- Come on, Stella, you’re being insensitive. You would be “moping” too if Brandon had died. Please, don’t try to set Layla up with guys. Just give her some time to grieve!

- I don’t know what Stella expected. Of course, Layla is going to get offended by that. She doesn’t want company, she wants Nabu back.

- Oh, come on! Musa really got mad at Riven just because he liked the music another girl was playing? What, is he supposed to only listen to her music now? She isn’t even the vocalist of their band.

- They only have 10 days left to complete the missions? When did they manage to waste so much time? Like, they legit got the first thing done in one day. Where did the other go?

- Tressa has had so much growth since season 3. I love her. Really wish they’d let her be queen. But wtf, why can the king know what all of his subjects are doing? That is so invasive. Also, Layla should not be in the range of his powers. Man, the writers are really pulling some bullshit here.

- You’d think the selkies will learn that they can’t stop Tritanus and will try to not get in his way so that he wouldn’t get to steal their powers. But nope, they are both useless and stupid.

- Okay, Stella did mess up and she should have known why what she did was a bad idea but Layla giving her the silent treatment is not going to help either. I hope that the fact that Musa is dealing with the loss of her mother can help the two of them patch things up as well. Maybe there will be a lesson in this for both of them.

- Now it makes sense why Musa turned into an ocean type of monster. And this is a good opportunity for Stella and Layla to find their balance again and help save Musa.

- Stella’s attacks are still hurting Musa. And wouldn’t it make more sense for Layla to use her powers to stop her? She could make a net with morphix that will be both more reliable and less harmful for Musa. Seriously, why do they always make the dumbest choices possible?

- You know what would have been more interesting? If the healing of the bond could only work one way and the selkie didn’t get her powers back. They could have brought in Galatea to also bond with her in order to restore her powers later on so that they could enter the Infinite Ocean. That would have been more creative. But nah.

- Stella’s sudden understanding of Layla really came out of nowhere. And it felt like Layla only forgave her because she didn’t want to fight with her anymore, not because she was truly okay with what Stella did. This could have been done so much better.

- These Sirenix quests are so convenient. They all have to do with places the girls know and clues they have history with. It would have been much harder if they had to go to planets they don’t know how to navigate and a better way to do more worldbuilding.

- Bloom really can’t take 10 days away from the Sky mess? They can literally lose their powers forever which could mean handing Tritannus victory but she is more concerned with Sky’s memory that can possibly only get better in the next ten days while she focuses on the mission? Oh, come on!

- They are really trying to push hard the idea that Bloom and Sky are destined to be together. Also, now that they found the shell, can Sky’s memory block disappear? It would make sense. Please, just end this already.

5x09:

- Really? Bloom is sensing that something is wrong with Daphne but Marion isn’t? This could have been a cool moment to bring in the fact that their parents are back. Especially since Bloom isn’t going to do shit about it. I mean, how dense is she that she didn’t recognize the clouds of pollution hanging around Daphne in her dream? Could have at least tried to contact Daphne to make sure she was okay. Especially since she knows that Daphne talks to her through her dreams and that has been A Thing since season 1. I just... cannot.

- I... don’t even know what to say about Stella here. On the one hand I understand her frustration as she feels like no one supports her passion for fashion but on the other hand... Stella, no! Brandon was right that she needs to consider other people’s feelings sometimes, though, I’d say none of Winx exhibited particularly high levels of empathy here except maybe Flora.

- Oh, Tecna. On the one hand I want to say that there shouldn’t be a reason to feel nervous face to face with Timmy when they get along so well, but on the other, we have all experienced what she’s talking about. Texting can be so much easier sometimes even if it can also be dangerous because it lacks the context of body language.

- Seriously? We’re gonna make it through all the girls’ planets. I said it before and I’ll say it again, but this Sirenix Quest sure is damn convenient. At least it is kinda ironic that the Gem of Empathy is on Zenith since they seem to rely on technology more.... Man, that could have been an awesome opportunity to make Zenith more three dimensional by explaining that they develop so much technology so that they could make the lives of everyone easier when they have digital assist aka their focus on technology is driven by empathy. But again, that is just too deep for this show.

- Oh, come on! Stella really turned into a three-year-old? Why the hell would there be an age-changer spell in the pin? This doesn’t make sense. And again, a fucking wasted opportunity. Stella was running low on empathy here so including her in the search for the Gem of Empathy would have provided way more character development than this shit right here. I would have sent Stella, Tecna and Musa to get the Gem and Bloom, Flora and Layla to go look for Daphne. Or better yet, Stella and Tecna for the Gem, Musa and Layla after Tritannus and Bloom and Flora to check on Daphne.

- Is Layla ever going to use her Harmonix powers? Seriously, she has transformed how many times now and I can’t remember her using any of her new magic.

- Why is Layla now smiling at Roy even though she never transitioned from “annoyed” to “friendly teasing”? I hate this so much.

- It must be weird for Brandon to see his girlfriend as a three-year-old while he is still twenty. Like, that will make for a fun conversation once the spell wears off.

- It is so goddamn obvious that Tritannus has been there! Like, did the clouds of pollution not tip you off?????? Honestly, why don’t any of them have normal rationalizing abilities? It is a simple deduction! You don’t need the selkies to tell you! Besides, didn’t they already say that he crossed over to Zenith? This is like looking between a needle and a single straw of hay and having to point out which is the needle and they are failing!

- Shoot, I thought “where the one looks over the many” was supposed to be something of a mathematical riddle or something that would have to make Tecna focus on the whole rather than the details. The throne thing? Just... meh.

- I would have preferred it if their test of empathy involved something that was already inside them and came from themselves rather than them being placed under a spell by the Gem. It could have brought out their most unempathetic thoughts but I still think there was a better way to do this, and a more emotional one.

- Seriously?????? I mean, FOR REAL?!?!?!?!?! THAT is what they had to do to get the gem???????????????????????????????????????????????????? They didn’t even resolve their issues!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How did they prove they were worthy of having it. God, I hate this.

- How did the age-changer spell had any bearing on the plot or the characters? It literally didn’t do anything for Stella or Flora, Musa and Brandon for that matter. They had so many amazing opportunities in this episode and they were all wasted. I just... *frustrated sigh*

5x10:

- Is it just me or is the idea to put the Christmas filler episode right a couple of days before the deadline for the Sirenix Quest the worst idea ever? Well, not the worst because this show is just full of bad ideas but still somewhere up there with the big guys.

- I was gonna get incredibly angry if they’d made Christmas be a thing in the Magic Dimension but they got at least that right. And that way it’s cute that Bloom gets to introduce her friends to a new holiday. They all got so excited about the presents! Adorable! The only thing that would have made this better was if she’d invited Marion and Oritel to Mike and Vanessa’s as well to celebrate together.

- I was ready to hate this episode but it has actually caught my attention. Love how the Trix decided the magic of Christmas is literal magic and they want to steal it from Bloom. This is actually exactly what a funny filler episode should be like.

- Aww, a surprise Musa and Riven moment. That was adorable.

- Am I the only one who is getting Yu Gi Oh vibes from this monster? Okay, four monsters (Why four? That is so random. Three would have made more sense.). They just remind me too much of Blue Eyes White Dragon.

- You know what would be really cool? If Stella made a cage with mirrors at key places to reflect the light beam she shoots at the creatures so that it would keep running through the cage to stop them from reforming.

- Oh, wow. Faragonda showed up. I never thought that would happen. Not that she’s been much use. Like, you fought the Ancestral Witches! Surely, there has to be something you can do! Not to mention that how the hell did the Trix get magic of the darkest order? That’s just bullshit.

- You know what? I would be more worried about the fact that they may not be able to break the spell before they run out of water and food and other essentials. Like, the Christmas thing is upsetting but not a priority right now,

- Okay, the Trix are inside the ice dome but the ice dragons aren’t? That seems like a hole in their plan.

- The others got the spirit but they a little confused. Bloom doesn’t just miss Christmas but spending it with her family and they can’t give her that. Though, none of them didn’t even try to teleport. Depending on the way you do it, maybe they could have gotten out.

- This episode is kinda all over the place but at least it has that cool vibe from season 1 when they got to actually just chill around the school and do some fun stuff. Actually put time in just being friends. Oh, and the friendship charm bracelets are really cute! I love them.

- You know they don’t have what to put in an episode when they give the full transformations twice. Nice job, there.

- Making a hole in the dome does not sound like the best course of action because Winx could have just gotten out of there and forced the Trix to chase them. But no one thought of that.

- I feel second hand embarrassment on Icy’s behalf. If she ever gets to learn that she misunderstood about the magic of Christmas, that is. The way things are going, Bloom is gonna blast them out of the dimension without ever revealing that this was all for nothing.

- Well, Bloom could have just used her Dragon Fire to destroy the ice dragons the moment they appeared and none of that would have happened but why the hell would she do that? I have to say that I would have preferred it if Winx and the Specialists had gone to Gardenia instead of having Gardenia go to Alfea. Like, I get it that they wanted to make Christmas touch the Magic Dimension as well but Alfea has never celebrated a Zenithian-specific holiday for example or a Solarian one. It just makes the whole Winx universe a little too focused on Bloom again.

5x11:

- Omg, I am feeling so bad for Daphne. Hasn’t she suffered enough? Though, I have to say that I am at least glad Icy came up with a decent plan for counteraction this time even if it is cruel. At least it makes sense!

- Why the hell is the wind-rider competition held in Alfea? It should have been in Red Fountain but I guess the animators couldn’t be bothered to pull out their old animation of it and remember how to draw it.

- Bloom giving Sky a pep talk was kinda cute. I get why he would be nervous and it was cool that she did her best to help him. And that moment with throwing some harmless magic his way to show him his own reflexes was actually smart and hella cute as well. I just wish they wouldn’t have gone for the “he is the best Specialist ever to live” thing again but I’ll take it as his friends telling a white lie to soothe his anxiety.

- So the Trix are just being bullies for no reason at all. Also, they already used that invisibility spell when they messed with Tecna’s phone. Or at least it looked the same.

- Poor Kiko. Getting accused for something he didn’t do and then also being attacked by clones. But was it that only he could see them? Because otherwise, it should have tipped Bloom off that something’s wrong.

- They don’t need to remind us every time that there is no time to waste for the Sirenix Quest. We get it. And even if I had the episodes spaced out by weeks, I doubt I would forget that they have a time limit considering that this is not plot heavy and they have mentioned it, like, a million times already.

- Oh, they’re going to Linphea next. Look, even Tecna noticed that all the parts of the Quest have been on their home planets.

- Wow, Flora, you think the flower might be on your planet? Damn, girl, you’re such a genius. No one would have ever guessed. They have an ocean of flowers and she is still not sure? W.O.W.

- Love how it took Faragonda and Saladin a solid minute to interfere. Not like they were in a war or anything and should be 100% prepped to deal with crises. Why would you think that? And Griselda (and the other Alfea teachers) didn’t even get to do anything. Not to mention that Mirta has been studying at Alfea for a forth year now and she didn’t even try to fire at the beasts... You know, what could be considered an instinctive reaction.

- “Only one more keeper...”? Yeah, because there are only six-seven planets in the whole universe! (Didn’t he already get the powers of the selkie of Earth as well as from everyone’s home planets except for Bloom’s? Who’s gonna restore the Earth selkie’s powers... Wait, is it going to be Roxy? And does that mean we’re finally going to Domino this season?)

- I was gonna ask whatever Roy was gonna do without Layla being there but he isn’t there either. So why was he there the other times if not to drive the boat? They gave him one job to justify his presence and then they took that away as well.

- Funny how it is always the selkies of the girls that have gone on the Quest that appear and not any of the others. One of them (I am not even gonna bother to learn their names) said she could sense the presence of her fairy but still. Though, with their powers restored, I guess they could do that.

- Do I remember wrong or are Flora and her selkie the only ones that actually hugged? Cause that was kinda cute.

- Okay, Sky’s plan was good but did Bloom really need him to pull her out of the way? I am pretty sure she could have done that on her own since it was obvious what the plan was.

- If I were Stella, I’d be worried that a plant might eat me too. Having courage doesn’t mean that you can’t be afraid. It means that you find it in yourself to go on despite the fear. So I’d say Stella is courageous enough.

- Okay, but this plant looks like it was touched by Tritannus’ pollution and so did all the rest of the places from the Quest (except for Melody). So that means that what is happening wouldn’t have happened if not for him aka they aren’t actually completing the Quest because they are fighting Tritannus’ influence on the environment, not performing the tasks from the Quest.

- Good! Tecna and Layla are actually being strategical about this even though all Bloom wants is to hang out with the boyfriend. I wouldn’t mind if she didn’t just get targeted. But why the hell would she care about her safety - or Sky’s for that matter - when they can go on a romantic walk instead?

- Really? They need a translator? Flora has communicated with plants numerous times before. She should be able to understand what the Flower of the Depths is saying to them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dear god, the writers are really trying to be as stupid as possible.

- Why didn’t Bloom try to transform before jumping against the Trix? Or at least shoot some magic at them? Once again, how are they still alive?

- Darcy’s powers are awesome and she’s using them well. I love how she pushed Musa in her own trap. But damn, it was harsh of Musa to try to cause the rocks to crush Darcy. I thought the Trix were supposed to be the cruel ones.

- Wow, I thought Icy would have at least a couple broken bones after Layla smashed her in the rock like that but nope. She’s fine.

- Okay, I actually think that Sky and Bloom are cute in this episode, what the hell? I like the fact that they decided to stop trying to get the past back to him. That may even actually help him remember when he’s not stressing and straining to do it. I thought that Bloom meant one of the memories she wants to keep was that of the shell they found, though. Wasn’t that soulmate special or something?

5x12:

- Icy is really not paying attention, huh? I mean, Tritannus saying that he would give her one more chance somehow didn’t sound too reassuring to me. He gave the Trix their powers so he could probably take them away any time he wants and then destroy them. Which sounded exactly like what he was planning to do before Icy convinced him to give her one more chance.

- Well, they noticed the pattern of the Quest running through all their home planets. They could have tried looking for the yellow reef on Domino before asking the guardian of the Sirenix box. Just to do something on their own, you know.

- Who let Bloom go in that dress? Didn’t Tecna say Stella was there as well? How could she let Bloom even put that thing on, let alone wear it to the Domino renewal celebration. Also, why the hell is that happening only now? It has been a season and a half since Domino was restored. I thought this would be the discussion of Tritannus.

- Love how they didn’t even redo the footage from SotLK and just slapped the different art style right in the middle of the one from season 5. Lazy as lazy gets.

- Um, wasn’t the plan to capture Bloom? And if they changed it to getting Marion and Oritel, why didn’t they try to do that when Bloom wasn’t there? They couldn’t get her but they will somehow get her parents who literally defeated the Ancestral Witches while Bloom and two or three of her friends plus Sky are also there? How does that make sense?

- Oh, come on! The dresses looked much better without the flowers. Also, you’re telling me that Stella made them fit the same theme as Bloom’s but she didn’t have anything to do with Bloom’s dress? This is just... ridiculous. Also, how do flowers relate to Domino? Sparks or even gems would have made better sense. A fire pattern even.

- Marion and Oritel are giving very different vibes from the ones in Magical Adventure and even SotLK (even though they had like five lines each in that one).

- Did Bloom suddenly forget that Sky does not remember how he saved the Sword? And she left him alone even though he doesn’t have his memories? Also, why do none of their parents know about that? And up until this point, there were always three of them going on the Quest. But now that Bloom is actually needed somewhere else she is going even though she could have left it to Stella, Layla and Flora? Come on!

- Didn’t the pendant sink in the ocean on Earth? Where are the selkies now? And how come Flora’s selkie decided that she will know who the pendant belongs to? You know, out of the infinite number of people in the whole universe. The fact that she just so happens to actually know is yet another too convenient convenience but still.

- The mimicry fish are adorable and I love them.

- Wait, can any selkie open any portal? I thought they could only open the portals that they were guarding. But then Winx shouldn’t have been able to pass from Domino back to wherever Tritannus attacked - Andros maybe?

- Love how Marion instantly jumped away when the Trix attacked despite how much her outfit must weigh. And you’re telling me that Oritel is the fighter between the two of them? Yeah, right. Just please, let her use her magic to stop the Trix. We know she has it! Don’t make her look helpless because she is far from it.

- Well, of course, even the oceans of Domino are the best and have the rarest fish even though it is the planet of the Dragon Fire and Andros is the center of all oceans. Makes perfect sense.

- Okay, Marion and Oritel are definitely giving waaaay different vibes from the ones in the movies but I have to say that I kinda like how fierce they are. Not @ Oritel’s “Still have it in you?” because duh, she obviously does and even more so than you do, Oritel, but other than that I love how smoothly they just switch from celebration to a fight that is potentially for their lives. Also, I like that Sky gets to fight with them... Or at least he was supposed to.

- Yes, the one time Bloom is there, the others are completely useless. Also, that thing is not a coral. Wasn’t the Gem supposed to be in the jaws of the coral, not whatever the hell this fish is. And how is it in its mouth? How does it not ingest it when it eats? This doesn’t make sense.

- Love whatever Marion did there with shooting magic out of her sword. However, I don’t like the fact that the writers have forgotten she has magic and is not defenseless without a sword. And how did that trick even work? She could have just turned around and seen that it wasn’t the real Oritel. Not to mention that if Oritel knows the Trix are descendants of the Ancestral Witches, Marion does too aka she should have known that one of them has illusion powers. Given the fact that they fought a whole war against Lysslis, I am pretty sure she has faced similar tricks before and should have known better.

- Please, tell me the creature was supposed to vanish and it wasn’t Bloom that vaporized it from inside. Also, I so totally knew the last gem would be green. It made perfect sense.

- At least they remembered that Oritel’s sword is supposed to be special because it has Dragon Fire in it.

- Bloom and Sky saving her parents “together” makes no sense because Sky doesn’t have magic. So it wasn’t him that helped her save them but the sword.

- Their declarations of love were kinda undermined by him remembering and in such stupid way. Like, all the progress he made in restoring their relationship and even remembering a little wouldn’t have mattered if he hadn’t gotten the pendant back. Aka his blockage wasn’t actually going away. It was still there which means that his emotions were not getting worked out.

- I know Marion and Oritel will not go help save Daphne even though that would be the only logical thing and I am so fucking mad about it, you don’t even know.

5x13:

- Oh, god! They changed even the intro and the 3D animation is as ugly as I remember it to be. Love how they also spoil the fact that the girls will get Sirenix in this episode. Not that the title of the episode doesn’t.

- I have beef with this recap. That fish that had the Gem of Courage was so totally not a shark. It just wasn’t. I’m no shark expert but that was definitely not a shark. It looks like some fish you can find in the depths (I don’t remember their name) but it sure as hell ain’t a fucking shark.

- What training? They need to go get Daphne! Also, they handled Believix just fine. If Alfea had given them proper education, they should be able to control any transformation. Like, those should operate according to some goddamn logic.

- If Daphne hadn’t already told him, then why did she do it now? Man, he should have just made her talk before he told the Trix to leave Domino. Now that they were no longer there, Daphne didn’t have any reason to talk. She must have known that Bloom would find their parents so Tritannus lost his leverage. This is so nonsensical.

- What the hell does it mean that they have to look inside themselves? How is that gonna lead them to lake Roccaluche? The only one connected to it is Bloom because Daphne is her sister. This is ridiculous.

- How big is that lake and why does it look exactly the same way that the sea does? There is a difference between sweet water bodies and salt water bodies and the life inside them, you know, writers.

- Why would there be a protection system to guard the source of a whole ass goddamn transformation? It makes much more sense that anyone could just walk in and destroy it in 0.3 seconds.

- They just had to say that they will keep exhibiting the three virtues the Gems represented in order to get the location of the source of Sirenix? Man, really? Ugh, that is just so... ridiculously frustrating.

- For people who can lose their magic the same day, they sure don’t seem to be worried. Lounging and all.

- They know Tritannus was there. Obviously that is the explanation as to why the selkies did not find them.

- Yes, they totally look like they’ve “got this”.

- I actually liked the fact that Bloom had to give up finding out where Daphne is in order to save the lake. Seeing all the panicked animals rush around really drives home what is going on because they will all die if the lake dries completely.

- Oh, I am totally going to cry over Daphne’s anguish here. This looks so brutal. But here’s a thought for you. The whole power of Sirenix was put under a curse, right? Then why didn’t the Trix get affected by it? And if the Sirenix power is removed from Daphne, shouldn’t the curse disappear as well?

- Love how they forgot about the part where Sirenix was cursed even before Tritannus messed with the source.

- I hate the Sirenix transformation. It is the ugliest one to me and why did they have to go and give them streaks? The 3D look was bad enough already. Only the Trix’ Sirenix design is worse than this. (No, actually whatever the hell is happening to the Trix in the end of season 7 is the worst design idea they have ever had but I haven’t watched that.)

- So they didn’t need the selkies to enter the Infinite Ocean? Then how come that is what Tritannus needed? What the hell is wrong with the logistics of this whole thing?

- Where did all these minions come from? Did whatever he did to the... stone? thingy poison the nearby water and turn all creatures into his minions? Didn’t that work only on merfolk? If so, the Infinite Ocean seems overpopulated.

- They totally could have had Marion and Oritel in this but once Tritannus took Daphne into the Infinite Ocean, they would have needed to let Winx handle the rescue mission because the two of them wouldn’t be able to enter the Infinite Ocean. And boom, problem solved. They don’t have to drag Oritel and Marion through every episode while they still could have shown that they cared. Idk what was so complicated about that.

Part 2 can be found here.

#winx club #winx bloom #winx stella #winx layla #winx flora #winx tecna #winx musa #winx icy #winx darcy #winx stormy #trix #winx tritannus #winx sky #winx helia #wow none of the other specialists has actually mattered this season huh? #winx faragonda #winx daphne #winx marion #winx club season 5 #review #thoughts #part 1

[lil-creatorwritings]

So you’ve done Mitsuhide’s route, eh? Do you want to cry even more over his route?

Warning: Major spoilers for Mitsuhide's route, at least until finishing Chapter 10. I have warned you right off the bat, so don't come complaining to me that you didn't know.

Disclaimer! I have no formal education about Japanese culture. I am not Japanese either. I don't know if Cybird did these details on purpose.

So this came around while I was yelling about Mitsuhide's route with @plumpblueberry and she was the one who pushed me to make this post. With the combined history facts taken from ye ole Google search and my brain's overthinking ability as if I had just rolled a natural 20 on a DnD dice, here is potentially more reason to love and appreciate or cry a river over his route! I mean I'd like to think that this is canon but if it's not, then just enjoy this fictional trail of thought with me! Also if you're knowledgeable about Japanese history, culture and the symbolisms in it, please don't murder me if I'm wrong. ;;

So if you've made it this far, I'm assuming that you've done Mitsuhide's route to completion (wherever ending you chose to do first doesn’t matter). I think we can all agree that one of the most loved parts of his route is around Chapter 8, when he climbs up to MC's room to "tease her one more time" and give her a present--the beloved kanzashi (or hairpin in English).

Back then, it was said that it had magical powers to ward off evil spirits and was used as somewhat of a good luck charm. These things have different kinds depending on their shape and about a million designs, from flowers, nature, animals and such. And bellflowers, in the flower language, often mean "affection" and "everlasting love". It can also be given to express gratitude. 

So that's easy to associate--Mitsuhide's telling her how much he loves her and that he'll love her for all eternity with a pretty good luck charm. But another thing about bellflowers is that, as Kyubei says in the next chapter, it is also the Akechi kamon (family crest).

He says that it's an Akechi's way of praying for you. "To wish for your victory, regardless of what trials you face." Mitsuhide has recognized that she's come to rely on him and since he isn't there anymore (at least, for the time being), it's also a reminder from him of how strong she's become as a person. That she'll survive and eventually be able to return back to her time period.

Now at face value, the gesture itself is sweet. Receiving a gift from someone you love is always heartwarming. But that isn't the only thing that I mean.

Remember how in Chapter 5, Mitsuhide surprises us by saying that he wanted to marry her? Of course she doesn't believe him, but I would not be surprised if he was 100% serious. We all know that he's madly in love with her at this point of the story. Plus it's obvious that he enjoyed playing as her husband back in that western village a little too much for it to be fake.

Way back in the Edo period (and I assume even in the Senguko as well), marriages were 99.9% political since they were commonly used to form and solidify alliances. Elders in the family would play matchmaker (omiai) and set a meeting with a potential suitor. Insert classic trope of marrying within your social status and being banned from marrying someone with a lower social status as your family. If the woman is available and the man would like to propose, the next step would be an engagement ceremony (yuino), where the family would exchange symbolic gifts. And these gifts, ranging from dried fish to a special thread to actual money, can also be an accessory.

Like, say, a hairpin. A special hairpin.

It isn't uncommon for a man to gift a woman a kanzashi during the yuino (or outside of it, like just as a legitimate present). It's like an engagement ring, in a modern view. But there's another special detail--its design. As I said, kanzashi can have several designs, which yes, can include a kamon. And back then, when a woman wore a kanzashi with a specific kamon, it's highly likely that it is the kamon of her lover.

And you have to remember that not everything was ready to buy back then! Today, you can buy a ring at any time you want and have it in your hands within minutes or immediately. Things were being crafted from raw materials and were hand made back then, which need time and for someone to put the labor in to making it. Kyubei said that Mitsuhide had already prepared the gift even before they left for the village. He had already decided then, even before he even thought of having the hairpin made for her. This isn't on a whim--this was done with purpose and intent, to follow up on his word to marry her.

So yes, it appears (at least to me) that he had essentially proposed to her with that hairpin. For real.

My mind was blown with that realization too. Because I can't help but wonder--why would Mitsuhide risk jeopardizing his whole scheme and get caught just to deliver it to her personally when he could have tasked Kyubei to deliver it to her? And it is a mere coincidence that he chose a bellflower as a design, which also happens to be his family crest? Mitsuhide isn't the type of person to do something without reason as the route has shown us, so I don't think his choice of design was random by any means. And say, for argument's sake, that Mitsuhide had no deeper intention with the design (maybe he chose bellflowers because it was pretty), why would Kyubei bother to talk to her about the crest, that he had prepared it much earlier and that out of all the things his lord could have asked to be brought to him when he was imprisoned--it was this one specific thing he absolutely had to get?

Again, this is just my personal interpretation and should be taken with a grain of salt. I'm in no way saying that this is canon. I'm not saying that my personal association with the history facts is accurate because a lot of things and meaning change over time. But even if Cybird didn't intend it, I think it gives more weight and meaning to his actions and the scenes that surround it.

#mepp #ikemen sengoku #ikesen mitsuhide #um history people please dont kill me if im wrong ;; #again please take this with a grain of salt #but damn if this was canon then cybird is a fucking genius #even without all this his route is still one of the best imo

[blue-likethebird]

Shimizu Kiyoko: A Meta

Recently, Haikyuu finished its last match and ended an 8-year run in Shonen Jump. I love Haikyuu. It has so many unique characters with complex motivations, a plot that had me invested for 4 years straight, good pacing and a fanbase full of talented creators. It had a big impact on my style as an author and even motivated me to try out for my school’s volleyball team back in middle school (but I ended up getting hit in the head with a serve and cut after the first tryouts ended rip.) But like every story, Haikyuu had a few flaws too.

Shimizu Kiyoko is without a doubt one of my favourite characters after Michimiya and Suga. But when I reread the series following the manga’s end, I had the uncomfortable realization that as much as I love Kiyoko, the way her character was handled fell into a few -kinda misogynistic- pitfalls. Well, this is me taking a closer look at that. Below the cut is the full meta, which contains spoilers for the final arc of Haikyuu!! You’re free to add your thoughts, argue that I’m wrong, or call me a bitch and block me at your own discretion!

In fairness, Haikyuu is a series about a boys’ volleyball team, and that premise doesn’t leave much room for girls outside of the supporting cast. At the very least, Furudate did a good job making the female characters in his series likeable individuals with distinct personalities who have lives of their own outside of the guys. Even characters like Michimiya, Kanoka and Mika -who are comparatively minor characters serving romantic roles in the story- have identities not revolving around their relationships with boys. I’m glad that the girls were allowed to express ugly emotions, have supportive relationships with one another, and weren’t solely defined by what guys they were in love with. On that level, Haikyuu is leaps and bounds better than a lot of other shonen mangas ie Boruto’s Dad.

Unfortunately, Kiyoko’s arc fell slightly short of the mark. In the grand scheme of things, she really didn’t have much to do and her identity as a character is comparatively murkier than others once you strip away her relationships with the men in Haikyuu. Given her potential, popularity, and the higher standards Haikyuu set for its ladies, it’s a bit disappointing.

“But blue!” Someone in the back row pipes up. “You said yourself that Kiyoko isn’t a main character! Authors don’t develop the supporting cast nearly as much as the protagonists!”

Well yeah. If authors expanded on every character to the extent they expand on the lead, then it would be impossible to get to the actual plot. But hey, Oikawa appears less frequently than Kiyoko does and his motivations and interests are given time to develop. Heck, Yachi only joined the cast in chapter 73 and the series explores her interest in art and relationship with her mother really well during her introduction. We don’t know Kiyoko’s family situation, or why she quit track, or what drives her to put so much of her own time into the volleyball club. And the scenes where she has an impact on the story, or the game going on, or Hinata’s quest to become a great volleyball player, or another character she interacts with are few and far between when stacked up against other members of Karasuno’s volleyball club. The only exception would be Kinoshita and Narita, who have the bad luck of being Haikyuu’s version of “those two guys” so that’s not exactly the best demonstration of what Kiyoko has to offer.

Then there’s my beef with the pedestal she’s dropped on: Both in canon and out, Kiyoko is presented as a perfect goddess who can do no wrong. This setup has so much room to expand on and deconstruct, which dozens of stories have done incredibly well. Even Haikyuu itself has done a similar thing through Kageyama’s relationship with the other Kitadaii alumni and the “king of the court” storyline. Yet Kiyoko never gets a chance to explain her feelings on being held to such a high standard, nor is it ever brought up as something that could be uncomfortable for her. It’s briefly implied that she’s somewhat out of her element when she’s the centre of attention in the “do your best” scene, but that’s not really touched on further. Given that haikyuu has acknowleged being held to unreachable standards is damaging, it would have made sense to acknowledge Kiyoko’s perspective too. Is she insecure about being considered flawless? Is it something that brings her confidence or boosts her ego? Idk, because it’s never explained clearly. It’s like a porcelain doll: Kiyoko is perfect, but by keeping her up on a high shelf to maintain that perfection, we miss the chance to get a closer look that could help further our appreciation of her.

It’s not that being one of the less dynamic characters is inherently a misogynistic pratfall, since there are plenty of male characters out there who could give a cardboard box a run for its money in terms of complexity. However, given that Kiyoko’s character is already floundering among all the unaddressed idealizations around her, to have so little opportunity to address that and how damaging it can be, well it’s not great to say the least. She’s also one of the only characters in the whole series to suffer from this particular burden. It’s kinda difficult to handwave that as just a weird coinky dink that Kiyoko’s not given more development while the arrival of Lev at Nekoma warranted a dissection of how this affects their dynamic. 

This all builds up to a defining moment. The one that made me realize how Shimizu Kiyoko had never quite escaped the trap so many other shonen manga ladies since Sakura and Orehime had fallen victim to.

The reveal that she and Tanaka got married between the end of nationals and the time skip. That was when I realized that for all I loved her and the series she was a part of, the writing surrounding her was misogynistic. 

I have a... variety of emotions about this particular relationship’s road to becoming canon, and they’re not especially positive emotions either. I could prattle on for ages about the execution or buildup, and a whole other post could be written about why I always interpreted her as a lesbian, but that’s best saved for another time. How was Kiyoko falling in love with Tanaka a weak point?

To put it bluntly, it’s because she didn’t.

We’re shown over and over again that Tanaka has feelings for Kiyoko. That was established in basically the first scene they appeared together in. What irks me is that she never gets the same: that the ‘hints’ that Kiyoko returns those feelings barely qualify as hints at all. Yet, with one scene where Tanaka carries her bag, we’re supposed to believe that the few scraps of interest she’s shown throughout the 300+ chapters of the manga they’ve both appeared in is a strong enough end point to lead to them getting hitched. Come to think of it, is there ever even a scene outside of the bag carrying where they spoke one-on-one about anything meaningful? Did Tanaka ever get to see her as more than her pedestal that we saw? The scene they ended off on is where most romance arcs start for heaven’s sake, and it ultimately disservices both characters. 

Once again, poor Kiyoko got screwed over by the series denying her a chance to express her feelings, and the marriage bomb came off as less of a satisfying conclusion to either of their arcs and more like a one-sided “wear the girl down” pullout where the girl in question is treated more like a prize than part of a healthy relationship. That kind of “romance” is more at home in a cliche action bland-com than Haikyuu, where the relationships are written with more complexity. This would have so easily been avoided with even one throwaway line. But since Kiyoko never got to express her own feelings, a crucial building block to a satisfying romantic arc was left out and the whole relationship toppled over like a jenga tower.

To wrap this up, lemme say that Haikyuu is one of my favourite series and one of the strongest shonen or sports manga I’ve read. I love both Kiyoko and Tanaka both a fuck ton, and I’m incredibly grateful that Furudate gave us such a powerful series these past eight years. None of this is me trying to bash the author, story, or any of the characters and I’m definitely not trying to argue that they’re in any way problematic. This is merely one interpretation of the series and an examination of a relatively minor part of the genuinely enjoyable whole. My goal in writing this longass meta wasn’t to condemn. But, in a manga whose biggest strength is having such well-rounded characters, it’s still somewhat of a shame that so much of Kiyoko’s potential stayed just that: potential. Haikyuu is a series that’s well-known for giving complex personal stories to all its cast from major player to one-chapter rivals. Why is it that Shimizu Kiyoko -who’s been a regular presence in the story since the very first chapter- couldn’t get the same?

#bluebird.txt #bluebird thinks #meta #shimizu kiyoko #haikyuu!! #long ass post #long post #hq critical #salty wench #volleyboys

[runner5ive]

Five and Sam

Right. Y’all spoke and I heard you. This is heavily inspired by @littlelionmay​‘s posts about how she pictures her Five/Sam (which are adorable and you should def check them out: 1,2,3) 

I’ve also referenced certain scenes I’ve drawn so I’ve included links to them if anyone cares :’)

Background/head canon-y stuff on Sam and Five below the cut:

I've attempted to avoid spoilers but there may be a few references to certain missions throughout.

Five is a Hardened Grouchy Baby when they first meet Sam and they're not exactly expecting to stay in Abel for long so they don't really attempt to get to know him or anyone else for that matter.

Sam's the only one who can speak BSL in Abel (until he reaches everyone else) so that sort of forces them to become a little closer. Even if it's begrudgingly.

Five's always glad Sam can barely see their face on runs because they're always grinning at his stupid comments.

After a few missions, Five realised they're starting to warm to Sam, which doesn't sit right with them at all because they've always moved around and never had much of a chance for friends in the past.

(When they first meet the other runners, Five has a moment of thinking Simon was hella attractive until he opened his mouth and spoke and they were like 'lmao never mind'. Jody was never on the cards because she is a precious bean who needs protecting at all costs.)

The morning of zr season 1 mission 6 (no spoilers) Five finds themself sat with him at lunch, even laughing with him, and it unsettled them how friendly they're both becoming. They throw their defences back up suddenly and decide that it's enough, they'll avoid Sam unless they're on a mission together.

SPOILERS FOR ZR S1M7: because who can avoid writing about A Voice in the Dark? Sam is forced to report that Five is missing in action to Mullins. When he comes on the comms, the exact moment Five decides they're going to live and make it home is when he calls them their friend for the first time. As they stagger through the gates they race straight to him.

(Some spoilers for same episode ??) The next day, when they're released from quarantine, they sit and stare at the missing in action report for the longest time knowing that fixing it would mean they could be pulled back to Mullins at any point. Sam gently suggests that they don't amend it, and Five considers it for a long while. They shut off the computer without sending the report and signs 'Abel is my home' for the first time.

After S1M7, Sam organises for them to get their own bunk. He decorates it so it's all nice and homely for them.

Sam and Five only get closer after this. They're still a little Awkward around him and the other runners, not exactly used to being so friendly with others, but with a bit of encouragement their goofy goblin side starts to show.

Honestly Sam was such a bad influence on them much to Janine's dismay (she actually thought for a while thats she had a stoic, serious soldier working for her).

Five probably has a moment when Sam and Maxine sends them for board games when they think 'oh my god I love my dorks' and they mean it completely platonically but it's like fucking whiplash for them because they're Their dorks!

Five fondness for Sam keeps growing. He's talking to them one day about a game of Demons and Darkness and Five is just smittened by how dorky he is. They realise how nice it is just being there with him is the warmest and most comfortable they've felt... well, ever.

So they just stand up, grab his hoody, and yank him into a kiss.

There’s no romantic declaration of love. Hell, they don't even think they're in love with him at that point. But they make their affections shown.

It’s very much a moment of ‘This boy. I want him.’

Sam for the first time is speechless as he watches them walk away, smirk on their face.

They both sort of silently come to a decision not to mention that kiss to anyone or even each other.

But it's the start of something.

If Five gets back from a mission where Sam somehow saves their life, you can bet that they'll head straight to the comms shack after their decontamination shower to seize him into a kiss again.

Sam has no idea what's going on but he is not complaining. Heck, probably the best part of the missions.

Jody and Maxine catch them in the act one time and grab a photo for Simon.

When Jody asks how long they'd been in a relationship, Sam says something like "Five and I aren't in a relationship??? What kiss???" and somehow the photo has disappeared (and Five is just stood by as Jody searches wildly for it like 😏). Jody is FURIOUS about this.

This is why it's never mentioned in missions because they are 100% not in a relationship nope not at all they just really enjoy being around each other and put each other before anything else and get to kiss occasionally

It is Hot Gossip for one hot minute but neither of them are particularly into public displays of affection so after a while it's sort of forgotten by most of Abel. Especially without Jody's evidence.

Though the people they work with tease them for it becuase it’s clearn there’s SOMETHING but they also warn new people not to even consider pursuing one of them.

Maxine is the one who decides that this whole thing is Not Healthy and threatens to lock them in a room together until they discuss their feelings for each other.

Sam is the one who convinces her otherwise. He tells her that don't talk about it and have never needed to talk about it, but they are very much aware of how they feel for each other. 

Plus, keeping it as a 'non-relationship' takes the pressure off because they're both superstitious as heck and believe that making it 'official' will equal certain death for one or both of them because apocalypses have a tendency to tear away any happiness as soon as it appears so it's their way of sort of protecting each other.

Maxine is Sceptical but she guessed it makes sense. And if they're happy then who is she to complain.

Happy is definitely the right word. Both of them are the happiest they’ve been in ages. And the fact it’s a non-relationship means theres no awkward transition period. They’re the exact same, goofballs who get excited over D and D or dorky finds only with a few extra benefits. 

There's still slip ups though: "That's MY Runner Five!"

They don't do 'good luck kisses' at all because that feels very ominous. Like a goodbye.

Instead they do 'well done kisses' which they share after most missions because that means Five HAS to survive and get back home.

Basically their whole situation is based around superstitious nonsense but it makes sense to them even if no one else understands.

Five insists that Sam puts Abel before them every time. He begrudgingly agrees, but insists that when everyone else is safe, then he'll do what he can to save them too.

You can bet your ass that if bad guys threaten one of them then the other is ready to throw fists.

Some missions have to be kept secret from Five/Sam because as soon as they realise that the other is in danger then they rage.

“UM EXCUSE ME WHY IS MY OPERATOR OUTSIDE OF ABEL AND WHO THE HELL AUTHORISED IT I JUST WANT TO TALK"

#zr #zombies run #zr 5am #5am zr #sam yao #five #runner five #runner 5 #5am

[karliahs]

um for prompts idk anything specific but maybe more midoriya gettin angry over stuff and dealin?? really loved the way u handled it in something else to pretend, would love to see ur take on how he deals with more aggressive/harsher anger? idk tho

content warning for discussions of bullying and brief references to (canon) child abuse

“Why did Kacchan do that?” Izuku asks. It’s one of those shards of memory that lingers far longer than it should, muddying over years and re-rememberings, but never completely fading away.

Izuku can remember the question, his grazed knees, the sun shining on the grass. He can remember his mother helping clean him up, smiling a comforting smile and saying, “I don’t know, sweetie. I think he was angry.”

Izuku isn’t sure if the question that comes next comes from his mother, or if it’s just something he’s thought about so much over the years that it’s gotten tangled up in the memory, an unwitting passenger. “Don’t you get angry, Izuku?” someone asks.

ao3 link / continued below

In hindsight, Izuku is sure the thoughts that come next can’t be part of the memory. His five year old self wouldn’t be capable of this kind of self-analysis. But the thing is, Izuku thinks he knows what anger is. It’s not really that distinct from other kinds of overwhelmed, when the world is too loud, too much, too impatient and needling - and so he cries, because this happens every time a feeling is too large to hold all of it inside him, and ‘wanting not to cry’ is always one of those feelings, so there’s no way out.

Izuku supposes he must have thrown tantrums when he was little. Thrown his toys around, fallen on the floor, screamed. He can’t remember doing any of that.

He’s never felt whatever Kacchan is feeling when he pushes Izuku into the dirt. He tries to imagine it, a feeling bubbling over into bright, harsh action, like Kacchan’s explosions. He can almost get there, but after comes a sweep of shame that pulls him back into himself. Izuku Midoriya, quirkless and strange, who causes enough problems without pushing other children over. Izuku, who can feel the aftermath so much more distinctly than that initial explosion of anger. He can’t think about explosions without thinking about wreckage.

…

“Don’t you ever get mad?” Matsuda asks.

Izuku had been on his way to take shelter in the school library over lunch. He’d been distracted, as he walked, wondering if the doors would be open today - the library is sparse and neglected enough when it’s open, but the school’s staffing levels are such that he frequently turns up at the doors to find the whole place shut up and locked, leaving him to try and think of another place where he might be able to spend the next 45 minutes safe and left alone - so distracted that he hadn’t noticed Matsuda until they almost collided in the hallway.

He was lucky, really, that it was just Matsuda, not one of Kacchan’s true entourage, but a hanger-on who rarely missed an opportunity to take Izuku down a peg. In a class without Izuku there, it wouldn’t be that hard to see Matsuda in Izuku’s place.

But something about Izuku’s distracted expression during his taunts seems to have triggered something else, a kind of disbelieving disgust. “Like, ever?” he asks. “Don’t you ever get tired of like ‘thanks, excuse me, sorry for existing and all, good luck with the test tomorrow guys!’” He says this last past in a high-pitched imitation of Izuku’s voice, and Izuku thinks maybe they’ve returned to familiar ground, but Matsuda is still staring intently at him, seemingly waiting for an answer.

He doesn’t have one to give. Half his mind is still on those library doors, and whether they’ll be open when he gets there. The rest is fuzzed over with panic, leaving him with nothing but his polite, stammering default - which never makes it better, but silence never does either.

“Whatever,” Matsuda says, suddenly growing tired of him and starting off in the other direction. “It’s like you like it this way.”

Izuku takes a shuddering breath and turns the corner. The library doors are closed.

…

Izuku tries, later that day, once he’s safe at home, to get angry on purpose. He sits on his bed and tries to summon it up, like the opposite of meditating, reaching for fury instead of calm. For a few minutes nothing happens at all, except that he gets distracted thinking about other things and has to drag himself back.

He thinks about Kacchan pushing him down, and him never finding out why. He thinks about the look on his mother’s face when she came back from meetings during the dissolution of her marriage, meetings Izuku was kept well away from; he thinks about how hard she tried to be normal, but how her knuckles were white where she gripped her water glass.

Eventually, there’s a kind of hot, prickling feeling over his skin. He feels briefly untethered, out of his own body, and wonders if he really did end up meditating after all. Then comes a wave of nausea, so physical that he feels a prickling in the back of his throat. He remembers having the flu last semester, and the nausea that had flooded through him when he’d tried to walk just to get a glass of water - nausea that felt like a warning, like a plea; stop, whatever you’re doing, stop.

He opens his eyes to find he’s gripping his notebook in his hands, so tight he’s bent the spine, leaving little wrinkles of damage spreading out from where he’d held on. He releases his grip and tries to smooth it over, bend it back into shape, but it only looks sadder for his efforts, care shown far too late to help anything.

…

Always, at the root of anger, we find a desire for change. Izuku grips his highlighter pen, unsure. He doesn’t think this passage has much to do with the essay question he’s been assigned, but something about it peaks his interest anyway.

A person enraged is a person committed to affecting change in the world around them. If we all gave in to those desires at every opportunity, we would have a world of tyranny and chaos. However, the alternative extreme is no better - a world of stasis and apathy, drifting, stagnating. When we tell our children to banish their anger, we tell them to cut away a significant part of their own agency. When we tell this to some children and never to others, we invite a different, more incisive kind of tyranny.

Izuku is torn between a desire to slam the book shut, and the urge to try and pivot his essay in a direction that will let him analyse this. He highlights the words in yellow, realising that when he thinks of change, he doesn’t think of anger. He thinks of All Might, defeating impossible odds, saving dozens of terrified people, and doing it all with a smile on his face. What is that if not agency? Can you really not have one without the other?

…

He supposes what he’s doing is building a case, the way he always does. Trying to capture the sum of his understanding of something, so that when he needs the knowledge it will be there. The crucial, long, stuttering thinking will already be done, and in the heat of the moment he can just act.

That’s Hero Analysis For the Future , and he thinks that’s why he’s holding onto these memories too. Almost every aspect of a hero’s life affects their career in some ways; if anger does too, it makes sense that Izuku needs to work out what he thinks. Don’t you ever get angry, Izuku? Don’t you ever get mad? Always, at the root of anger, we find a desire for change. It’s like you like it this way.

Izuku wishes, for a moment, that feelings were as real and tangible as organs. He wishes he could go for a scan and have someone tell him yep, anger’s right there. It isn’t enlarged or shrivelled. It isn’t inflamed or sickening. It isn’t poisoning everything around it.

…

He asks his friends, now that he has friends, specifically targeting those who are more on an even keel - he already knows he can’t relate to big, obvious anger.

“Sure, Deku,” Uraraka answers. “Everyone gets angry.”

“What does it feel like, when you are?”

“Are you gonna take notes?” she teases, but then she’s concentrating, tapping her fingers together, trying to figure out how best to describe it. Izuku still isn’t used to this; if you’d asked him to predict what Uraraka would give him, even though he thinks the world of her, he assumed he’d get a quick, uninterested comment at most. Either his UA friends are so much better than most people, or his calibrations for what friendship is are all off; Izuku suspects it’s a little of both.

“I guess I have two types of anger?” Uraraka muses. “Like, there’s…determined anger? Like at the sports festival, I just got really fired up and wanted to win so bad!” She makes a fist, as if to demonstrate, and man, Izuku likes her so much.

She lets her hands drop. “Then there’s the kind that’s less fun. Like…when your heater is broken and you’re mad that it’s broken, and that you’re cold and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Your heater isn’t really broken, right?” Izuku asks. “It’s been getting really cold out!”

Uraraka gives him a warm smile. “No, Deku. It’s fine.” He stares at her smile for a second too long, trying to grasp the idea of Uraraka being really, truly angry. He thinks it’s like how no one can really know that they’re seeing the same colours everyone else sees. For all he knows, they’re feeling totally different things and giving them the same name; he can’t imagine Uraraka feeling anything in the disjointed, sickly way that rage finds him.

…

Ashido is his next target, and she laughs before realising he’s serious. “Anger feels like anger, you know?” she says idly. “Like…” She holds up her hands in a claw-like gesture, and makes a kind of ‘rrargh’ noise.

Izuku must look slightly disappointed, because Ashido sighs and throws up her hands. “I don’t know, man! I don’t like to think about it. Everything is stupid when you’re angry, and I’m always there, so it’s like I’m stupid. The stupidest thing in all the stupid.”

She looks down at her shoes as she talks, and it’s so unlike the Ashido he knows that Izuku wants to apologise for having asked. Before he can, she lightly punches his shoulder, giving him a smaller, more subdued version of her usual bright smile. “You don’t always gotta dwell on stuff, you know?” she says. “No one’s gonna give you points for it. Chin up! Plus ultra!”

She skips away, and Izuku feels like he understands her both more and less than he did five minutes ago.

…

He doesn’t actually plan to ask Todoroki, but he’s in Todoroki’s room taking back his notes for English class when he finds himself doing it anyway.

“You…get angry sometimes, right?”

Todoroki blinks at him. Slowly, deliberately, he lifts his left hand, cupped in a way that makes Izuku anticipate flame, makes him aware of the ghost of it among his fingers.

“Yes,” Todoroki says simply.

“Yeah,” Izuku says, wanting to smile to soften things but not wanting Todoroki to think he’d been making fun of him. “I’ve been asking a lot of people. People in our class, I mean.” He fidgets with his hands for a second. “I think I’m doing it wrong? I don’t know if I have too much anger or too little, but…I don’t know. I think there’s something wrong with me.”

Todoroki waits patiently while he speaks, all his attention fixed on Izuku. Izuku thinks that’s one of the reasons he likes Todoroki; even for all of his ambition, he gives off this impression of patience that makes it feel okay to talk, to talk imperfectly and at length, now that he’s past Todoroki’s initial barriers. The other ambitious people Izuku knows, himself included, aren’t like that - he’s dogged, determined, but not patient. It comes from starting so far behind everyone else, making it feel as though no movement is ever really fast enough.

Todoroki thinks for a long moment before replying. “It can’t be worse than what’s wrong with me.”

Izuku gives him a small smile. Kind things hover in the back of his mind, wanting to offer reassurance, but he knows from experience that when you offer some glimpse of how you feel about yourself, sometimes the best thing to receive back is just space and acknowledgement, instead of attempts to convince you otherwise that mostly just make you regret speaking up in the first place.

Izuku knows he’s so behind with this, too; having friends, talking to people, trying to give them reasons to be glad that they talked to him. But maybe Todoroki would understand that, out of all of his friends - maybe they can muddle through together.

“I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately,” Todoroki offers, and Izuku thinks maybe he made the right choice after all. “I used to want to never be angry, so that I’d never act like my father. Now I think if I don’t get used to it, get control of it, I’m more likely to make the same mistakes he did.”

Todoroki flexes his left hand, frowning.

“You’ve come so far, you know?” Izuku says, before he can stop himself.

Todoroki meets his eyes. He’s familiar and strange all at once. Even now that they’ve spent more time together, Izuku can so rarely predict what Todoroki will say or do, just that he likes him, likes the strange angles of him, likes that for some reason he chose Izuku as the subject of his honesty.

“It doesn’t feel like it,” Todoroki says, but there’s a softness there, like gratitude.

“I don’t know if it ever does,” Izuku answers, thinking of all the times this year he’s been told that he’s making progress, and how sometimes he’s still convinced that he’s exactly the same on the inside; the same friendless nothing who spent his lunch breaks cowering in the library. “I just feel so guilty for being mad,” he says. “Even if I just sit with it and don’t do anything, it feels so…dangerous.”

The notes in his hands bring him back to that day in his room, trying to be angry on purpose. “One time I messed up one of my notebooks when I was angry, and even though it’s just paper, I felt so bad…I can’t think about anger without thinking about damage, you know?”

He looks up from the notes, from his own scarred hands, to find Todoroki watching him with a new intensity in his eyes. Immediately he wishes he hadn’t spoken, because of course Todoroki knows more about damage than he ever will. “I’m sorry-” he starts, but Todoroki shakes his head.

“I didn’t know anyone else thought about this the way I do. Especially you.”

Their eyes meet again and Izuku finds himself smiling, just from having spoken and been understood - it was still wonderful and new, every time, each moment where he realises he really does have friends. “Maybe there’s a class we can take?” he jokes.

“I think that’s just therapy,” Todoroki says, sounding thoughtful and disappointed in equal measure. “Tell me why you think you’re doing it wrong?”

Izuku gently sets the notes back on Todoroki’s desk, realising with another little leap of joy that he won’t be leaving for a while yet. He takes a seat and starts to talk about being five years old, about the time Kacchan pushed him over and the only explanation anyone could offer was anger.

#bnha fic #asks #itsa-mi #izuku midoriya #thank you for the prompt!!

[mobius-prime]

212. Sonic the Hedgehog #144

Mobius 25 Years Later: The Die is Cast

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Steven Butler Colors: Jason Jensen

We've finally made it to the final installment of this damned arc! Man, that doesn't seem to leave us a lot of time to solve the main conflict of the world ending, does it…? Well, I suppose we have to read the issue first. Knuckles arrives back home after his visitation to Locke's grave, and tells a delighted Lara-Su that he's rethought his stance on training her as a Guardian and plans to start straightaway - after, of course, his current mission with Sonic. When he makes a vague allusion to asking her mother for help on her instruction if he doesn't come back, Lara-Su tries to insist she come along to help, and Julie-Su, who was listening in, becomes indignant.

Aww, that's actually sweet. I think that's the first time we've seen actual, real affection between any of this arc's married couples. Julie-Su sees Knuckles off to his shuttle, driven by - who else - an elderly Harry, and Sally makes him promise he'll bring her husband back to her. He tries to find Lara-Su for a final goodbye before his mission, but is somewhat baffled to not find her anywhere, assuming she was too angry at not being taken along to stick around. The shuttle flies them out through the worsening storms to the "badlands," a horrifically-polluted section of the planet that's so toxic the group has to wear sealed suits as they traverse the terrain and make their way to Robotnik's old hidden base.

Sonic immediately volunteers himself to go back in time despite the dangers Rotor warns him of, and we cut away to the shuttle for a little surprise - Lara-Su has stowed away in a cargo box, determined to come along and help despite what her father thinks. However, before she can even take a step outside the shuttle, she begins to vanish from reality like that scene from Back to the Future. What could be causing this? Well, back in the base, we might find our answer:

And… that's it! No, seriously, that's literally the end of the arc. No context is given for what we just saw happen. It's not explained if this time travel venture indeed caused the world to end, or if Sonic going back in time erased this timeline in favor of another, or what. This is such an abrupt and unsatisfactory ending that I have to wonder if Kenders was forced to end the story early on short notice, because absolutely nothing is explained here. We spent over a dozen issues building up to something, enduring trite teen drama and old stuffy adults arguing at each other while locked into loveless marriages, and got the most vague and useless ending possible, after all of that. I mean, what was even the point of all this then? Some chapters in this arc had literally no plot or character progression whatsoever! The aversion of the end of time and space was literally the most interesting potential plot hook in this entire arc, and it's basically swept aside in the last few pages with no explanation. This almost makes the actually good writing of last issue seem useless, if this is what came directly afterwards. *sigh* Ah well, we're finally free of this nightmare. And as it turns out, we're very close to the end of Penders as a whole! Those of you who have read the comics before might have noticed that we're rapidly approaching the 160th issue, which is when a certain fan-favorite writer took the reins and started to fix a lot of the messes that the previous writers left him with. So if you're one of the ones who despises everything Penders ever wrote, you don't have much longer to suffer - just a few more issues and we're in the clear!

Love and Loss

Writer: Romy Chacon Pencils: Jon Gray Colors: Josh Ray

This story is a bit of a bizarre one, being very unlike any others we've read so far. There's very little action and a whole lot of solid blocks of text to read, but in a way, I do feel it's interesting and contributes to several characters' arcs in a positive manner. A poor bear is doing his best to sell some newspapers to the denizens of Knothole one Wednesday evening when he suddenly finds himself mobbed by a horde of rabid women all grabbing for a copy.

Now that is quite interesting. No, I don't mean the love advice column - I mean the little signpost in the second panel, the one listing the prices for products at the stand! Now, Jon has a habit of making up things to put on posters and the like in the background of his art, many of which are clearly just meant to be humorous and not to be taken seriously, but this is literally (as far as I can tell) the very first instance we've ever seen of an actual unique currency in this world! "Mobiums", huh? They seem to be kind of equivalent to Japanese yen, in that a single one is barely worth a penny - I mean, I'm pretty sure they're not meant to be like dollars anyway, as $75 for a single comic seems incredibly steep. For now, I suppose we'll have to add "Mobiums" to our list of potentially-canon bits of worldbuilding info about Mobius.

Anyway, as you might expect, several of our favorite girls in this comic have gotten themselves a copy today, and as it turns out, they've all written in their own letters and are eager to see the advice this "Aly" will give them. First up is Bunnie, who writes in under the pseudonym "Feeling Terribly Alone." Obviously, her main problem is with Antoine. She details how they've grown apart and how she feels like she doesn't even know him anymore - and yet, despite all their recent difficulties, she's still in love with him and wishes things could go back to the way they used to be.

Poor Bunnie. One of the things that seems to crop up for her now and again is her well-hidden insecurities about her cyborg nature. From her recurring nightmares, to her concern over the idea of Antoine still being able to be attracted to her despite her robotic parts, it's clear that she struggles a lot more with her nature than she lets on, and her relationship with Antoine boosted her confidence immensely. They were clearly happy together, and just as they were getting past the honeymoon phase and settling into a more steady relationship, he became cold towards her without a clear explanation as to why. It's clearly broken her heart at a time when she desperately needs to be able to hold it together, and the idea of her sitting in her house at night, alone and sobbing to herself uncontrollably, is really sad.

Next up is Mina, AKA "Singing the Blues." Her letter discusses how lately she's feeling torn between old crushes and new relationships. Her new boyfriend, Ash, was briefly shown in StH#134, but apparently they've grown quite close in the year that Sonic was gone. However, with Sonic back, Mina has been feeling the old familiar butterflies around him, and questions whether she truly loves Ash in the same way she cares for Sonic. (Obviously, however, in the usual vein of these kinds of ask columns, everything she says is vague, not mentioning any names.) Aly's letter advises her to not give up on a current happy relationship to chase someone else who may not even be interested, and Mina appears to genuinely take this to heart, deciding to give her boyfriend a call despite the late hour.

Well, good for her! Mina's a sweetheart, and it does seem like she and Ash genuinely care for each other. The third letter comes from Amy, or "Wishing for Love," who lays out her crush on Sonic and how she's tried to get his attention here and there, including going so far as to "look and dress older" (bit of an understatement there, Ames) to catch his eye. However, she's frustrated that she can't seem to gain his affections, and wants Aly's opinion on whether she really is putting too much effort into a silly crush, or whether she actually has a chance. Aly begins by tactfully pointing out that it sounds like she's still young, and it's not a good idea to rush into love too quickly when there's so much more life ahead.

…yeah, that's about what I'd expect from Amy. After all, remember that despite her physical age, she still mentally skipped half her childhood up to this moment, and she's also the hopeless romantic type, so it's not surprising she'd be unimpressed by advice telling her to look away from her crush. The article appears to be winding down, but everyone reading is struck by what they see in the last entry, from someone called "Royally Scared." The writer dives into her story, about her deepest love and how they made a commitment to each other only for her love to be "lost," which broke her heart. When he came back, she tried to get him to walk away from his "job" for a better job in her family's "business," but he refused and they had an ugly break-up as a result. She still loves him, but she's too scared of losing him again, especially because he's so brash and throws himself into danger without a care.

Everyone immediately realizes that this is Sally's letter, and are riveted to the page for Aly's response. Aly admits that she doesn't have a solid answer for this one, but says that it seems like they both have valid points. She points out that Sally's "dramatic confrontation" might not have been very fair to her lover, and urges them to both talk it out like adults after they take some time apart to reevaluate their own priorities, before wishing her luck and concluding the article. I just want to point out that the entire section where she lays it out and Aly responds is masterfully put together, with the heart-filled background slowly transitioning to a deep, tangled mass of purple and black as the letter goes on, interspersed with silhouettes of Sally crying and looking very alone in a dark void. I've pointed it out before, but Sally was very clearly traumatized - badly - by everything she's been through, with Sonic's supposed death being a breaking point for her, and the backgrounds of this issue symbolize this struggle very effectively. But here comes the real twist. After all, "Aly" is clearly a pseudonym, and no one knows who's really running this column. So who do you suppose it is?

God damn. Even in the middle of dealing with severe PTSD, Sally's still got a damn good head on her shoulders. It seems that people were starting to suspect her as the writer, so she deliberately wrote in a letter that was obviously her, and then answered it herself to throw readers off the scent. And her answer to herself was well thought out and reasonable - it's clear that she wrote her entry letter first, then forced herself to take a step back and evaluate her situation as though she were a third party who didn't know any of the finer details. The result is a response that doesn't betray her true identity, and isn't obviously colored by her own biases, where she gets a chance to look at her situation with a clearer head (probably helped out substantially by Nicole as an outside perspective). She flat-out acknowledges that her own actions on the stage the night of Sonic's welcome home party were unreasonable and unfair to him, and calls herself out on it in a public newsletter (even if most people aren't aware of the circumstances behind this entry). I feel like this only supports what I said about The Slap several issues ago, that she wasn't acting rationally that night and needs to be cut some slack on account of her (now-canonically-acknowledged) trauma. And in the end, her Aly persona is right. While she and Sonic still love each other, their differences have made a stable relationship between the two currently impossible, meaning it's best for them to take that time apart to figure out what each of them want before they think about getting back together. I think this is a really good follow-up to what happened in that issue, and gives a lot more insight into just why Sally did what she did, and how she's handling it after the fact.

This issue ends with a single page reminiscent of the Sega Data Files of issues past, this time covering the entire Acorn Royal Family. There's not much info here that we don't already know, but we do find out that Elias and his wife Megan's child has been born by now, a daughter named Alexis. Hope we get to see them all again soon!

#nala reads archie sonic preboot #archie sonic #archie sonic preboot #sonic the hedgehog #sth 144 #writer: ken penders #writer: romy chacon #pencils: steven butler #pencils: jon gray #colors: jason jensen #colors: joshua d ray

[ghostmartyr]

Immiii where do you think pieck is in the middle of all this?

-clears throat-

I do believe it’s time for another edition of “Immi why are you like this it was a simple question about canon not your fanfic version of canon.”

In a sec, anyway. An actual straightforward answer is I believe she’s going to be focusing on locating Historia. …Yes, fine, fanfic canon and canon have reached critical congruence.

Right now, there are, realistically, three people who have the power to change the course this bullet train of disaster is on. Eren and Zeke, who are the lead conductors, and Historia. Eren has the Founding Titan inside of him. Zeke has his own Titan and royal blood. Historia has royal blood.

If Eren avoids Zeke, the Founding Titan has no power. All sides have been shown having an interest in that power. Yelena, the driving element of establishing the Yeagerists and their trump card of the wine, is enamored with the Founding Titan. All of the Yeagerists follow Eren because he possesses it. Eren’s stated objective is finding Zeke.

Floch knows enough about the wine to understand and support the loss of a few MPs. It’s enough of a bonus that even if it is part of their mutual enemies’ plan, it’s worth working with. That would suggest plans for a revolution, and a base plan that’s stable enough that there’s no point worrying in what the enemy’s after, because they’re invincible.

With most stories, that is the kind of arrogance that is going to fall flat on its face, but really, there is nothing that disputes that. The Founding Titan is the be all, end all. Whoever is in control of it wins. There is no greater plot power in this world.

The Yeagerists want Eren, specifically, to have the Founding Titan. They don’t want it in the hands of the current government.

Eren wants to find Zeke.

Zeke wants to see Eren.

Unless Levi versus thirty mindless titans counts as an active threat against Zeke freeing himself, there is absolutely nothing standing in the way of that happening.

Marley’s primary military strength comes from Titans. It’s something they’re making active strides to outgrow, but it is still a current problem. They can’t fight Paradis alone. That’s why they have an alliance with other countries of the world. However, Marley’s reason for moving is not about destroying Paradis at the moment. It’s about deconstructing Zeke’s plan.

They don’t actually know what that is. What they do know is that the Founding Titan is outside the hands of the royal family, and the current Queen has a bloodline sworn to passively sitting by.

Willy Tybur tells a nice story about Karl Fritz’s vow keeping Paradis from being an active threat, and Eren’s possession of the Founding Titan being the true danger of the world.

He’s not wrong. He leaves out or doesn’t know a few key points about the Founding Titan needing royalty to function at all, but he’s not wrong. Eren having the Founding Titan is much worse than a slave to Karl Fritz’s will taking it on.

Paradis wants Historia to nom Zeke.

Marley wants Zeke’s plans to fail.

Zeke’s plans involve using his brother, the Founding Titan.

Which is only a threat out of the Reiss family line.

If you were to give Marley a bullet point list of easy ways to derail the rumbling, returning the Founding Titan to the one person who can’t use it makes a lot of sense. Willy, the unifying voice for the world, even pins all the blame on Eren while championing the royal family’s peaceful ideals.

No one in Marley would object to Zeke dying at this point, but what would be really great is if the Queen, permanently bound to nonviolent use of the Founding Titan, could nom Eren for them.

Gotta have the Queen for that.

Marley doesn’t have many options for a strike force operation. Knocking down gates means nothing, and they don’t have an endless supply of mindless titans anymore. They need to identify specific, important targets that can best derail Zeke’s plans.

Eren’s the most obvious.

Zeke himself is also obvious.

Both are insanely dangerous.

Paradis’ Queen is another obvious mark.

Not remotely dangerous, in comparison.

Pieck’s reading a newspaper. She knows that Eren is on the outs with his own people. She knows there’s a civil war potentially brewing; her whole life is war, she can probably smell it.

Military heads scrambling and making mistakes, a rogue demon running wild… Paradis might destroy itself if they leave it alone. It’s a poor bit of luck that says leaving it alone to self-destruct doesn’t solve the greater problem of the Founding Titan’s legion.

Add in a missing Queen who could be used to completely eliminate the threat of the Founding Titan?

Time for a house call.

From a story perspective, Historia’s absence is sort of exciting. Zeke’s only alive right now because Historia is conveniently unable to nom him. Historia has stated a willingness to nom him, but in a few months; a timeline Marley doesn’t want Zeke to have because they trust him to move lightning fast.

Historia’s current status has helped Zeke more than it’s helped Paradis. If she weren’t pregnant, he would have died the second the MPs could sign the order. With Zeke dead, the wine is meaningless, and Eren can only use the Founding Titan by cooperating with the technical rightful ruler of Paradis.

It’s fun. Her existence of the moment assists Zeke immensely, but her existence is also essential to the only plan Paradis has to make things stop sliding sideways.

If she happens to fall out of the MPs circle of protection, Paradis has no plan. All they can do is watch as Eren and Zeke do whatever the fuck tickles their fancy.

Which, luckily for them, isn’t what Pieck wants (unless you get Inception-levels-deep into how far Zeke’s spiderweb goes).

Paradis is completely powerless against the united front of Zeke and Eren, and there are no wrenches in sight to stop their domination. They even have a Reiner safety valve; if he tries to go after them, Gabi is going to have him paralyzed.

If nothing changes, Zeke and Eren will meet, and nothing about their combined actions suggest anything but violence will follow.

Something’s probably going to change.

In the category of plot magic, only one other person has the class bonus to mess with that, and Pieck’s current mission is all about messing with Zeke’s plan.

But back to the topic of fanfic canon.

Taking, for a moment, the idea that it’s possible to transfer a Titan without death as an actual, seriously considered possibility, one of the things I’ve daydreamed about for a while is Historia waking up Annie.

All this chaos happening, no one looking her way, she and Armin have a history of being allowed to look alike, Armin visits Annie… The Reiss cavern plus a Reiss touch equals magic. It is not inconceivable that Historia could wake her up. If the transfer theory is accurate, that could put Historia in the same class as Zeke: a royal-blooded Titan.

Additionally, the Female Titan, as Annie, has a scream that can affect titans.

That’s without royal blood backing it.

If stopping Zeke is the goal, offering up a counter-screamer doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. That could also, theoretically, put something of a block between the Founding Titan’s screams reaching the walls. Together, Eren and Zeke might be able to make some noise, but if another royal voice is objecting, interesting stuff might start happening.

And maybe that’s all a bit silly and fanficcy, but Eren and Zeke are unstoppable if they meet. Something needs to change those circumstances. Reiner’s out thanks to Gabi. Galliard’s muscle and not much else, unless you want to capitalize on the memories of Ymir he’s picked up, which would also bring us back to Historia.

Pieck’s inside the walls. She’s exactly right.

There’s an ace on hold that could be her ace right now.

Suddenly, no Boring Invincible (maybe????) Heroes.

So yeah. Those are the thoughts.

All my thoughts these days are, “give Historia something to do that isn’t nonsense.” I’m growing a distressing number of not-quite-aus. I’m going to be heartbroken when canon kills them, shouting about how my fave is not actually the main character.

Regardless, Pieck going after Historia isn’t a bad tactical decision from where she’s sitting. So there’s my bet.

Give me something to enjoy, canon. That’s all I ask.

Thanks for the ask, sorry I went all me on it.

#attack on asks #all the cool kids write meta at four in the morning #tl;dr #shingeki no spoilers #SnK spoilers #spoilers #SnK 112 #sort of but not really #the organization just helps

[divagonzo]

HI, its me again with the ? about eyebrows and how shes rude to people. on your blog again 2 vent. I DON'T UNDERSTAND PEOPLE WHO TRY TO JUSTIFY THE BOOK RELATIONSHIPS AND/OR CHARACTERS, usually y harry/hermione ACTUALLY(hah) MAKES SENSE OR HOW DRACO IS A REDEEMABLE BADBOY(lol) or why draco and hermione should b together despite them never really EVER having a conversation. also he's a nazi?? sooo. AND THEN THEY SOURCE THE FILMS?????? how can people be so wilfully ignorant and unbelievably stupid

Evenin’ Nonnie. Biscuit?

I will take these one at a time, just for my own sorting and all. Might as well get comfortable since this might take a spell.

For the first bit, where people try and justify The Chosen one with The Bookworm, I think much of it is a trope, where the Hero gets The Girl (And for many stories, this is the case. It just didn’t happen in this one.

Those who ship such? Sure. NP. But please stay in your lane. (like one of the wonderful mods for @smutty-claus whom I adore and is incredible.) I’ve read plenty of this particular ship and for various reasons, I don’t see it personally (much of it coming down to personalities but also how each copes with trauma and how that could affect a romantic partner) but then there are plenty who read the same things and would disagree with me. I even have a dear friend of mine who has written Golden Trio fic and I like how he makes the dynamics work and also plausible. (I won’t mention who but @nightfalltwen knows who I am talking about!) I could read their stories time and time again. (Oh right, I have.)

This friend also said that I am the only writer who they will read Ron & Hermione together, because I have both of them flawed and also working together. To me, that is an outstanding compliment.

I think what sticks in my incisors the most is that when I come across a fic of The Chosen One and The bookworm in a romantic relationship, Ron is utterly discounted, bashed, and otherwise trashed in it and that bothers me. Alas, instead of being a tosser and whining, I nope out and go about my day/weekend.

Ah, the Ferret. Yes, I do find it disheartening where so many fall and believe the trope of “the girl saves the asshole boy from his own bad choices” which I disagree with completely because it’s not her job to take responsibility for him. He’s his own (eventual) man and can be responsible for his own decisions. I’ve written fic involving him but also a few steps on his redemption path - which I see is his own journey and not the responsibility of anyone to make him do it.

When I see Darko, I’m immediately reminded of this:

Source: Rare Historical Photos

Everything he did up to that point (say, before his sixth year) has been focused on prejudice, bigotry, genetic superiority, and being a git x 100. I can’t think for a moment that he didn’t participate in such atrocities, such as disposing of prisoners, tormenting those for information, or other nefarious actions. I do think that he was thrown in above his head and realized that, “Oh, shit. I’m in way too deep!” and secondly realized, “Fuck, I’m in deep trouble. Help?”

There was zero contrition on his part to not continue to advocate for the side in question, even after he was rescued in the RoR and nearly immolated and owed his life to Harry - and still turned around and betrayed them (or attempted to before Ron punched him in the nose.)

For actual redemption? He’d have to do it himself (it’s a personal responsibility and not a saving grace, even if he was included in it) and work towards being a better man. No one can make him change. He has to want it himself and work on it himself.

I find it personally distasteful, as a trope, where the girl saves the bigoted boy from his own bad choices. It’s not her responsibility to save him with her lurv.

Do I think he did redeem himself somewhat at some point? Yes, I do. Do I think it’s a saint now, 19 years later? No. Some bells can’t be unrung. He has to live with the fact that he tried to kill multiple people (and failed only by sheer dumb luck) but that’s the absolutely most minimum bar set for being a human.

And those actions are why I personally think that Ron and Hermione would never forgive him and would be civil and polite only for their children’s sake. Harry’s welcome to participate in radical forgiveness but expecting people to forgive you when you’ve stood aside and let ish go down, up to and including attempted murder…. and I couldn’t do it.

So to say he’s a bad boy with a heart of gold… I see it as being toxic romanticism and not seeing that as anything but fantasy will get girls (and some boys) hurt long-term.

Ah, yes. The ship I find distasteful. (it’s not a NOTP of mine but I will nope out of anything related since I find it squicky but won’t torment anyone over it. I find others more…. deserving of my ire.

As I mentioned above, I see that particular trope as being toxic in many ways. Yes, he’s considered a wizarding Fascist and a class 1 bigot. I cannot fathom how someone could see that quality of a person making it a romantic story with him and The Bookworm. I personally can’t, at least in the time frames that everyone writes in.

Why?

Hermione isn’t one to be very… forgiving of anyone who betrays her friends. This includes Harry and Ron (and others.) The only ones that I do see her actively forgiving (in actions but not words) are Ron and Harry (and maybe Ginny, off- page.) She is so damn stubborn that I can’t see her ever muttering the words I’m sorry unless it’s an absolute last resort. (Oh wow, that is me in a nutshell still. I digress.)

I don’t see her being content being a stay at home wife making babies. I don’t see her being content to be put on a pedestal and shown off - and then shoved aside when it’s not convenient. I don’t see her content being the doting wife, quiet in public and only fierce in private.

The writing of enemies to lovers fails this one completely because of the distinct differences is core beliefs. Hate s*x? Sure. That’s about it, if that.

If.

Finally, films. I will be forever salty over them and how fucked up Uncle Steve cocked them up. His atrocious writing and arrogance in thinking he could make the story better earns a kick in his shins and arse for fucking up such an incredible story (even if there are problematic elements involved.)

I think that Tom Felton is a sweetie and the early crushes that Eyebrows McGee had been cute but using personal chemistry and not character chemistry boggles me greatly. The movies aren’t canon but Uncle Steve’s fanfiction made into movies loosely based on the books (kinda like the bourne identity was just the book titles and little to no relation to the books themselves.)

Sadly, it seems that most people don’t have the attention span for reading a book and rather rush through a 2-hour movie and be done with it, as a passive viewer/consumer than actively reading for comprehension. I can’t make people look at canon and go, Hey, the movie got that wrong repeatedly.

I can yell into the void for years and not make a dent. So I don’t try that much unless asked.

#Man that went long #I expected it to #under a cut for Dragon's personal opinions #Anonymous #Dragon asks #Dragon listens #Dragon speaks #Dragon talks XXX

[corpulentus]

All of those headcanons and scenario questions that people have been asking me since I started this blog and then some: The Compiled List

What was the best thing in your character's life? What was the worst thing in your character's life?        This is a difficult thing to answer because Torvald is still living his life into current canon, but if I don't want to be difficult about the question, here are a few ideas?

       BEST THING(S): The birth of Adelynne, When he met his first dog, Joining training with his best friend Gylfis        WORST THINGS(S): When Marek ran away, When his parents passed, When he fought Marek on the battlefield, When Marek murdered his only 2 friends in the world

What seemingly insignificant memories stuck with your character?        Because of the way that he lives, there is not a lot of small memories that he tends to hold onto. Most things, if they don't make an intense impact one way or the other ( that being positive or negative ), he tends to easily forget them. However, there are some things that he's otehrwise forgotten that ought not to have been.

       A better way to answer this would be "what seemingly insignificant moments stuck with your character" -- This has one answer and it was the moment that Torvald had to be pulled back from dark depths by Gylfis. Torvald was about to give his blood to a dark warlock in search of his brother and Gyl swooped in and talked him out of it. It was not necessarily a threat to his life, nor was the woman that was to perform the magic particularly dangerous, but it is a moment that Torvald can never repay.

How does your character feel about sex?       Torvald is not, generally, an overly sexual person. His first thoughts upon seeing a woman are not usually of a sexual nature and, admittedly, this may have a lot to do with the fact that I, as a woman, do not know what it is to be a man or to feel about sex as a man does. However, I think this gives him his own, softer, qualities towards love and romance. Torvald would much prefer to wine and dine before intimate relations than just -- "jump right in", as it were.

       He's a good boi, okay. I love him.

What are Marek's feelings for Torvald? Does he feel any kind of sibling jealousy?        Oh Y E S.

       Marek has, of all of his adult life, all of his teenage years and some of his young childhood been very jealous of Torvald for many reasons. He was jealous of Torvald's natural talents, of his social skills, of his relationship with his friend, Gylfis, of his relationship with their parents and younger sister. Marek felt very much like he was the social outcast and was unsure of how to overcome this hurdle. Torvald was an obstacle that her felt he had to destroy or his own life would never be his own. He would always remain in the shadow of someone better and his pride would not let that happen.

       But that is merely the jealousy aspect. As far as his other emotions go, Marek feels a great deal of anger toward his brother, but he also loathes this fact about himself. However, after so many years of brainwashing and devotion to his own hatred, he has become numb to anything pleasant toward his brother. He can no longer tell if he loves his brother or if those feelings have been suppressed to the point of its self extinguishing.

After what tradition were Torvald, Marek and Adelynne named? Did their parents follow a certain idea when naming them? Would the siblings name their children after the same traditions or just go after what they like?        The trio were not named after any particular traditions or ideas. It was very much an on the spot decision for them when it came to naming their children. However, due to the lack of information given to the actual answer -- Have the literal definition of their names? Just because? IDK, have this!

       Torvald From the Old Norse name Þórvaldr, which meant "Thor's ruler" from the name of the Norse god Þórr (see THOR) combined with valdr "ruler".

       Marek Polish, Czech, and Slovak: from the West Slavic personal name Marek, a vernacular form of Latin Marcus (see Mark). Czech: from a pet form of the personal name Martin.

       Adelynne Adelyn is a new American coinage. As an invented name, Adelyn is thought to have been inspired by one of two more traditional names. The first, Adelaide, comes from the Germanic elements “adal” meaning 'noble' and “heid” meaning 'kind, sort'.

What is Adelynne's relationship with Torvald and Marek? Which of her brothers does she feel closer to emotionally ( by moral character, appearance, etc )?        Adelynne's relationship with her brothers are very different from one another, though she does love them both in a far closer measure.

       Adelynne and Torvald share a closer bond because they have spent much more time together than she and the other. They have shared in grief, loss and happiness together. They have shared in memories insurmountable by a great deal of other siblings they have encountered in their lives. It is a bond that neither would surrender for anything else in the world -- particularly now -- since they are all one another have left.

       Adelynne and Marek have a different bond. Though he left when they were still children, for all her life, Marek assured she was kept safe. It was an uncanny coincidence that was nearly becoming passed off as luck. Adelynne continued the search for Marek when Torvald was in his coma and there was always a part of her that knew he wouldn't be coming home. She has forgiven him for leaving them, but continues to struggle knowing what had happened to him and what he has done. They are destined to encounter again on the Broken Shore, but it is undetermined whether this is to take Adelynne into the rank of the LEgion, or to finally see Marek submit to his past life and have his current taken from him.

       Appearance wise, Adelynne and Torvald look much more alike than either of them look like their brother.

What are Adelynne's crafts? Does she share any interests or hobbies with her brothers? Id so, which ones?        Adelynne doesn't have any professions in the game, but she does like to collect herbs and brew elixirs in her spare time. She has used amateur potions on the field before and had Torvald test some questionable ones as well.

What is the age difference between Torvald and his siblings? How does this difference influence their relationships with eachother? How does it affect how they see one another? Torvald is 4 years older than his brother, Marek and 8 years older than his sister, Adelynne. Because they are all so close in age, it had very little in means of affecting their relationships, not nearly as much as their life views. The same is for their opinions and views on one another.

Which of the siblings is the most similar to their parents? How is this shown? Torvald is most like their father, certainly. Both he and Roderic are loyal to a fault, dedicated to their morality and their emotions and share an equal love for history and peace, in any capacity they can attain.

Adelynne is a fine blend of both their parents. Compulsive, patient and strong willed.

Marek is most like their mother. They share similar qualities, as well as Marek displaying some of the worse of the woman's dark side. He is selfish, narcasistic and greedy. He lives in a great amount of delusion, something which their mother had been prone to in her youth.

If you were not bound by the ingame models, how would you design the siblings appearance and their individual clothing styles?

Adelynne, Left. Marek, Center. Torvald, Right

What are the siblings favorite meals? Is there a reason they have these favorites? Can they cook for themselves? Do they cook for one another? Torvald's Favorite Meal: Smoked Eel, Crusty Bread and Malt Beer Marek's Favorite Meal: Rabbit ( Over A Flame ), Roasted or Raw Vegetables and Spring Water Adelynne's Favorite Meal: Roast Pork with Thyme and Rosemary, Baked Potato and Honey Milk

Torvald and Adelynne have done their fair share of cooking and enjoy it quite a lot. However, most often, Adelynne will be the one to cook meals for her brother, since her personality is generally the giving type. As far as Marek is concerned, over the years, he didn't do much in the way of eating unless it was prepared for him or it was unnecessary for him to do much work in it's preperation.

In the Warcraft Universe, what is Torvald's relationship and opinion of Orcs and those who look like them? ( Like Mar! ) So, given the fued between Orcs and Humans in Warcraft history ... You would think that Torvald would hate them, right? Well, he's one of those weird people that don't judge people by thier skin, for example, but rather, by their actions. So, follow these examples below ---

Durotan of the Frostwolves. Yeah, he would 100% be close compadres with Durotan. He is full of honor, truth and faith in his sense of morality. He is a good soul and Torvald would know this. He would perhaps even go out of his way to befriend him.

Garrosh Hellscream. Fuck. That. Guy. Torvald would most likely have been a huge part of the downfall of Hellscream were he not focused entirely on personal life matters at that point.

Mar Muthand. His favorite 'orc', honestly. She can be rough and gruff, but she has a kind heart and soul. He cares deeply for her and would rather spend his day with her than several of his own kind. But! B U T! As I said, he judges by CHARACTER, not RACE.

Does Torvald prefer to live / travel alone or with family / friends, significant others, etc? Torvald is a flip flopper when it comes to this subject. He was alone for so long, after being 100% involved in his family as a child, then he started to open himself up after he 'finally lost' his ambitions to hunt down his brother. He will definitely have his moments where he needs that time to himself and others where he needs to be in contact, he needs a hug, he needs a kiss, he needs affirmation of his worth to other people.

How does Torvald usually dress in daily life? How does Torvald usually dress for a fancy event? How does Torvald usually style his hair? What jewelry, if any, does Torvald usually wear? Torvald's Appearances are below, listed in simple forms.

Daily life includes ;; Leather boots, a pair of light cotton 'boxers', a heavier pair of leather pants and a light tunic. He carries his axe with him most places he goes, but if he isn't in need of it, it will be just an accessory.

Fancy Event includes ;; Lighter, more ornate, boots paired with sleak black trousers. Cotton boxers, of course. Something similar to his light daily life tunic, but probably with some more baubles then he might generally consider. If someone else has dressed him, like Lysirae for example, then there is no telling what he might get put into.

Hair looks are generally very much the same. He will wear it down, consider braids to keep it from his face or up in a 'man bun' as it were.

Torvald doesn't make a habit of wearing anything dangling or lose fitting when he's on the battlefield, but he does carry with him several charms from important figures in his past. He has a locket from his mother, a set of gritting gloves for his weaponry from his father and a ring from his sister, Adelynne which she made herself. At some point in his past he carried, and then lost, a knife that once belonged to his brother, Marek.

What scars, if any, does Torvald have? What tattoos, is any, does Torvald have? What birthmarks, if any, does Torvald have? Over his years, particularly during the time when he's started being actively involved in wars and conflict, he has accumulated many scars. They range in size and location, but namely he has a pair on his shoulders from a felbat that plucked him from the ground. He also has another around his upper thigh from an incident in Westfall where a pack of wild dogs latched onto him and ( the alpha ) tore pretty good at him. The rest of the wounds heal as much as they can and have not left many lasting impressions.

Torvald, in a few words, looks like a living canvas. He has many tattoos that are, generally, hidden by his clothing. It is difficult to define many of them, as they are runic in nature and resemble pagan symbolism. If you ask him about them, he will probably tell you that they were a result of a spell gone wrong, but in truth, he got them when he was searching for his brother, Marek. A lot of them look like endless loops, all of them representing major leads on his brother that ended up taking him in circles and leading him nowhere.

Torvald has no significant birthmarks.

How tall is Torvald compared to his peers? How thin/heavy is Torvald compared to his peers? Honestly, we all know already that Torvald is a pretty husky man. He's very strong and he's also very tall. He is 6'2, well over 200 pounds and he can lift 3 children with one arm ( you know, with their fingers latched around his arm and he just lifts them up while they dangle ). He is also a trained warrior who has dedicated a lot of his life to sword skill and strength training.

Now, in relation to his peers, at least the ones he has actually interacted with ( Khadgar, Lysirae, Alamor, Eryis, Mar, to name a few ) -- He is literally the tallest of everyone ( as far as my knowledge goes ). Funny, considering 3 of them are elves. He is probably also the most strongly built, looking more like an orc than a human -- minus the green skin.

Want to know more about Champion of the Alliance Torvald        CHAMPION OF THE ALLIANCE TORVALD WOULD BE GREAT FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS

       1. Despite not being a seasoned war veteran like Genn or Varian, he does know the ins and outs of strategy and has seen battle first hand.        2. Torvald spent a great deal of his youth studying and becoming, on some level, a scholar. It undoubtedly increased his reasoning skills and put a damper on his anger and violence ( which seems only to come out when he is fighting a war). This would likely make him a good diplomat when it comes to political matters.        3. Torvald is only in his early 30s which means, with any luck, he would have a long and prosperous life ahead of him with which to attend to and fix many wrongs he has personally observed within his lifetime as a traveler.        4. Torvald is a personable person, okay. His social skills are fairly good and his ability to conform with speech of his audiences is pretty good as well. Got a rally full of people? He will just use multiple definitions. It works like a charm.        5. Torvald does not like war, but he can understand the necessity for it.        6. In a lot of ways, Torvald is the ideal mixture of Varian and Anduin.

       In short, @blizzard, Torvald Starsk for King of the Alliance 2020?

What do you see in your muses future?        Torvald, as my main muse both on tumblr and in the game, has an undetermined future. I would like to see him live into old age with a wife and family, but as we have seen before in the good ol World of Warcraft, this is not always the fate of brave and noble warriors. His fate will be determined at a later date.

        Marek is almost certainly destined to perish just before, or during, the Battle for Azeroth. His power has been robbed from him, his cause as well, and here is no returning to the Alliance for him. Though I have though on having him build his own group ( like the Twilight's Hammer ) from the ground up, I do believe he would be unsuccessful and he would be met with death regardless.

       Adelynne has recently gone through some changes that has had her leaving her comfortable home and the Cathedral of Stormwind to become a paladin. She has just begun her adventures in the world and I would like to see a lot more out of her before her life is ended. However, just as with Torvald, this is not always the case in the good ol World of Warcraft. Her fate could be determined at any time.

What is something about Torvald that annoys me?        This asshole literally finds every person he encounters a beauty to behold, okay. He could compliment you to death and then mourn for you without skipping a beat. It's almost malicious, I tell you.

       Terrible. Unnecessary.

Does Torvald have a mount that is just his? Wht is it ingame? Does this mount have a certain name? What about character and personality traits? Does it cooperate? Is it difficult? Does this mount have certain ingame details or is it completely its own being? Does the mount have its own story and relationship with Torvald that has influenced Torvald in some way? If he doesn't have a mount, how does he usually travel?         Torvald generally rides a horse in the game, but I do not canonically have a SPECIFIC mount that he would call his own.

Mag'har - How Important is freedom to Torvald? Hunter - Does Torvald have any pets? Mage - Does Torvald have any special talents? Priest - How empathetic is Torvald with others? Lightforged Draenei - Are appearances important to Torvald? Warrior - How athletic is Torvald? Shaman - Does Torvald follow any traditions? Human - Does Torvald have a personal hero? Zandalari - Is Torvald a proud person? Demon Hunter - Has Torvald ever sacrificed something?        Torvald, should he lose his freedom, would be a very different man. He would definitely become more aggressive, more manipulative and extremely intolerant to those around him. He would devote all of his time and energy into getting out of whatever means of capture this mysterious party had used to get him in the first place. ----;; In short, Torvald values his freedom greatly.

       Torvald, in his later life, after he'd 'finished' with adventuring and fighting wars, would adopt himself a Gilnean hound dog that his son, Leopold, would name Sir Woof.

       Torvald's not especially good at unusual things, but he does seem to be good at a variety of things, as it were. He is a fine person to share a battlefield with, he is a good enough strategist and he is quite knowledgeable in many historical Azerothian verse. And, I suppose, he is adept in a few languages that are not just human common. This likely comes from his interaction with many different races throughout life and his travels.

       Torvald is as empathetic as one can be without being an empath. He feels very much for other people and he does, essentially, live to serve others as best he can.

       Appearances are not particularly important to Torvald. He could be sporting a heavy load of clothing or barely anything at all and still he would feel just about the same -- If not a bit colder than if he were bundled up tight.

       Torvald can lift a grown man with his own strength from a squatted position. He is mighty strong, my friend.

       Torvald doesn't follow many traditions himself, but he participates in the Azerothian holidays when he finds time. Her particularly enjoys Brewfest and spending that extra time with his dwarven companions.

       I would say no, Torvald doesn't have a personal hero, but like most kids, he thinks his father is a pretty respectable guy. He taught him who he was meant to be and he was always there for him when he needed support the most. He also quite admires his lifelong friend, Gylfis, whom saved him from himself on more than one occasion.

       Torvald is not at all proud. He greatly values his friends and he is proud of THEM, but of himself, he is not at all proud.

       Torvald has sacrificed a lot of his own life and his own sanity throughout the years in pursuit of his brother, in particular. It cost him many years that he could have spent in happiness and joy with the rest of his family. Instead, it cost him dearly in his relationship with his parents, sister and friends as he, essentially, was completely consumed by his hunt for his brother.

What are Torvalds Ingame Professions and how do you play them In-character out in rp? Or does her ingame professions do not belong to the character ic? Does he possess professions beyond his ingame professions (Like for example not a alchemist but possess a knowledge of healing herbs and how to make healing oinments, not a smith but can recognize a proper blade or not a Tailor but knows how to sew and stitch etc etc etc...)        In the actual game, Torvald is a blacksmith and a miner, but I slack horrifically at professions in the actual game. HOWEVER, he utilizes these skills in writing quite a lot. He makes his own gear, at times, or at the very least, he improves upon and repairs his own gear. He mines and sells the smelted bars for money at times, but he also uses it to craft jewelry for gifts or further cash.

#( ( factoid. ) ) #( ( factoids. ) ) #( ( letters. ) ) #( ( there are so many from mar and i laguh ) ) #( ( i don't remember who all these were from but have this giant fucking list of things ) ) #( ( i'm so glad I finally fucking finished it guys ) )

[lotarclasspects]

could you do the personalities of a witch of light and a witch of void thank you

Well the classpect system is too small to describe personalities, however aspects describe the main themes surounding your climb to maturation/what you affect reality with and classes describe somewhat how you affect reality and channel that which makes you yourself. 

Light and Void are very similar aspects, which may sound like a contradiction of sorts, but its more like they are two sides of the same coin. The path which a void player must climb will have similar themes to one a light player struggles with because they are complementary. For example, Vriska’s bad luck and her desire for relevance, vs Equius’s work in shadow up until he made a grand gesture, which would affect all reality and be impossible to ignore. The main difference with these, however, is how they manifest. Aranea describes void players as having a very difficult climb to relevance, yet once they arrive there it is truly a sight to behold. Equius is the best example of this, for the reasons described above. If Heirs embody their aspect to a degree then Equius for sure represents a lot of the more disgusting and vulgar elements of Andrew Hussie’s works. Therefore the Narrative’s Focus (Light and Void govern this aspect of reality and by reality i mean stories because in Homestuck theyre the exact same thing) always shifts away from him, trying to keep him out of it. The same happened to Roxy Lalonde to an extent. She being described as a “dark horse leader” who no one could see as the “leader” but she was singlehandedly keeping the team together. Later on she becomes far more important when She and John travel to the Empty Space (my theory is that it is the physical white border around the pages of Homestuck which Calliope could also go to which is why LE couldnt find her) and she rescues Calliope and makes the Matriorb. Both of which are imperative to the New Universe. (actions impossible to ignore out of the understanding that comes from being in shadow). Light Players, however, are far more relevant. The spotlight is drawn to them in a way that seems almost inexplicable. They all have had very interesting and nuanced personalities and all have shown prowess in bending and manipulating the rules and laws which govern their reality or their sessions to meet their ends. (Vriska and the House Juju/Cueball, Rose and tearing apart the stitches of her session, Aranea and... well all the shit that she did we know what shes like lmao). Light heroes see reality as something they can activley change and will try and do so to an incredible degree. A big part of Light is Agency, which is also a part of other, somewhat similar aspects such as Breath or Life or Time. And agency itself is a big part of Homestuck, the way that thoughts and actions affect reality and what it means to not be able to do so. Light Players excel when they embrace their agency, and will bring about the most change that way, but these arent isolated things. Both Light and Void players can easily flip to the actions which some would consider to be of the opposing aspect as easily as Red goes to Black, just like, for example: two sides of a coin? :::;) (Vriska) when she embraced her unimportantness and gave up her agency was replaced by Vriska, because paradox Space needed it to be. Rose when she went voidy, no, not Grimdark, when she gave into her inhibitions and gave up control of her actions to alcohol. Alcohol is also a liquid which “obscures” one’s judgement. Therefore, if this ask is about you it can be difficult to decide. Your Aspect is about which themes are present in your life, and i would definitley use the canon test to determine which way the penny falls on that its very helpful.

Now onto witches! A lot of times in classpecting Witches are described as “powerful and manipulative” which isnt really textually true at all! All witches shown have a very bubbly personality, or used to (damara) in the beginning, and are very supportive towards their friends. Witches embrace the weird, the unordinary, the extraordinary, and will often either not be aware of, or activley diss their society’s standards. Witches have a major rebellious streak too! As bringers of change they will outright change a system that isnt working for the sake of everyone in it. Jade didnt get to show a lot of this in her session, but Grandma English did so to an incredible degree. She made an entire line of computers which looked like the only man Crocker was afraid of, just to spite her and what she did to her and her brother under her tyrannical and ruthless care. Feferi wanted to change the meaning of culling, and make a world where the lowest lowblood and the highest highblood could live in peace. Damara succumbed to domination in her adult form, as the Lord, as powerful as a Witch is, is still stronger. However before this happens she is a spunky young lass, showing gutsiness and grit despite the terrible abuse and condescendingness of Doc Scratch. If you are a witch, you desire in some way to change your reality, whether it be changing the meaning of something or using something aspect related to impact the world the desire still stands. If the Light aspect is yours, then this desire i imagine would be even stronger. What a sight to see! I wouldnt be betting against you thats for sure. If it was Void, I imagine youd want to change something about what it means to be irrelevant, or using your irrelevance or inherent obscurity from societys eyes to get away with things you might not be able to, and change it for the better. Another minor thing is that Witches are often associated with some sort of “familiar” a powerful other which is symbollically connected to them. But im not sure if Post Scratch Jade had this so i am not sure if it is a necessity. Anyway, i hope this helped you, and I hope you change the world, Witch, in any way you can.

-Some Hero of Breath probably hehe

#Witch class #void aspect #light aspect #classpect #classpect analysis #void #light #witch #bitsofbread

[pelagaios-a]

this isn't really a meta question but can you talk about your choices for canon divergence? you bring them up offhand a lot

I’m back on my meta bullshit  kinda  ╱  accepting.

this is a really valid question lmao I am sorry for any confusion nonnie.  my about page does have a basics rundown  (  for anyone who hasn’t read my about page  —  I know for known characters about pages aren’t always read  &&  that’s okay jksdfhgsdg  ).  for elaboration sake, though, here’s a bulleted list:

for starters my Percy is agender.  yes, me  &&  everyone else you will see most commonly using he/him for Percy  &&  that’s fine  !!  like me  (  mun is agender, I’m okay with she/her  )  he isn’t too overly bothered by being gendered.  the only instances where this will ever really pop up  (  since it’s not a personality trait  ??  since I see this stuff get thrown around a lot  &&  maybe it’s my own experiences but we both would rather keep it lowkey  )  is in rare cases with people he really trusts.  the world Percy has grown up in he doesn’t hold any trust for  &&  does not see as a place he can be himself; this reflects that.

curse of achilles  —  this is kind of a huge one  &&  while I don’t bring it up 24/7 it’s very, very important to my portrayal.  my Percy never lost the curse.  I think that, to the gods, Percy would have been significantly more useful throughout the heroes of olympus books if he were to have carried the curse  &&  the fact he loses it is a way to “even the playing field” with Jason is ridiculous.  they are both their own people  &&  their own characters  &&  I’m tired of the comparisons.  there’s a million  &&  1 reasons Percy should have kept the curse  &&  him losing it was one of the biggest cop-outs of the hoo books.  that being said:  it does have an effect on how Percy perceives the world around him.

ares legacy  —  we have one legacy in the books we spend a lot of time with  (  Frank, son of Mars  &&  a Poseidon legacy  )  &&  one big part of being a legacy is, somewhere back in your lineage, an ancestor of yours was a demigod  &&  now their  (  although diluted  )  “blood” heritage has an effect on you.  there are a lot of instances I have gone back over  &&  thought about in the books where Percy’s behavior wasn’t a reflection of Poseidon, was a lashing out of Percy’s inherent anger.  where Percy’s innate skill with a weapon is just accepted.  there are traits  (  little details  —  which would make sense for a legacy, it’s small  &&  subtle  )  that seem to me to fit in a way that gives a reasonable explanation for otherwise brushed off behavior / actions.  this is something I have talked over with many people for many months  &&  I have fully incorporated into my portrayal.

my Percy is on his second life  !!  this is something I have been meaning to finally post a long ass meta about but I have Percy as being Perseus reborn after a nice dip in the Lethe.  my argumentation for this is  1.  we never meet Perseus in canon.  we meet every other major name demigod that’s been name-dropped  (  Herakles, Achilles, etc  )  but him  —  leading to the idea Perseus went for rebirth  &&  cannot be “met.”  2.  it explains a lot of Percy’s really, really shitty luck.  Percy was named after Perseus in a hope he would have a better future than other children of the big three  (  being as Perseus is the only major demigod with a happy ending  ).  in true greek irony being reborn into the worst luck would make sense  —  it’s a 180 flop from what he once was.  it also works to explain off knowledge Percy shouldn’t have as his past life “leaking” in but I digress lmao.  3.  Percy has no deal being as atmokinetic as he is.  geokinetic makes sense  (  Poseidon is the earthshaker,  &&  Percy is not as geokinetic as children of Hades  )  but he is not only shown to conjure his own storms  (  “stormbringer”  )  but manipulates the winds  &&  has controlled a tiny bit of lightening.  while I have argued the point into the ground that Poseidon has a bit of control over these aspects Percy shouldn’t.  Perseus was a son of Zeus;  I may sound like I’m talking out of my ass but trust me I have this well thought out I just need to post the meta.

fanon v canon is something you always see brought up  &&  does have an affect on portrayals.  my Percy is neither of those things.  I don’t say that in an “I’m better” way I say that in a “don’t come here expecting something” because I won’t be that.  my Percy is angry.  he’s bitter  &&  at times cruel.  both fanon  &&  canon brush off his experiences in Tartarus because no one wants their morally grey protag to go full dark side  &&  while that’s fine I will not be brushing off his mess the way rr does.  Percy is not a kind character, he is not a forgiving character.  he is vindictive  &&  manipulative  &&  did not emerge from his experiences better for it.  while he is good at playing the mask  (  kind, lighthearted, etc  )  he is powerful  &&  not afraid to lash out should you cross him because he is tired.

I have been rping Percy for a long time now.  a lot of my portrayal has been developed through extensive thought on my end  &&  is uniquely my own.  I do not expect everyone to adhere to my portrayal  &&  I do not expect everyone to agree with me but I do expect if you are interacting with me you understand that I do not cater to anyone else’s opinions on his characterization.  my Percy is my own  &&  heavily mythology based.  

anyway, if you have any other questions / are looking for an elaboration feel free to ask  !!  I can talk on Percy for hours  &&  I get that some of this is A Lot lmao

#Anonymous #♆ ╱ ❛ asks. #♆ ╱ ❛ headcanons. #jazz hands #wow i wrote a lot whoops #this is a good push to mayb finally get that perseus hc out tho #ive been sitting on that one for over half a year its About Time #I just havent had time to sit & write it skdfjhgjksdfg