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monkey-network · 6 months

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Good Stuff: EVERY MF DOOM ALBUM (1)

And if you can believe it, it's Doomsday once again. MF DOOM has been at the top as one of my all time favorite rappers, but I've admittedly never really delved into his discography beyond the occasional single I vibed with. So for this month this year, that changes as I marathoned most of the Metalface's career. We're only doing the solo and main collab albums this year. No EPs, remix albums or compilations, we're doing that along with KMD's works next time. Also don't expect detailed analyses of these, I'm both not a Monkey of musical expertise or actually researching anything for more than 3 minutes. We're going in chronological order, let's hit it.

OPERATION: DOOMSDAY (1999)

Prod: MF DOOM Absolute Banger Track: 'The Finest' Surprise MVP: 'Gas Drawls'

This is how you do a debut; exhibiting the best strength of DOOM's full throttle approach to verse and defining his new character as well as King Geedorah in certain tracks. It is weird hearing Dumile through the years where this and his time in KMD are when he sounds vocally younger. It's an overall consistent turn-of-the-century bop that you can feel the emcee's fire being made into this.

TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER (JUNE '03)

Prod: Metal Fingered Villain, E.Mason Absolute Banger Track: 'Krazy World' ft. Gigan Surprise MVP: 'Fazers'

I'll be real, Geedorah is the weakest link persona and it doesn't help that this album, while consistent, didn't strike a chord with me. Maybe it's because I'm not a big kaijuu fan, maybe because the distinction lacks here compared to the next persona in the universe. Overall, it's still good, continuing on rampaging energy founded from the previous, but it's not one I could get into as much as I would've hoped.

VAUDEVILLE VILLAIN (SEPTEMBER '03)

Prod.: King Honey, Heat Sensor, Max Bill, RJD2, Mr Ten Absolute Banger Track: 'Vaudeville Villain' Surprise MVP: 'Open Mic Pt. 1 & 2 (Skit)'

If Geedorah showed that DOOM was more than a fluke emcee, Viktor Vaughn reset the meta and laughed maniacally while doing it. The power in this came from the story it told, more explicit than the previous, and it was a consistent banger throughout. The Viktor alias feels like a prototype for what's to come; a nasty Stagolee type that'd spit in your direction and songs like Lickupon and Raedawn reflect that. Especially loved the open mic skits cuz that was a rare time I laughed listening to music.

MADVILLAINY (MARCH '04)

Prod.: Madlib, MF DOOM Absolute Banger Track: 'Figaro'/'Accordion' Surprise MVP: 'Rainbows'

I always heard about how this was one of the greatest MF DOOM album ever, if not the GOAT of rap period. And they weren't lying, this album is fucking powerful. It is flawless? To me, no. The only real critiques I have is that '3.214' in Madvillainy 2 was 'Great Day' done better and I couldn't vibe 'Rhinestone Cowboy's instrumental. Otherwise, the synergy and nonstop lyrical power of DOOM & Madlib here is actual peak. It's I say on par with Kendrick Lamar's TPAB where every track speaks of the MC at his most motivated. I'll say if Vaudeville Villain worked with him at his nastiest, this is him at his most imposing if that makes sense. This is where I felt they were having a grand old time making this, especially considering the story surrounding its production.

VV:2 (AUGUST '04)

Prod.: System D-128, Diplo, DiViNCi, Swamburger, Session 31, DJ I.N.C., Dub-L, The Analears Absolute Banger Track: 'Fall Back/Titty Fat' Surprise MVP: 'R.A.P. G.A.M.E.' ft. Manchild, Iz-Real

I think it's no surprise to say this is the weakest album in the timeline. This definitely has an air of diminishing returns where it not only felt like Viktor was barely in it, it's like he didn't want to be in this. It doesn't help that for all the producers you see, you get a 30 minute album that feels like Viktor was in it for a third of that. The monologues feel scattershot and with more guests than favorable that barely left an impression. Dumile is good as usual, it's everything else that really bogged this down.

MM..FOOD (NOVEMBER '04)

Prod.: MF DOOM, Madlib, Count Bass D, PNS Absolute Banger Track: 'Rapp Snitch Knishes' ft. Mr. Fantastik Surprise MVP: 'Guinnesses' ft. Angelika & 4ize

When it comes to DOOM's peak, Madvillainy is the strongest album while Mm..Food is the most memorable. This is a consistently bop where the concept theme makes for a more memorable vibe. I mean if Rapp Snitch Knishes wasn't on here, I would have a hard time picking the absolute best single. One day, it's Hoe Cakes. No, Beef Rapp. No, Deep Fried Frenz. Nevermind, it'd be One Beer. Mm..Food is that album where most of the songs stick with you and that's barely getting into the fun interludes using the old Spider-Man and Fantastic Four cartoons. This feels like the flipside of Vaudeville Villain where the atmosphere's uplifting and everyone's enjoying themselves. Plus again, it has Rapp Snitch Knishes, one of the all time greatest rap songs. Need I say more?

THE MOUSE AND THE MASK (2005)

Prod.: Danger Mouse Absolute Banger Track: 'Old School' ft. Talib Kweli Surprise MVP: 'Mince Meat'

If Madvillainy was the strongest hitting, Mm..Food being the consistent bop, Mouse and the Mask I consider the most fun. This has notably been labeled the "Adult Swim album" and frankly, if it combined with Occult Hymn was all we got for a thematic soundtrack for the channel, I would've been more than satisfied. Danger Doom is great if you're familiar with early era AS and if you're not, then this'll all probably feel annoying. Otherwise, this is the most fun knowing the references and hearing many of the classic characters like Aqua Teen and Brak. I'm in a way thankful this was their only collab with Adult Swim because I don't want to imagine MF DOOM trying to make bars for Rick & Morty; that... would wound my soul.

Now I said this marathon would be chronological, but I feel I had to jump ahead to the remaining collaborative albums since I wanna save DOOM's final solo for last...

KEY TO THE KUFFS (2012)

Prod.: Jneiro Jarel Absolute Banger Track: 'Winter Blues' ft. Indigo Surprise MVP: 'Banished'

Honestly, I know now how old Gorillaz fans felt when the band went shifted to synth pop post Plastic Beach. Thanks to youtuber Absurd Existence, shoutout to them, I decided to listen to the Butter version. It did not help because I could not vibe with the more techno sounds from JJ; the beats don't have the comical fun like Mouse or the consistent DJ power that Madlib brought. Key to the Kuffs isn't bad, but while DOOM doesn't falter in the least here, it's not as strong as I hoped.

NEHRUVIANDOOM (2014)

Prod.: MF DOOM Absolute Banger Track: 'Caskets' ft. DOOM Surprise MVP: 'Om'

I mean... never think you can appreciate a king rapper until you hear from an amateur. Don't get me wrong, it must've been great getting to collab with the villain himself, DOOM taking the backseat for a possible protege, but the emcee's bars felt very basic and inexperienced to me. It doesn't help that it felt like DOOM pulled random tracks from a Special Herb volume; nothing for this had as impactful a flow as it could have while I could understand the theme thanks to the interludes. Hell the absolute banger track is the only one of nine there I really enjoyed because DOOM is featured in it and Bishop was able to keep up and it felt like his moment too. I don't hold it against Bishop, as if he was too good to work with Dumile. The album's not bad, but I was just not into most of this whether or not DOOM was producing.

CZARFACE MEETS METAL FACE (2018)

Prod.: 7L, Jeremy Page, Todd Spafadore Absolute Banger Track: 'Meddle with Metal' Surprise MVP: 'Captain Crunch'

This marks the last full album Dumile would do before his death and it feels like a match made in heaven. It's a great throwback to 90s underground and Czarface is THE go-to for nerdcore rap. Then again, this admittedly didn't have the same highs as Mouse and the Mask even when there barely exists an actual bad track on this. There were a couple I noticed done better with a remixed beat that I came across way before listening but I can't spoil here. I guess my overall beef was that I couldn't vibe as much with Czarface and the runtime doesn't help admittedly. I recognize the strengths of Czar, but it's an album I'm not as much in a rush to replay.

SUPER WHAT? (2021)

Prod.: The Czar-keys Absolute Banger Track: 'Break Into Action' Surprise MVP: 'The King and Eye' ft. DMC / 'DOOM Unto Others'

I'll say this album was just what the world needed regarding any posthumous work from the villain. I think it works better than their previous LP not only because the runtime, but the beats I enjoyed better here because it's a more upbeat bop. Just saying, The King and Eye is one of my favorite openers to an album and it's emblematic to this feeling like a celebration of sorts while still having meaningful dark themes behind the tracks, especially when it was around COVID's stronger period. I recommend this if you want to get an more digestible feel of Czarface's music because I honestly prefer it over Czar Meets Metal.

BORN LIKE THIS (2009)

Prod.: DOOM, Mr. Chop, J Dilla, Madlib, Jake One Absolute Banger Track: 'Gazzillion Ear' Surprise MVP: 'That's That'

Consider it a theory, but this felt like Dumile's genuine final solo record whether or not he was gonna live longer; a tonal inverse of Operation Doomsday where he wanted to immortalize how far he came as an emcee and producer with the album having a loop with the end and beginning. Speaking of tone, this really feels like the darkest album with DOOM at his gruffest popping off for minutes on end. I mean it has ''Batty Boyz" making this instantly nastier than I expected. The use of Bukowski's "Dinosauria, We" and taking the "MF" out his name really shows that he was serious about his skill here and this was him taking a bow in a way. An imperfect but hardknocking album to close this marathon.

Next to Kendrick Lamar, I have seen very rare artists manage to be as consistently versatile and great as Dumile. He was basically a king of underground hip-hop and I wouldn't have done this if I thought his legacy wasn't worth remembering. Not every album is flawless, but every album showcases the greatness of not just Metal Fingers but the many he's worked with. This is by no means a ranking, don't want to downplay any of them in spite of my criticisms, but I recommend the tracks I've listed for newcomers to get a feel of each album.Of course this wasn't every album, but for next year. In the meantime conclusion, MF DOOM is forever the GOAT and may he continue to rest. Thanks for reading.

#MF DOOM #Viktor Vaughn #King Geedorah #Madvillain #hip hop #rap #music #underground hip hop #reviews #Good Stuff #Long live the villain

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sanstropfremir · 1 year

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you know what it's time for? end of year wrap up posts! and the first one up is....

fave choreos!!

runners' up

villain - trendz

i'm only going to include one trendz choreo on this list because otherwise they'd take up like four slots, but their debut choreo really set the bar for just how impressive their choreography was going to be. i'd encourage you to check out their other choreos: tnt, trauma, who, and clique.

stupid cool - dawn

it's the right mix of casual playing around and some difficult technique, and everyone looks like they're having a blast while performing. i feel like people forget that dawn is an extremely talented dancer because the everything else about him is very distracting, but this choreo is a great marriage of the goofy and serious in a way that very few idols are capable of

pose - kino

there's always gonna be one taemin clone on this list, but that's ok because sometimes they get it right, which is how i feel about kino's solo debut. i like that he went for a less popular taeminprint (day and night) and i think there was enough there that made it his own; kino is a good dancer and choreographer so that much was unsurprising to me.

doom du doom - p1harmony

p1harmony are one of the few groups to have a dancer with real freestyle skills, and they finally put them to use in this choreo. soul has a fun lil freestyle solo dance break and he changed it up for every performance. i'm no gonna link them all here but here's a few: 220722, 220726, 220728. plus it seems to be a theme with their choreos to climb on stuff (or at least it was for this cb, you can see it also in the black hole choreo), and i find that fun.

suit dance - onlyoneof

unsurprising an ooo choreo made it on here, they're a very strong dance group and although we haven't had many choreos from them this year due to the solo projects, suit dance was still one of the best of the year. excellent thematic and prop work, which you can see better in this stage. a little bit peeved they never put out a dance practice of it.

bad at love - tempest

like with a lot of groups on this list, you're going to notice that i had to pick just one choreo from their 2022 releases, bc there was a LOT of consistently good work from groups this year. i went with this bside from tempest's debut because it captures how fun their choreography is, although this could have just as easily been can't stop shining or bad news.

uh heung - dkz

the unflopping of dkz has been the biggest kpop cinderella story of the last few years, and they deserve it because their choreography has been equal parts great and stupid the whole time. uh heung is such a fun time with some really interesting formations, my fave is kyoungyoon being 'scared' of the tiger at the bridge. runner up slot for them is cupid, which is more on the stupid side, but it's so charming.

bound - key

i said i wanted a senior artist to bring back vogueing and i got what i wanted, thank u kibum.

creature - e'last

no prop choreo from e'last this year, but we did get this spectacular and spooky choreo for creature. excellent use of stillness to accentuate the predatory nature of the song, plus a point choreo move that involved the back, an under-utilized feature in kpop.

eyes on you - kangta

it's so so rare to see a modernized first gen choreo because very few of them are still active, and the ones that are that still do serious choreography are boa and rain (although we did get a new shinhwa choreo this year too, somehow their second cb about guns?), who have exceptional skills for the generation. so the fact that we got a whole new kangta choreo in 2022? a true gift. in first gen tradition this is not particularly technically difficult and it has a lot of movements typical of that style of kpop dancing, but he makes everything look so fluid in a way that younger more technically skilled idols fail to do when covering older choreographies.

faster + 2 baddies - nct 127

this one is a bit of cheat, but the faster choreo is meant to lead directly into the 2 baddies choreo and it's often used as the intro, plus there's a couple of repeating motifs in them, so i'm bundling them together. in typical 127 tradition, these choreos are fuckin weird and inventive, and i like how they're so prescriptive to their car themes. the gear turning member switching in faster makes my brain go brrr and 2 baddies has a ton of really fun and unusual formation switching that you don't get to see thanks to music show camerawork.

dice - onew

for someone who's not a very strong dancer, he does a great jobwith this choreo and the choreographer did a great job making pictures around him, rather than relying on him to provide the technical clarity. also like with the stupid cool choreography, this one looks like it's fun to perform for everyone involved.

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top ten

bring it on - oneus

youtube

oneus choreos always make my list because they consistently have some of the best and most interesting choreographies in the biz, and they're some of the strongest performers in the biz as well. bring it on is so full of energy and big movements and even though i've seen it dozens of times at this point i still get surprised by it. the intro goes hard as well, like all oneus intros do.

sparkling - chungha

youtube

chungha always has gorgeous choreo and sparkling is no different. plus i am not immune to hair flips and also women.

walking on the moon - tan

youtube

to be completely honest, this choreo is on here for one specific move, and that is the moon phase sequence at the beginning of the final chorus (3:50 in this video). i don't know how many times i've watched just that move and i could keep watching it forever. it's perfect. you can see it with camerawork here. the rest of the choreo is good too, it's nice to see a return to second gen style simple and iconic point choreography.

louder - tan

youtube

next gen beastdols. that's it.

heartburn - sunmi

youtube

once again sunmi comes back with an amazing choreography. i love her versatility in how she chooses to illustrate the themes in her work; last year it was dark through tail and this year it's light and playful in aesthetics but still heavy on the man-killing. we love to see it.

devil - changmin

youtube

changmin was always one of the weaker tvxq dancers and was also never that interested in the technical aspects, so it makes sense that his solo choreography would focus less on being technically complex and more about emphasis on a character. the strength of the devil choreography relies on building this righteously corrupt preacher character and how the dancers move around him as congregants/demons that interact and mirror him. my favourite move is the mirrored windmill, especially when you see them in full costume where the backup dancers' faces are covered.

guerrilla + halazia - ateez

youtube

i'm gonna cheat again for this one, but in all fairness to myself, they dropped halazia on literally the last day of the year and i genuinely cannot decide if i like it more than guerrilla or not. so they can share third place. i was not that impressed with their choreo from 2021, but they really stepped up their game this year in almost every way.

parallel universe - nine.i

youtube

in the second year in a row, a rookie group is placing at second. but there were such strong turnouts from rookies this year, so it's unsurprising that more than one group made my list. i've talked many times about how much i love this choreography, so i won't expound too much on it again, but for this complex and unusual of a choreography to be for a debut and nothing nine.i has done since this has disappointed me so far. if you want to learn more about the details of the choreo, they talk about all the motifs in the performance commentary video!

birthday - ten

youtube

i hope you all guessed that this was going to be the top one because there was no other option. this choreo is fucking incredible and there's no other idol that can do what ten does with his body. in a year with no taemin and many taemin clones he brought something that was unique to him and something only he could do, which is exactly what you should be doing as an artist. i don't even have anything else to say about this, just that it's the kind of thing that i want to be seeing from solo artists and i'm very glad that ten stepped up the plate and swung for the fences in ambition and creativity and desire to make something that embodied him.

that's a wrap on choreos for 2022! not a boring year at all even though both taemin and kai were absent. it's nice to see that the younger gens are starting to get creative with the types of choreography that we're seeing, there was a lot of variety this year and i'm hoping it continues into 2023!

#end of year posts #kpop dance #best of 2022 #there are 100+ videos on my choreos playlist i am impressed i made it down to like 25 #tbf a chunk of those are doom du doom stages so i was keeping track of them but STILL #ones that barely missed out were chase (minho) and phantom (wayv) but they were released too late in the year!!#i can only make accomodations for one (1) late entry and that was halazia #please know i do still love them though #text

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just-a-re-blog · 1 year

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I Cannot Be Normal About @weathertheraine’s Hadestown!AU And Now I Have Extra Thoughts About My Own Version

I had never listened to Hadestown before, but I saw this AU and I needed to understand the parallels being drawn. Fast forward a week and I’ve consumed the album multiple times over and spent hours wrestling with thoughts on casting choices. I can’t explain to you how much time I spend in my document titled “The Big-Ass Doc Of Haikyuu!!AUs,” but I can promise you it’s a high number, and this scenario made it higher.

Anyway! Here are my thoughts because I just want to share them! For the anime-only fans, there’s some super vague and broad allusions to the remaining manga arcs, and I do use the names of the remaining arcs, but you’re safe from any huge and specific spoilers. Again, please check out my inspiration in @weathertheraine’s incredible takes!

CAST #1

Ukai

Hermes

So there’s an argument for it to be Takeda instead because he’s generally more of a caretaking figure than Ukai, but my thinking here is that season 2 moment when he chases Kageyama down to tell him he wants him to figure out how to toss in a new way to help Hinata fight in midair (y’know, aerial combat and whatnot); Ukai knows and supports Hinata in the way that Hermes is privy to Eurydice’s plights, but I don’t think the reverse is true for Takeda, who I don’t believe is ever shown to watch out for Kageyama in the ways Ukai is; and as a former setter himself, I think it makes sense for Ukai to be the one who is the caregiver of Orpheus!Kageyama

Kageyama

Orpheus

Now, I understand that this is kind of a CRAZY thing to say, ‘cuz Orpheus is supposed to be a ray of hope and sunshine trying to restore spring to a dying world—and that sounds so much more like Hinata than Kageyama; BUT! Hear me out here!; the end of the musical is the most convincing evidence that this can work because Kageyama canonically has abandonment and trust issues, plus trauma literally centered on not being able to trust that someone is behind him—so of course he’s gonna turn around to see if the one he loves has remained on his tail as he walks through fire and darkness

Hinata

Eurydice

So the fascinating thing about this casting is that while Hinata is a bona fide ray of sunshine and hope in a way that Eurydice is not, it is also canonically true that he is poorer and scrappier than Rich Boy Kageyama, which gives “Eurydice was a hungry young girl” better than Kageyama ever could imo; also, in line with the ending of the show, Eurydice never faltered in following Orpheus, and so too is it true that Hinata promised—and followed through on it—that he would always be at Kageyama’s back; also I don’t mean to give Hinata too much credit ‘cuz I’ve seen the analyses and I know any and everyone would turn around—but if anyone could manage to not turn around, it really is Mr. I-Spike-With-My-Eyes-Closed-Because-You-Told-Me-You-Would-Send-Me-The-Ball-And-I-Believed-You, and I want to honor that by not making Hinata the one who dooms the narrative

Oikawa

Hades

Now it hurts me to do this because Oikawa, for all his deep-seated issues and many flaws, is not a bad man or a villain, and he is, in fact, such a spring child in my head a la Persephone; BUT, if Hades cannot simply allow Orpheus and Eurydice to walk out of the Underworld because he fears losing power and control of his empire by capitulating to Orpheus’s request, then Oikawa—who canonically almost slapped a child out of fear of his own inferiority—is the only choice; I also have to love that Oikawa was supposed to be a mentor for Kageyama, and in a way it then makes sense that Kageyama would know in his heart the song that Oikawa had once sung

Iwaizumi

Persephone

There is literally only one choice for a Hades!Oikawa, I don’t even need to explain myself (“You’re early, Shittykawa”); but it’s also worth mentioning that Kageyama had a noticeably better relationship with Iwaizumi than Oikawa in much the same way that Orpheus and Persephone had a pretty chill relationship and Persephone even went to bat for Orpheus the way Iwa stopped Oikawa from hitting Kageyama

Kindaichi

Fate 1

So choosing The Fates for me is where things get SUPER interesting when you play around with who of KageHina is Orpheus and Eurydice; if we lean into the crux of Kageyama’s arc being him and Orpheus sharing this insatiable urge to look back because they simply cannot trust that the one they love has not abandoned them, then The 3 Fates who sing “Doubt Comes In” have to embody Kageyama’s times of deepest fear and doubt, which means Kindaichi—who turned away from Kageyama in middle school and literally tells Hinata that he should abandon Kageyama before Kageyama abandons him—MUST be included

Kunimi

Fate 2

Similar to Kindaichi, Kunimi is another representation of that middle school abandonment that fucked Kageyama up so badly, so we must include him as a voice of doubt

Tsukishima

Fate 3

And Tsukishima Kei, my beloathed boy whom I understand and love so deeply, is the most persistent external voice that rubs Kageyama’s abandonment in his face; the Karasuno kids by and large are content to let Kageyama’s past remain in the past—they trust who he can be to the team now; but Tsukki, damn him, was so INSISTENT on holding Tobio’s King of the Court title over his head, which is absolutely a way to keep doubt nagging at the back of one’s mind

CAST #2

*Hermes, Orpheus, Eurydice, Hades, and Persephone are the same, but The Fates change

Hoshiumi

Fate 1

Now if we focus more on the general role of The Fates in the show rather than just “Doubt Comes In,” they’re actually far more tied into the narration and progression of Eurydice’s story, so this arrangement of Fates is people who interact with Kageyama and influence his growth but are actually deeply invested in Hinata; my friend @volleybuoys is the expert here, but I’ve actively listened to the preaching of the Hoshiumi (and HoshiHina) gospel, and it’s true to say that Hinata’s entire worldview on who he wanted to become shifted when he encountered Hoshiumi; and if that doesn’t make a man qualified to and worthy of singing another man’s life story, then I simply don’t know what could

Atsumu

Fate 2

‘Tsumu, my other beloathed (begrudgingly affectionate); from telling Kageyama he was a goody-goody at the All-Japan training camp—which set his self-concept upside down for a minute there—to pointing at Hinata across the court and declaring that he would one day set for him, much as I may hate to admit it, Atsumu is actually essential to the Haikyuu!! story from both Kageyama and Hinata’s perspectives, and as such, it sort of uniquely situates him for the role of a Fate

Tsukishima

Fate 3

This fucker (affectionate) stays in the lineup because as much as he antagonizes Kageyama, the Hinata & Tsukki sun-moon dynamic compliance is too powerful to not count him as a force in Hinata’s life; they really do fuel each other as quietly but explicitly declared rivals (second season training camp, fourth season training camp and the Brazil and Final Arcs all really proved to be paradigm shifts for their relationship)

CAST #3

Takeda

Hermes

Okay so I touched on this in my explanation of Hermes!Ukai for Orpheus!Kageyama, but every time I think too long about Takeda’s role in Hinata’s life from season four onward, I genuinely get a little verklempt—because the reason Takeda cares about volleyball in Hinata’s life is because he cares about Hinata; every piece of advice and moment of mentorship is about helping Hinata in life—it just happens to be through a volleyball lens; and the Brazil Arc shows us in no uncertain terms that those guiding principles are so deeply ingrained in Hinata’s heart; so although Ukai has been shown to foster Hinata’s volleyball development in HUGE and meaningful ways in seasons 2 and 4 and the Brazil Arc, if I want my Orpheus to be cared for, if I want his light and song to be supported and nurtured, there is no one more fitting or deserving of the role of Hermes than Takeda-sensei

Hinata

Orpheus

So, aside from the obvious of “He could make you see how the world could be, in spite of the way that it is,” there is, of course, Hinata’s steadfast determination to stay doggedly on Kageyama’s heels for ten straight years, which gives “Wait For Me” on a scale hitherto unseen and unachieved by Orpheus!Kageyama

Kageyama

Eurydice

Having been abandoned before, a Eurydice!Kageyama makes a lot of sense in that he would absolutely fear the changing of the winds sweeping him away from someone who turns out to be another fairweather friend full of empty promises of support and shelter; he knows cruelty in the world in a way that feels maybe a touch more real than Eurydice!Hinata

Tsukishima

Hades

Now this one was a really fun thought experiment and decision because you need someone who would oppose Orpheus!Hinata having the power to walk out of the Underworld freely with his beloved—which, given the number of people who fall in love with Hinata and wouldn’t necessarily bar him, is no easy task; but we’ve seen that Tsukki hates to lose to Hinata in particular, and I could see him being willing to lure a restless, desperate, lonely, and naive Kageyama who doesn’t know what kind treatment looks like down to The Underworld (I swear I don’t think badly of Tsukishima Kei, cross my heart)

Yamaguchi

Persephone

Aside from the natural match that a Hades!Tsukki implies, much like Persephone, Yamaguchi has spent time watching someone he loves turn into a crueler and crueler version of himself, and it’s getting harder and harder for him to stick by his side just waiting around and watching it happen; plus, if you’ve ever seen any of the astounding genderwarped and trans art of Yamaguchi that exists on the internet, you know that anything Persephone wears, Yamaguchi could slay in

Suga

Fate 1

Sugawara is another great example of someone with a vested interest in both Hinata and Kageyama; it feels like when he sings “Doubt Comes In,” it would be his own doubts that he was voicing rather than Hinata’s actual thoughts; this is pretty analogous to the first couple seasons when we see Hinata getting nervous before matches based on his interpretations and internalization of other people’s expectations—and perhaps the biggest argument for why Hinata would turn around and look back

Oikawa

Fate 2

Seasons 1 and 2 absolutely matter here, BUT THE HOLY AND SANCTIFIED ****** ARC MIGHT MATTER MOST (OiHina shippers, you KNOW what I’m talking about—we KNOW they danced the night away); anyway, Oikawa is a shining example of what could be for both Hinata and Kageyama in terms of pursuit of a dream and inspiration to a team; he supports Hinata in the most unlikely of places, and their friendship matters a lot to me; Hinata is even part of the reason for Oikawa’s eventual return (bless up for the bonus chapter); it’s also worth mentioning that while Oikawa always came from a place of more privilege than Hinata, his story is much more in line with Hinata’s in that he knows what it is to fight tooth and nail to live up to the expectations that being around a volleyball genius sets up; when Oikawa sings “Go ahead and lay the blame, talk of virtue, talk of sin—wouldn’t you have done the same in her shoes, in her skin?” it’s because he KNOWS firsthand the temptation of surrender

Atsumu

Fate 3

Same reasoning as Cast #2; bonus that The Fates are all Pretty Setter Squad this time

This was a long post!!! But I have a lot of thoughts, and this is honestly one of the shorter AUs that bounces around my head. I’ll probably post more of my ATLA!AU soon, but we’re starting with this Hadestown one!

Many thanks again to @teddy-takeda for the amazing material that my brain has been rotating endlessly the past week and to my homie @volleybuoys for sitting me down all those months ago to explain why Hoshiumi is one of the most vital yet underrated characters of the series!

#hadestown!au #hadestown au #haikyuu au #hq!!#hq #haikyuu #haikyuu!!#haikyū!!#jayce’s totally normal thoughts #jayce’s audhd aus

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wackus-bonkus-maximus · 2 years

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So as far as ODNLB goes, there's a song that comes to mind for me, specifically with Adrien trying to reach out to Ladybug.

Bring Me To Life by Evanescense:

How can you see into my eyes like open doors? Leading you down into my core Where I've become so numb Without a soul My spirit's sleeping somewhere cold Until you find it there and lead it back home

Adrien's just kind of been existing these last six years, trying to hang on, waiting for things to get better. Waiting to be reunited with his friends. With HER.

Wake me up inside (save me) Call my name and save me from the dark (wake me up) Bid my blood to run (I can't wake up) Before I come undone (save me) Save me from the nothing I've become

This is the chorus, so I'm gonna skip talking about it the other times it shows up. But it shows Adrien pining for help and to be freaking SAVED, to get help, before he comes undone, breaks his amok and dooms himself to nothingness.

Now that I know what I'm without You can't just leave me Breathe into me and make me real Bring (bring) me (me) to life

This one could refer to some lingering angst Adrien might have over being a sentimonster, over not being "real", and considering himself to be real and alive through other people's relationships with him, through them considering him to be alive and a person and real.

Bring me to life I've been living a lie There's nothing inside Bring me to life

I think this could actually refer to how as Cat Walker, he's been made to appear to be a villain, to be on Monarch's side, when in reality he holds no loyalty to them, would want to be with Ladybug instead.

Frozen (frozen) inside without your touch Without your love, darling Only (only) you are the life among the dead

He just... he really, really needs to get to be with her again.

All of this time, I can't believe I couldn't see Kept in the dark, but you were there in front of me I've been sleeping a thousand years, it seems Got to open my eyes to everything Without a thought, without a voice, without a soul Don't let me die here (There must be something more) bring me to life

Adrien's just blindly reaching out, to Ladybug, to Marinette, to the people he cares for the most, clinging desperately to survival, to her, to something to keep him going, even in the horrific circumstances he's been in for so, so long.

Adrien needs HELP.

efjfaekjeafk this may be one of my favorite asks to date.

in all seriousness, this song really does fit adrien's mental state right now :( he's so trapped, his entire life a prison. and while he doesn't actually want to die, it's literally his only way out. and even then it would do damage and mess everything up especially for ladybug.

geez i hope he gets safe and free and happy soon :((

#this song went on my playlist so fast #odnlb #one does not love breathing #odnlb song rec #odnlb discussion

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baekhvuns · 1 year

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Hopefully the kid has a great career, I'd hate if he became "one hit wonder" like many young stars before. Man City who??? Idk I'm not seeing anything, my eyes are closed. Arsenal first <333 cristiano can't go back to ManU so he's choosing the next closest thing, ManCity??? 😭

Ahhh yes me and my friends figured it must be Torres and taste! I used to be a huge El Nino fan. Btw random, I had no idea David Villa works in an Indian club?! Also I joined tumblr (don't ask me how many years ago...) because of the Spanish NT and the first user I followed was actually a Barca fan lmao. Dark times

Noooo I'm probably not attending Lolla in Paris 🔫 I want to, since Skz are headlining, but it still won't be a full concert and I don't care for any other artist in the line up. Btw I'm travelling to SK next week, ngl I'm not that thrilled, but hopefully once I'm there it'll be worth it. I have so many vegan spots to visit in Seoul! Maybe I'll be too distracted to feel petty and sad about the Euro tour

The enemies to lovers prompt has so much potential AAAAAAAAAAAA a slow burn me thinks, a slow and painful one! I really need to read it 😭

I don't think any of the royals are particularly normal jjshshahshagaha maybe Beatrice and Eugenie, they're just kinda there? We know who's the worse tho, Andr*w that old fuckhead. Camilla and Charles don't have good reputation and we all also know why. Guess they can be funny sometimes, but I wish they had sense of morality instead of sense of humour 💀

That Hannah Montana doll, I need to see it 😭 Baek but have you seen The O.C, Skins, 90210 (not the OG one even though it slayed, but I watched the spin off and it was insane)

Not ANOTHER After movie oh god, this and the Hoover movie, we're doomed :/

Literally can't remember anything from that Nascar cartoon, but I watched the shit out of it for a while???

I have that webtoon you mentioned saved actually. Also I noticed a webtoon I started on Kakaopage has made it into ENG webtoon, it's called Complicated Cohabitation. I only started it, because nuna content <3

You wanna steal Soohyuk from me??? Well that's ok, I'm on my way to propose to Hwa. Also the football rings hold ooooon wjdjwjsjjshahash. I actually bought some jewellery from this website before, but I just noticed all the funny rings

I try to be respectful towards religious people, but sometimes it's hard ajsgahshshajaj rip, they can't enjoy Lucifer nor Changmin's Devil, SNSD's Run Devil Run or You Better Run 😬 actually I saw a post on Reddit asking whether Halazia has religious themes, because OP couldn't listen to it if they used religious symbolism. Also pretty sure TXT always had angelic and devilish theme going on (btw that song is my fave off their album - me liking every song that has villain or devil in it)

Uhhhh bestie do you remember this video 😭🤧❤ (but the camera mostly filming his lips, neck and hands drives me INSANEEEE 😳😳😳😳)

Gonna start Nayeon x Hongjoong dating rumours jdjsjsjsbshsh. And You're right Atz and Dox served CEOs at the wedding

???? and hmmm

Okay rich...... do NOT remind me are you insane Park Seonghwa?! But he's cruel and vile

Omfg I haven't been on twt that much, I totally missed two new Seonghwa fansites and they have some gold content like this 😭 and this and oh wow god it's me..... - I need to arrange flowers for him, make him a big ass bouquet 💐💐💐💐

Okay that's enough of Hwa spam :3 - DV 💖

hello!!

it’s really sad seeing new comers come up and be compared and being called the “the next messi, the next ronaldo!” and yet they disappear after a year or something,,, MAN CITY BLUE !!!!!! they’re still 5 points behind but u best believe they are on their way, and 3 el classico’s????? + barca women coming for another win?? also 😭😭 idk if this is someone who had a fan account but it seems a little real take ur barca hate away HES A KPOPPER cr7 he needs to get back to rm, forget man city bro will ruin it 😭😭

😭😭 is this not true atp this has to be intentional is chelsea doing, 3 TIMES???? barca having to go to court to register a member and suing la liga WHILE CHELSEA SPENT €500MIL ON SIGNINGS???? INSANITY

EXACTLY TASTE!!! he’s actually a goal scoring machine, so insanely talented,,, I THINK HES UNDER SOME ODISHA CLUB that was very surprising 😭😭 want to see him play in euro again,,, rmr how iniesta went to japan’s fc bc he didn’t want to ever face barca if he wasn’t playing in it 😭😭 LMFAOOO DARK TIMES AND BERE U ARE CONVERSING W A BARCA FAN ☺️☺️

NOOOOOOO there’s so much happening in paris this time around 😭😭😭 right you are!!! omg it’s also come back season ur gonna see so much again! baekhyun comes back 😭😭 i saw this one video on a vegan cafe in itaewon called plant cafe & kitchen and the food looked so good! here’s also some restaurants to check out if ur going jeju! i hope u have a fun and safe time there!! I THINK YOU WILL BE DISTRACTED IF U STAY AWAY FROM TWT 🔫🔫

The enemies to lovers prompt has so much potential AAAAAAAAAAAA a slow burn me thinks, a slow and painful one! I really need to read it 😭 //// I don't think any of the royals are particularly normal jjshshahshagaha maybe Beatrice and Eugenie, they're just kinda there? We know who's the worse tho, Andr*w that old fuckhead. Camilla and Charles don't have good reputation and we all also know why. Guess they can be funny sometimes, but I wish they had sense of morality instead of sense of humour 💀

plots like those are truly the bane of my existence, can go into so many routes, rivals? mafia enemies? sworn since birth enemies? EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING,,, right eugenie and beatrice! they’re yeah just there 😭😭 i also like princess anne, she has a witty personality irl it seems and the crown version was just hilarious fbwnbdsjckc the tampongate is never escaping charles ever 😭😭😭 NO UR RIGHT FBFB i think those who aren’t the direct heirs families tend to be unhinged, the one who are the siblings tend to be more lowkey

That Hannah Montana doll, I need to see it 😭 Baek but have you seen The O.C, Skins, 90210 (not the OG one even though it slayed, but I watched the spin off and it was insane) //// Not ANOTHER After movie oh god, this and the Hoover movie, we're doomed :/

IT WAS THIS FBWKFHWKCJC THO MINE HAS HER ONE FEET CUT OFF 😭😭😭 THE SONG IS DIFF! do u rmr the bratz dolls and the strawberry shortcake ones 😭😭😭 IVE, IVE SEEN THE O.C AND LOVED IT DESPITE THE CONFUSION I GOT UNFORTUNATELY NOT THE OTHER TWO, are they quite similar?? ANOTHER MOVIE YEAH 😭😭😭 at least we have a redemption coming in ??? freaky friday revamp?? desperately need blake to leave that movie 😭😭

Literally can't remember anything from that Nascar cartoon, but I watched the shit out of it for a while??? //// I have that webtoon you mentioned saved actually. Also I noticed a webtoon I started on Kakaopage has made it into ENG webtoon, it's called Complicated Cohabitation. I only started it, because nuna content <3

it does look quite interesting to watch fhwjdhen the characters are <33 U DO?? ITS SO GOOD LIKE AN UNHINGED VERSION OF ONE SIDED ENEMIES TO LOVERS 😭😭 NOONA ROMANCE??? SIGN ME UP !!!!! the younger mc trope is so >>>>

JFVWKFJWKCJCK GET BACK HERE HELLO TASIR IS WAITING!! TASIR. WAITS. omg those are so interesting to look at, THE DRAGON STOP IT SOMEONE NEEDS TO GIVE IT TO HIM 😭😭 do u think they have a anklet that has the golden boot charm bc that would be something ppl would buy fbwnd the world cup looking necklace 😭😭 maybe we should mail it to ronaldo <3 i know this is a parody acc but i just know he did something like this

NO SRS i also think it’s like selective for many people, if a group they like do it it’s amazing and even praise it! but if one doesn’t it’s devil worshipping 😭😭😭 NO LITERALLY HOW WOULD THEY SURVE THE F(X) RED LIGHT ERA 😭😭 ayo ngl i expected halazia to have a pentagram or some rituals and a hook like zimzalabim 😭😭😭 yeah! they always seems to have that theme, very garden of eden x edgy australian band vibes <3 u know they should cover imagine dragons i think that music suits them well! like bad liar esp! THAT SONG IS SO GOOD UR RIGHT BUT TINNITUS??? 🤲🏻🤲🏻 they have the funniest titles 😭😭😭 what the heck 😭😭 lionel mbappe

Uhhhh bestie do you remember this video 😭🤧❤ (but the camera mostly filming his lips, neck and hands drives me INSANEEEE 😳😳😳😳) //// Gonna start Nayeon x Hongjoong dating rumours jdjsjsjsbshsh. And You're right Atz and Dox served CEOs at the wedding

I DO AND WHY WOULD U REMIND ME OF IT WHTMWHDKW THE ZOOM IN ON THE HANDS !!!! GRRRRRRRRRR nayeon x hongjoong giving ✨ ceo romance ✨ the bright and cherry fl and the reserved always squinting ceo <3

???? and hmmm //// Okay rich...... do NOT remind me are you insane Park Seonghwa?! But he's cruel and vile //// Omfg I haven't been on twt that much, I totally missed two new Seonghwa fansites and they have some gold content like this 😭 and this and oh wow god it's me..... - I need to arrange flowers for him, make him a big ass bouquet 💐💐💐💐 /// Okay that's enough of Hwa spam :3 - DV 💖

san’s an ass guy,,, bro just be going into all the details 😭😭😭 do u ever just randomly, out of no where rmr the texture of the smoothness of his hand? no? it’s okay BECAUSE HE WILL REMIND YOU FBWNBDWNDJKS

oh i just screamed

he’s giving junior hwa tutor au but also steve jobs

what the hell

WHAT THE HECK im going to d word if he doesn’t put that inside

#✉️ : ask #dv 💖 anon

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thequietmanno1 · 2 years

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Thelreads, Vigilantes 73, Replies Part 2

1) “You know, I understand the impact of bringing all those people that knew Pop to bear witness to her destroying their life and hurting so many innocent people all while completely oblivious to why she`s doing this in the first place but… I also have a feeling that this is going to be pretty much the last time we`ll see them for a long time and neither of them will be relevant for the arc. They are only here to add to the shock value, then they go back into the box of puppets that Furuhashi brings out when he needs to”- Someone’s gonna have to make a true law-breaking vigilante out of Koichi in order to save Pop, and I don’t think any of these guys are quite willing to wear the longcoat of vigilantism alongside him…. 2) “Oh yeah, definitely having fun here. Can`t deny that I would enjoy seeing this scene animated, it seems like one of those moments that would really shine in anime form, like the class 1-A show back in the main series, except that evil.”- Her laughter covers up the tears flowing on the inside. Though, at least part of her probably does feel nice to let all these pent-up emotions out in song, motion and explosion all at once. Not so great for the viewers, but that’s the price of stardom. 3) “What the- Didn`t any of you see who made the danger zone in the first place? Goddammit, what good were those hacker bees for if she didn`t even got a crowd to watch her show?!”- Like the public are willing to ignore the ugly reality about the flaws in hero society back in MA, to the point of ignoring those in obvious trouble like young Tenko, these girls are warping the situation in their heads to fit their perception of who Pop used to be, not quite able to grasp who she’s become yet. It takes Pop giving them a verbal slap in the face for them to start getting it, which in a way, is sorta what Tomura intends to do to everybody once his ascension is completed, only he plans to take it much further… 4) “I mean, she`s not wrong per see, we all agree with that, but that`s not pop speaking, it`s the parasite distorting her thoughts and make her act in ways that she would never act. This is the equivalent of a kid pretending to be edgy and violent so others think they are cool, except that, you know, with brainwashing.”- Apros of nothing, I have to say, between the sleeker costume, darkened skin and more confident personality, the new villain look is really working for Pop. Shame she wasn’t able to look that good without some unwanted assistance from Nomura, but sometimes a manager can get too invasive with the handling of their future Star. 5) “Ah, yes, just like expected. Can`t have the whole “brainwashed into evil” without trying to kill your closest friends at least once, bonus point if it is right when they are trying to call to you, completely unaware that you are the danger. Classic move.”- Of course, if this is her reaction towards her closest friends, then she’s gonna do so much worse to Koichi when he tries again to save her. She brushed him off for now, but that was to make him feel as insignificant and immaterial as she felt by him not really recognising her feelings towards him, though obviously her brainwashing is making her overlook her own culpability in not plainly spelling it out to him. Pop knows Koichi well enough to know he’s going to try again, and that time, she’ll break his body as much as his spirit. 6) “I said…Sure hope no crawling hero comes around to save her from her inevitable doom or something. “-Koichi nearly missed his cue to enter the scene heroically, just like he’s missed nearly every cue to pick up on Pop’s romantic intentions towards him. 7) “Ah, there he is. You know Koichi, you need to pay attention to what I said, you almost missed the cue there. It would be dreadful if Pop actually killed or at the very least severely injured one of the people she cares about so deeply, that was dangerous we almost had lasting consequences there, can`t let that happen, we already have enough with that hole on Pop`s head.”- Shot through the head And You’re to Blame You give Love A Bad name. 8) “Oh, there goes Hopper the Hop man, hopping into the fray in hopes that he can figure out what the fuck is going on.”- But if you leap too high without a proper landing strategy in mind, all that’ll happen to you is a nasty fall. Getting badly burned in the process also didn’t help. 9) “Oh, that seems familiar… Yeah, that certainly take us back to the first time Koichi jumped from a building to reach a falling pop, except that this time she`s not falling per see, she`s actually going up, and she`s not in danger, she is the danger.”- That time too ended with Pop knocking Koichi down to the ground whilst she soared up higher to safety, though this time she used her words to take the wind out his sails and his spirit instead, which was arguably more devastating for Koichi to experience. 10)“Sure sure, it`s all the parasite talking, but even so, he`s using her mind to know exactly what to say, it knows what she feels, and I could see it just bringing up all the pent-up frustration that she felt throughout the years.

This is not something that Pop would say, but it is definitely something she thought about before.”- ‘Bee all my sins remembered…’ 11)”I can`t believe even the fucking queen is a tsundere. Fuck`s sake, I give up- Apparently there`s things that even brainwashing can`t get rid off.”- Tamao’s aggressiveness was partially spurred on by her opponent at the time being her dad, and her prior existing issues with him, so clearly for the parasite to make the host more violence-prone, having a target they’ve got strong emotional connections to makes it easier for them to lash out. 12) “You`re still here? fuck off McBee, there`s a show going on, we don`t want to waste time with your sorry ass.”- He’s aware- Hell, he’s munching down on some popcorn he’s holding with his free hand here. 13) “Oh- Oof, okay, I take back what I said, Koichi definitely got a permanent scar there, an emotional one. The queen sure packs some sting on her words”- Can’t become a badass crime fighter without picking up an injury or two along the way. Just as Knuckleduster… 14) “Yeah koichi, ouch. The pavement below won`t hurt as much as what pop just said to you, because, due to Knuckles incredible parenting, you are not even aware of the parasite and why she`s acting like this. To you and to everyone else, it`s like she just snapped and started laying waste to the city.

fucking ouch.”- Well, at least now he’s got the change to lay all his cards on the table now and pull Koichi into the loop, given how the Villain factory is so obviously targeting his protégée now with this stunt. 15) “Wait- No Pop, that was supposed to be the Last surprise, what are you doing? Are you going to Take over the stage like that? Absurd, the fame really got to your head, didn`t it? Ugh, those divas of nowadays…”- Her next hit will make them cry rivers. In the Desert. 16) “Bahahah- Sorry, it`s just- it was a dramatic exit alright, but it just really looks like Pop said “That`s all folks, until next time” and then fucking blew up. Just like that. Boom. Completely gone. “- ‘Insert Loony Tunes music here’ 17) “I feel like this exact shot of a creepy alleyway was used at least a dozen of times by now, but I`m too lazy too check, so I`m just going to move on and finish this.”- From the darkness, a hero will emerge…after he’s gotten rid of the trash still covering his clothes. 18) “Ah, managed to land on a heap of trash? Just like your pa taught you, right? That`s the spirit koichi, lay there for a moment and be one with the trash, I bet you`re probably feeling like it right now at least.”- Well, who better to clean up the trash and make it all presentable again than a Janitor?

19) “That was… surprisingly entertaining to watch. Sure, had that Furuhashi touch that just makes you go “ugh” but still, there was something that was- dare I say- fun, in seeing pop destroying a neighborhood and killing an untold number of innocent people against her will.

I have mixed feelings about those sort of brainwashing acts, they are a bit less interesting than just an actual corruption of a character into evil, but even so, that was kind of interesting”- I think that’s what makes the current conflict with the heroes and the PLF so engaging, specially the upper brass that comprised the league. Some of them we still don’t know enough about, like Compress, but Spinner, Toga, Twice and even Tomura are all shown to be people who have genuinely good aspects to them and care for their comrades beyond the fact that they need each other to achieve their goals. If things had been different, each one of them could have ended up in Class 1A alongside Izuku and the rest, fighting on the side of good, but Ironically those same ‘good’ aspects help drive them further into ‘evil’. Toga cares for others and wants to be closer to them, but this drives her murderous impulses and desire for bloodletting. When Mange was killed Toga went through an extremely risky situation just to avenge her, but she also had no problems stabbing and wounding heroes who got in her way during the raid.

Spinner is a sociable guy, and does his best to make sure the League ‘sticks’ together and ‘sticks’ to their goals, but he’s also advocating for them to keep pushing their anti-hero agenda despite the consequences on innocent civilians if the PLF actually enacted revolution on a societal scale. However, this also means he’s refusing to quit and stands by his principles to the end despite his personal powerlessness. Tomura is obviously a parallel to Izuku, a kid who could have been a hero, ad those heroic traits shine through when he’s leading the league against the MLA and putting himself at risk to achieve his dreams, even basically admitting that he’s ok with dying in the end so long as they can have a free future, demonstrating a similar self-sacrificing streak to Izuku, but twisted all around to befit a villain’s stance. And Twice…Twice is in the process of throwing away Hawk’s last offer of mercy because he stands by and supports the friends who were there for him when nobody else was, and his ‘mistakes’ were simply being too trusting and kindly towards people who took advantage of that. Everybody’s the hero of their own story, but for Pop, it’s no longer her story anymore. It’s Nomura’s as she’s just a puppet dancing on the stage he’s set up from the background. @thelreads

#bnha #bnha vigilantes #thelreads #chapter replies #my hero academia #vigilantes 73

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veliseraptor · 2 years

Note

xuexiao and/or songxue for the ask game!

well I was going to pick one but then I thought WHY SHOULD I CHOOSE so - I mean answer here is a big ol' yes please for them both but

and also I know I did this one last time around but, again, why not do it again! I've got so many words in me. both in general and about this specifically

XUEXIAO

What made you ship it?

oh my god this ship is so incredibly Made for Me it's still kind of like. how is this a thing that exists, how did this happen in a real canon setting where I didn't have to build my own ship out of hypotheticals and bits and pieces, but where I actually have a whole arc devoted to the relationship between my blorbos in a shape that I like? what???

I mean it's just... [gestures] everything. the obsession/devotion, the villain domestication, the misery and tragedy and incredibly fucked up nature of the thing alongside the sweetness and potential...ah. delicious.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

so many things but to pick one, I mentioned this in the tags of a post recently I think, but I love the...simultaneity and coexistence of the sweetness and the awfulness of this pairing. Because on the one hand it's inherently fucked up, the way things go in canon is patently awful, there's so much misery and horror the whole thing is positively drenched in, and at the same time there's...Xue Yang making Xiao Xingchen laugh, and stupid games on the porch deciding on household chores, and candy on pillows, and...

I feel like there's something in the exchange with the drawing straws, actually, that encapsulates that - where Xue Yang is joking about ~exploiting Xiao Xingchen's blindness~ but clearly in a way where they're both in on the joke and it's almost a meme that they can both laugh about, while at the same time...Xiao Xingchen's being blind is (a) because of Xue Yang and (b) the reason Xue Yang is able to do the awful things he does.

love that.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I'm not sure? I feel like to a certain extent my sense of them kinkwise differs a little from what's become a more common fanon of Xiao Xingchen as mean dom - I think of them both as switches and Xiao Xingchen as much more of a service top than someone who actually enjoys being mean.

I feel like part of my problem with "unpopular opinion" things is that half the time I don't really know what the popular opinions are in any concrete sort of way.

I wouldn't say it's unpopular in the xuexiao segment of things but because I have seen it around, maybe: I don't think that they were, like, doomed to fail or that Xue Yang Could Never Change or Improve Behavior or whatever. and that's part of the sadness! the loss of the could have been - if it was unmistakably going to end in tears from the beginning then you lose some of that tragedy, I think.

(but I also think that they were doomed and it was never going to end up okay.

it's in the sense of "in infinite possible worlds" versus "in this broken one we live in" if that makes sense.)

SONGXUE

What made you ship it?

I think I've said this before but: it's about the grief sex and hate sex and proxyfucking and also the ways in which they actually have some things more in common than either of them does with Xiao Xingchen but at the same time there is so much hatred between them and yet...they're bound together so very, very intimately.

It's fucked up and I'm into it.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

I really, really cannot emphasize enough how much I'm into it when two characters who hate each other are mutually grieving the loss of someone else and dealing with it in truly awful ways.

But the other flavor here that I always really like is the one where Song Lan absolutely despises Xue Yang and at the same time there's this niggling inability to just...write him off entirely? They're just sort of embedded in each other. Shared trauma and misery-bonding, or something like that.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Again, can't really measure metrics of popular/unpopular, but I don't think (in CQL) Song Lan was particularly happy to kill Xue Yang at the end of everything, and I don't think he got a whole lot of satisfaction out of it.

#conversating #blackteaaddict #songxue #xuexiao #song lan #xiao xingchen #xue yang #ship opinions meme

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makeste · 3 years

Text

BnHA Chapter 318: On Your Left

Previously on BnHA: The Hawksquad+Lurkers were all “well this sucks” and sat around a bit talking about how maybe they should actually come up with a new plan that is actually good, but then in the end they were like “nah.” Deku was all, “THERE’S SOMETHING INSIDE ME THAT PULLS BENEATH THE SURFACE!! CONSUMING, CONFUSING!! THIS LACK OF SELF CONTROL I FEAR IS NEVERENDING. IT’S HAUNTING HOW I CANT SEEM TO FIND MYSELF AGAIN. MY WALLS ARE CLOSING IN.” Just, literally that whole entire song. All Might was all “Deku you should take care of yourself, try eating a thing,” and Deku was all “BYE, ALL MIGHT,” and just LEFT. He left!!! What the fuck!!!

Today on BnHA: Endeavor is all, “maybe if Deku didn’t listen to All Might he’ll listen to me instead.” Deku is all, “[doesn’t listen to Endeavor]” because, well, yeah. The Vestiges are all, “surprisingly, even we are a little concerned -- maybe you should get some rest, kid.” Deku is all, “((Ò ‸ Ó)).” The Vestiges are all, “holy shit.” Deku is all, “[wanders the ruined city streets terrifying the populace on account of him looking like Shelob had a baby with one of the Nazgul].” Some shriveled-up puppeteer villain asshole is all, “HORIKOSHI SAID IT’S MY TURN TO ATTACK DEKU TODAY SO I AM GOING TO SUMMON MY FRIGHTENED HELPLESS ATTACK MOB!!” Kacchan is all “WHADDYA MEAN THEY FOUND THE NERD!!! -- oh wait, that’s me, I found him. I found the nerd, you guys.” And just in time, too. I was about to owe a whole lot of people a whole lot of dollars.

so I have been super good about spoilers this week as always, but let me tell you guys, for the past 36 hours my dash filters have basically been nonstop “manga spoilers” this and “bnha 318” that, and so I’m coming in with a fair amount of hype here. your move, Horikoshi

oh, good! they got Endeavor to call Deku to try to talk him out of it. what a great and wonderful plan

“listen up kid, you haven’t slept since March and you are basically a walking biohazard right now, I’m just telling it like it is. didn’t you get shot like three times?? and there was a whole thing about how you urgently needed medical attention?? and supposedly we gave it to you, but I mean you haven’t even changed your clothes and don’t seem to have any fresh bandages or anything, so did we?? did we, really?? and also we all got blown up yesterday, so yeah.” hmm he’s making some reasonable points here you guys, but you sure do go on and on, Endeavor

oh he says foreign aid is finally on its way! I’m sure they’ll be very helpful. I mean in fairness they can hardly be worse than the home-grown heroes at this point

hey Enji, could you maybe try appealing to Deku the sixteen-year-old human boy, as opposed to Deku The World’s Last Hope? he does have value beyond his quirk. I know that’s always been an incredibly difficult concept for you to grasp, but could you maybe TRY, jesus

and also we’re worried about you as a person?? you’re just a kid and you’re pushing yourself way too hard?? you were going to say that part next, right. why the hell didn’t Hawks make this call instead

“don’t worry about me... I’m completely fine” Deku you do understand that saying it over and over again doesn’t actually make it true

and again with the rush!! all the rush rush rush!! we’re running out of time, we can’t let AFO and Tomura keep getting stronger, I have to end this now, there’s no time to rest, etc. etc. etc. just the constant pressure of this whole big countdown on top of everything else

holy shit, you KNOW it’s bad when even the Vestiges are telling him to chill

these guys are basically the walking talking embodiments of self-sacrifice; if even they’re telling him he needs to take five, then he must seriously be like half a step away from death’s door

OH SHIT LMAO

DIDN’T EVEN LET HIM FINISH HIS SENTENCE BEFORE HE SENT HIM INTO THE FUCKING SHADOW REALM WITH THAT FUCKING LOOK. HOLY FUCK. DIDN’T EVEN KNOW IT WAS POSSIBLE TO DIE TWICE. SHIT

(ETA: so I’m pretty sure this was just Danger Sense activating and so he cut them off to go do more hero stuff, but I’m gonna go ahead and stick to my original interpretation anyway lol.)

anyway so how’s everybody doing. we all good? En, you good? Banjou? Shino? I’m imagining you guys all curled up in a little ball on the floor right now lol. can’t say I blame you though, no shame

lmaoooooooooooo

“SHEESH.” sheesh indeed, lmao. “what in the FUCK was that”

see, this is why y’all need Kacchan. you need someone who’s not going to back down from him no matter what. if it’s a matter of out-stubborning Midoriya fucking Izuku, then there’s only one other person on the planet capable of that, and we all know it. don’t pretend like you don’t. I am not going to shut up about this! we’ve had our hurt so now what about SOME COMFORT, DAMMIT

“I’m afraid that he’s becoming influenced by my conscience” nah are you kidding Nana this is all 100% made-in-Japan pure original Deku right here

see, Banjou gets it. “that kid, he’s totally going on his own.” exactly. this was so inevitable it was basically scientific law

“well I for one don’t see the problem with Deku being so obsessed with saving everyone else that he pushes himself until his body and soul literally fall apart” okay, whose speech bubbles are these?? we’re about to have words

lol of course

well you always did prefer the direct route didn’t you. but even you can’t possibly think this is okay lol

dark AU!Kacchan please tell us more about your badass doomed timeline in which everything went to shit and you apparently had the same character arc that Deku is having right now except it somehow made you sexier instead of turning you into a rabid t-rex. I have so many questions

oh so now you want to help??? well -- good, actually. sorry if that sounded offended just now lol

(ETA: so at first when I got to the end of this chapter I was wondering if Katsuki B. had somehow summoned his alternate-universe counterpart through trippy OFA space telepathy lol. but in the original Japanese there’s no reference to “we”, so this appears to be a mistranslation. this line should probably read more like “if there’s something/someone out there that would be able to complement/complete the current Midoriya Izuku [it would be]…” which, oh hello, is that Horikoshi once again reaffirming that Deku and Bakugou complete each other lol. “guess what guys, the Vestiges ship it too" heck yeah. they know what’s up!)

look how admiring his boyfriends are. HORIKOSHI GIVE US THE REST OF THIS BACKSTORY ALREADY GODDAMMIT

“meanwhile somewhere in the depths of the ruined city, Deku was having a dance-off with the villains”

I like how the villains all have this “AHH WHAT THE FUCK” kind of body language to them lol. I mean if it were me, and an eldritch horror suddenly clawed its way from the shadows with its writhing glowy tentacles and pants-shitting nuclear death stare, I would probably just die on the spot. no need to stick around. only pain awaits

lol for a minute I thought this was Can’t Ya See-kun and I was like “WHAT A FASCINATING CROSSING OF PATHS” but it’s just some random girl

he seems genuinely confused lol

Deku it’s because you look like something that crawled out of a sewer drain, sweetheart

lol they just took his word for it?

so trusting. even though they’re immediately hauling ass anyway just to be safe lmao

“my appearance is frightening to others” no shit Deku it’s because you look like a fucking alien exorcism. you look like a Lich that got caught up in an oil spill my dude

NO NOT THE CHOSEN ONE ANGST AGAIN

I RAN OUT OF ESSAY JUICE FOR THIS ALREADY HORIKOSHI!! I’VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT IT FOR MONTHS NOW WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG!! BUT ANYWAYS, GOOD!! I MEAN, BAD, THOUGH, OBVIOUSLY. BUT YES

“ENJOY THIS MONTAGE OF DEKU BATTLING A RANDOM KAIJU AND WANDERING THE WOODS LIKE A DERANGED GREEN BABA YAGA” okay yes but sir, exactly how much longer is this going to go on. if it’s a matter of you wanting to make sure we get it, let me assure you that aside from a few stray chuunis who think that Deku embracing the Darkness is the coolest thing he’s ever done, all of us here in fandom fully comprehend that this is Not Good

-- OH SO IT’S LIKE THAT

really. with the flashbacks to his loved ones’ smiling faces and everything. not even gonna try to aim above the belt, huh

AND NO KACCHAN??! NO CLASSMATES?!?! IS HE PURPOSELY NOT THINKING OF THEM??? OR ARE THEY BEING SAVED FOR THE NEXT PAGE??? SO HELP ME, IF THE NEXT PART OF THIS SENTENCE IS “CAN PROTECT THEM”, OR EVEN WORSE, “CAN SEE THEIR SMILING FACES AGAIN”, I...

WHAT DID I JUST SAY

(ETA: my man did Sero and Kaminari fucking dirty lmao. I miss their smiling faces too omg.)

the sheer, unparalleled irony of him saying this while he stands there looking like the gargoyle demon from Fantasia got crossed with an umbrella that got struck by lightning. Deku :(

oi who the fuck is this clown

is he controlling this mob with his evil hair. “what if I made an exhausted, running-on-fumes Deku battle a brainwashed mob at Ground Zero.” Horikoshi do you just have like a checklist of horrible things you want to do to your protagonist

easy there Sasori

well joke’s on you buddy because he’s apparently “completely fine”, so

“here’s to hoping that you know more about AFO’s location than the others” jesus christ Deku you really have hung your mercy out to dry huh

now he’s forcing his mob of terrified prisoners to attack Deku ahhhh. sucks to be them. at least they’re not being controlled by bees

so Deku is saying that Sasori’s control can be broken with “physical trauma.” similar to Shinsou’s quirk I guess. but so does that mean he’s gonna have to hurt them? ( •﹏•)

NO NOT MORE SAD EYES

“DEATH BY EMPATHY!!!” HORIKOSHI NO

fuck. he looks like he’s on the verge of passing out

this is what happens when you nerf a character’s self-preservation stats in favor of spamming their bone-breaking stats instead. NOW ACCEPTING BRAIN CELL DONATIONS FOR A BOY IN NEED!! with your loving generosity we can hopefully help him live to the ripe old age of seventeen

OMGFGGG

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

[grabs your hands] ლ(*꒪ヮ꒪*)ლ [swings you in a circle] へ(ﾟ◇ﾟへ)

THASSSSSSSS WHATSSSSSSS UPPPPPPPPPP

HORIKOSHI REALLY SAID FUCK THAT MASK (ノ°ο°)ノ YOU FINALLY LEARNED!! IT’S CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!!!!

JUST FOR YOU KACCHAN, HORIKOSHI LEFT THIS ONE BAD GUY WHO’S STILL WEAK TO FIRE. GOD BLESS

IT’S YOUR COUNTERPART, KATSUKI B!!!! HOW WE DOIN OVER THERE IN THE TRIPPY COSMIC OFA SPACE REALM LOL. DO WE BELIEVE YET, FANDOM???

LIGHTS!!!!

INSTANT RESULTS!!! IT’S SUPER EFFECTIVE!!!

(ETA: imagine what this must look like to Deku though. he’s been caught up in this dark cloud of despair and exhaustion that’s been building up over... I’m gonna go ahead and say “weeks”, because yeah. and now he finds himself here, in the place where All Might’s legacy ended and the torch was passed to him. and the world is in ruins, and he’s surrounded by frightened people who are all trying to hurt him -- because who isn’t trying to hurt him, these days -- and he’s scrambling to figure this all out, but meanwhile the weariness is finally starting to catch up to him, and so he’s basically just standing there in a fog of complete and utter misery.

and then all of a sudden through that haze, he hears the one voice that’s more familiar than any other that he knows. like, I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he thought he was just imagining it at first. Kacchan showing up to save him right when he’s at his most desperate and feeling the most alone. Kacchan, showing up to save him.

this is the person he always looked up to as a child (to be fair he was quite a strange child lmao). the person who was even closer to him than All Might. the person he always thought was amazing. and bam, here he is now. appearing in the sky out of nowhere to one-shot the bad guy with a single blast (which, btw, that was his armor-piercing attack too lmao dslkjlk take it easy there kiddo). like, that must have felt absolutely surreal to him, especially coming at a time when he’s already half-delirious and barely hanging on to reality. he must have really thought that he was losing it there for a second.

but he’s really there. it really is him. and for this brief moment -- before the rest of the situation catches up to him, and he remembers about all of the fucked-up AFO stuff, and remembers why he was so afraid and why he was pushing everyone away -- for just this one brief moment, he’s too exhausted and stunned to do anything except to just react. just stands there, looking up at him in awe.

and you know, it almost reminds me of...

just. you guys. the character development. the freaking character development. someone who brings reassurance. someone who shows up and makes you think, “oh, it’s all going to be okay now, because [person] is here.” the role reversals. the growth. the payoff!! because who is the one person who always had faith that Kacchan would one day grow up to become an amazing hero like that. WHO IS IT. YOU ALREADY KNOW.

omg. anyways, bless you Horikoshi, my feels which have been on backorder since fucking September have finally arrived lmao. yes, good, thank you. worth the wait. it is always, always worth the wait. fuck yeah.)

“LOWFRIES” SO YOU’RE TELLING ME THE WHOLE GANG IS HERE, AHHHHHHHH (º̩̩́⌣º̩̩̀ )

BEAUTIFUL. WONDERFUL. SENSATIONAL. I DON’T EVEN CARE THAT JUMP IS ON BREAK NEXT WEEK. THIS RIGHT HERE WILL SUSTAIN ME

#bnha 318 #midoriya izuku #BAKUGOU KATSUKI #!!!!#twowy mctwoface #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha meta #bakudeku #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha

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fromthedeskofelizabeththird · 3 years

Text

Habanero

You're a good girl, well behaved.

Absolutely not the type to rail random guys in nightclubs.

Until you are.

Fandom: BNHA

Pairing: Aizawa x Reader, Present Mic x Reader, a sprinkling of Erasermic and eventual polyamorous Erasermic x Reader

Rating: Mature, not smutty but it is a bit gory

Trigger Warnings: Blood and Gore, descriptions of physical violence, nothing worse than on the show, but it’s there all the same. Also some Shirakumo related spoilers.

AO3: Here | Want to support me? I have a Kofi

Chapter: 13/16 (all chapters)

16-ISH YEARS AGO

“This is a terrible idea, just so you know.”

Shouta hugged his arms around his body, turning to look at the path behind him. His eyes were still growing accustomed to the dark and he had been almost entirely reliant on Shirakumo and Hizashi to guide him through the undergrowth, along a path tucked away by several layers of branches.

He had no idea where they were going, only that it was long after curfew.

“You worry too much,” said Hizashi. “Trust me, it’ll be worth it!”

Shouta pursed his lips together, more than a little conscious of how new he was to class 1-A. More specifically, how any wrong move could realistically end in him being returned to general studies.

He hadn’t wanted to go to the summer training camp, but ultimately the pros far outweighed the cons. Sure, he’d have to eat bad curry and share a room with students he barely knew, but missing out on the opportunity to master his quirk wasn’t something to be taken lightly. His presence there alone was a test, unofficially or not.

He had been exhausted when he finally rested his head, only to spend hours staring at the ceiling. In a matter of hours, he would have to push himself harder than ever and that knowledge alone made him nervous. He hadn’t been able to sleep the night before either, instead stealing glances at the packed bag by his bedroom door. The more he tried to sleep, the more nervous he got, a vicious cycle he knew all too well.

He was still awake at light’s out; still awake when the majority of the other guys tucked themselves into bed and began to snore. He was still awake when Shirakumo and Yamada got up to leave.

He knew them from class, of course. If he had to label them anything, and was loath to do so, they were the closest thing he had to friends on the hero course. Yamada had offered up one of his earphones on the bus ride over to show him the song he’d been obsessed with, while Shirakumo frowned into the other. Shirakumo had nudged Shouta with a wink before dropping so many chilli flakes into the curry that it shone an angry shade of red. Shouta had no idea what his ultimate goal had been, only that the two members of class 1-A who finished their dinner did it on a dare.

Shouta knew they were up to no good the second he saw them tiptoeing across the room, dodging the arms and legs of their sleeping classmates. Whatever they were up to would almost certainly get him into trouble if caught. Even so, he followed them when they motioned for him to.

“We found it earlier,” said Shirakumo, crouching down beside a fallen tree and linking his hands to give Yamada a boost over the top.

Yamada whined as he climbed up and slid down onto the other side, far from pleased at having to touch the tree bark in so little light. Shirakumo turned to him and held out his hands, leaving Shouta grateful for the darkness. In this light, no one could see him blush.

He set his foot down into Shirakumo’s hands and put a hand on his shoulder for balance. He took a deep breath as Shirakumo boosted him, planting both hands down on the damp bark and pulling himself up. He was still much slower than they were, regardless of how long he spent running laps or doing pull ups. He landed on the other side without any sort of grace, stumbling on his ankle and grazing his hands across the floor. In any other setting it would have hurt, but the grass was soft and incredibly forgiving.

“Man,” said Yamada, who was still checking himself for bugs, “I’m going to itch for a week.”

“You’ll be fine,” said Shirakumo, landing softly. “C’mon, it’s this way!”

He raced on ahead, no longer concerned about waking up any of the professors. Shouta turned to Yamada, who grinned back and reached for his hand.

“C’mon!”

He squeezed tightly and followed suit, Shouta trailing behind and staring at their linked hands. It was so intimate and yet so casual and he didn’t know what to do.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to think about it for long, as they reached a gap in the trees and Yamada let him go. Shouta stumbled to a stop, jaw dropping as he took in their new surroundings.

They had arrived at the base of a waterfall, its waters twinkling in a near perfect imitation of the stars overhead. He didn’t know what he’d expected, but it definitely wasn’t this.

Yamada and Shirakumo weren’t nearly as overwhelmed as he was, already in the process of settling down on the grass. Shouta followed suit, wishing he had a dozen or more heads just to take in every detail.

“It’s good, right?!” Shirakumo said as he and Yamada flopped back into the grass.

Shouta laid back far more slowly, taking care to listen to the whisper of the water and cool night breeze. He made sure to smell the flowers that crowned their heads.

“I…” he said, closing his eyes.

He wanted to say it was beautiful, that he was happy they had shared this secret with him.

He wanted to say how grateful he was to have such welcoming classmates who hadn’t hesitated to welcome him into their class.

In the end, though, he merely shrugged.

“It’s okay.”

~~~~

PRESENT

“What do you mean you can’t come? I need you to chaperone the girls.”

“Eraser, be more sympathetic,” wailed Nemuri. “I’ve never had such bad cramps before! I feel like I’ve swallowed a chainsaw.”

Shouta leaned against the bus, rubbing his temples and toeing the gravel.

He had hated summer training camps as a teenager and he definitely hated them now.

Shouta was sick of planning the summer camp. He was tired of so much as hearing about it. It was necessary, he knew that, but this one seemed to have been doomed from the beginning.

The last thing he needed was to have to replace a chaperone at the last minute, especially so early on into summer vacation.

“You’ll be fine,” he said. “Just take an aspirin.”

“I don't have any!”

“I do. Now hurry up, we’re leaving soon.”

He hung up before she could protest, only for his phone to start ringing again almost immediately.

“I already organised a replacement,” said Nemuri the moment he picked up. “A little last minute, but she’s definitely qualified!”

“What are you tal-“

He never got the chance to reply, for you strolled around the corner, rucksack strapped to your back and sunglasses perched on top of your head. You waved the moment you saw him and came rushing over, completely oblivious to the conflict playing out in front of you.

“I’ll call you back,” he said, hanging up on Nemuri for a second time.

She had a point and he knew it. You were the only member of the faculty who didn’t have lessons to plan and papers to grade. Even so, it made him nervous and he told himself it had nothing at all to do with the cutoffs you had on.

“(Name),” he said, “you…”

“Did you speak to Nemuri? Is she okay?”

Shouta slipped his phone back into his pocket, wondering exactly how much she had told you.

“She’ll be fine,” he said. “I’m sorry to put you out like this.”

“No, no,” you said, waving away his concerns, “I was already packed for Yamanashi. It’s not putting me out at all!”

It was just like you and he sighed, cursing Nemuri. He wanted to tell you to go home, but he didn’t know who else he could call in on such short notice and, given the current climate, it was important to keep as few people in the know about where you were going as humanly possible. Even if he called Recovery Girl or Thirteen, it was unlikely either of them would be packed and ready on time and he didn’t like the idea of having them arrive at the camp later, putting more vehicles on the road for the League of Villains to follow.

“We’re taking separate routes,” he said, against his better judgement. “You should travel with 1-B. They’re taking the shorter path.”

He pointed out the second bus, where Vlad was checking over his student rosters.

“Okay,” you said with a wide smile, “I’ll go and tell him about the change of plans.”

He watched as you left, all but bouncing on your heels. He knew you hadn’t experienced much close contact with heroes until recently and your excitement was only natural. Even so, he had a bad feeling about bringing you along, one that he wouldn’t put his finger on until it was too late.

~~~~

Your friends had laughed at you for packing your bags so early. The trip to Yamanashi was weeks away and you had more free time than usual thanks to summer break. Nemuri’s early morning phone call was satisfying in more ways than one. You didn’t need to worry about buying bug spray or picking out walking shoes. All you had to do was throw on some clothes and grab your bag on the way out.

You spent the bus ride turning the pages of a suspense novel, so absorbed in the action that you barely noticed where you were going or how much time had passed. You were almost a quarter of the way through when the bus finally came to a stop and the students pushed their faces to the windows.

“Everyone, calm down,” said Vlad, “back in your seats. You’ll have plenty of time to explore later.”

They groaned, but obeyed, prompting you to giggle and slip a bookmark between the pages of your novel. You were used to dealing with the chaos of 1-A. It was almost a relief to spend time with 1-B.

You and Vlad were the first ones off the bus and you gazed in awe at your forest surroundings. There were trees and mountains as far as the eye could see, wild and unapologetically untamed. You turned on the spot, wishing you could see everything all at once, only to find yourself on the receiving end of a bone breaking handshake.

“Good morning, good morning,” said the stranger. “Welcome to The Beast’s Forest.”

You took in the stranger’s enormous form; his broad shoulders and kitten paw gloves.

“I...um...thank you…”

“The Wild Wild Pussycats are helping us out with the training camp this year,” said Vlad, taking a moment to look away as the students filed off the bus. “Thank you for your hospitality.”

“It’s our pleasure,” said the stranger. “I’m Tiger and this is Ragdoll!”

He gestured to the woman beside him, who had on a matching set of kitten paw gloves.

“Pleased to meet you,” she cried out, hopping on the spot. “We’re so happy you chose to come here and train with us!”

“We’ll show you to your rooms,” followed up Tiger.

“1-B,” said Vlad, turning to the students, who by then had started to huddle round you. “Grab your things and get ready to unpack. We have a lot to do today, so no goofing off!”

~~~~

After everyone had unpacked, Vlad and Ragdoll left to take the students on a short hike. You stayed behind to help Tiger prepare dinner, as well as to help the girls from 1-A unpack and settle in once they finally arrived.

By all accounts it didn’t make sense. 1-A had set off before you, yet still hadn’t arrived. You thought about it as you washed and peeled vegetables, wondering if Shouta had done so deliberately as part of a training exercise.

They trailed out of the forest and through the doors at sundown, filthy, exhausted and starving.

“What on earth happened?” you asked, guiding them to the dorms while Pixie Bob and Mandalay finished up the food.

You didn’t get much of an answer, just whimpers of despair.

You watched as they trailed into their room, dragging their legs and clutching their hands over their stomachs, wondering what kinds of tortures they had endured in the forest.

As expected of UA , you considered. This isn’t even day one.

~~~~~~~

After dinner, the students took a dip in the hot springs and retired to bed, exhausted from the day’s events and anticipating an early start. You checked in on them before leaving the dorms, meaning to explore the grounds a little. You weren’t sure how much time you would have to yourself once the training actually started and wanted to make the most of it.

You couldn’t remember the last time you had taken a break outside of the city. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d been away from the city at all. Akira had always promised that one day you would take a week away in a cabin somewhere, though he had always been too busy for one reason or another to follow through. You had told yourself you thrived in the city, but the peaceful night air was proof enough of how wrong you had been.

The air was clean here; the silence broken only by the cry of cicadas in the distance. You had never seen the stars so clearly before and, now that they glimmered above you, you never wanted to stop looking at them.

At that moment, all you could think about was Hizashi. You remembered how it had felt to explore Musutafu with his hand in yours, so caught up in the beauty of your surroundings that you forgot how it felt to be sad.

What movie are we in?

You pulled your phone from your pocket and scrolled through your own songs as you walked, following the dirt path to an exposed area of grass framed by trees. You gave each tree an appraising look, trying to figure out which one would give you the best view, only to flop down in the middle and gaze up at the sky. You had never seen such a clear view of the summer triangle before: Orihime and Hikoboshi reunited in the stars.

Their story had always been one of your favourites, which proved fortunate, as it was your mother’s favourite too. She liked to sit you and your brother down and recite the story of the beautiful princess and her humble lover as a cautionary tale, meant to remind you of the importance of contributing to society, as opposed to childish fleets of fancy. Your brother, ever the dutiful son, had nodded along to her words and condemned the lovers for their passion, but you had always been something of a romantic. You often slipped up and said how happy you were that the lovers were reunited, to which your mother would pinch your cheeks. She liked to remind you that they would not have been separated in the first place if they hadn’t been selfish, nor would they have been reunited without the generosity of Orihime’s father.

Your mother was the only person you had ever met who spent Tanabata wishing for a rainstorm.

You hadn’t talked to either of your parents for well over a year. You hadn’t told them about the break up, nor mentioned your change in career. You weren’t naive enough to think they didn’t know. Your brother was still the obedient one and had texted you on the night of the USJ incident.

You wondered what your mother would say if she saw you now; if she knew Akira proposed to you and you had turned him down. She would probably faint if she knew you had slept with two of your coworkers, one of which had been a complete stranger at the time.

You gazed up at the sky and the summer triangle, finally understanding that you had always wished for Orihime’s happiness because you saw yourself in her. Perhaps your mother did too and that was why she pinched your cheeks so much.

You reached up to touch your own cheek and smiled, thinking of Hizashi and Shouta.

Hizashi was just as much of a romantic as you were and Shouta’s passions ran deeper than you’d ever presume to understand.

You couldn’t choose between them and never wanted to.

You were ready to be selfish and chase the stars.

~~~~

You weren’t the only one watching the stars that night.

Shouta perched in the branches of a tall tree several feet away, hiding in the summer foliage and watching the dorms for any signs of students breaking curfew. The irony wasn’t lost on him.

He had reached for his capture weapon the moment he heard the front door, only to loosen his grip when he saw who was coming.

He had watched you lay down in the grass to watch the stars; had watched you reach out to touch your cheek. He was reminded of a different summer camp at a different time; a time when he too laid his head in the grass to look up at the sky.

He lifted his hand and examined it in the moonlight. This was the hand that Hizashi had taken all of that time ago and, even though the skin had hardened and formed calluses, still tingled at the memory. He could jump fallen trees faster than Hizashi now; could navigate the dark without even trying. Even so, he still thought of hands in his and didn’t know what to do.

He wanted to go back to the waterfall from all those summers ago; wanted to link his hand in Hizashi’s again and lay back to watch the stars with your lap for a pillow.

He wanted to tell you that you were beautiful; that if anyone was to make him feel so illogical, he was glad it was you.

The more things changed, though, the more they stayed the same. He touched his fingers to his lips, tracing the spaces you had kissed even as you got back up to your feet and headed to the dorms, an expression of determination on your face.

He wanted to go after you, but his legs wouldn’t move.

He wanted to whisper the truth of his complicated feelings in your ear, but couldn’t say a word.

He was taller and stronger, yet still no different to the boy from all of those years ago. Now, just like then, he told himself that you were better off not knowing; that one day he would be brave enough to say his feelings out loud, but it wasn’t this one.

He had no idea how far the parallels ran. Now, just like then, he was running out of time.

~~~~~~

On a day to day basis, Vlad didn’t spend too much time with Aizawa or the students of 1-A. He definitely didn’t spend much time with you . 1-B hadn’t experienced as many traumas as 1-A. The only motivation he might have had to stop by your office unexpectedly was to make conversation, though you always seemed to be busy whenever he passed. When you weren’t chatting with students or rearranging the notice board outside of your office, you were chatting with Kayama and Yamada and sometimes even Aizawa.

He had been surprised when you came over to him the previous morning, sheepishly admitting that you had come to join them in Midnight’s stead, but he hadn’t questioned it.

The night before, though, he had definitely started to question some things.

He had drifted out of sleep to the sound of a soft tapping outside of his bedroom door. It was too faint to be his own door, though the idea that it might be a student bothered him. He got up and opened his own door by a sliver and peered out into the darkness.

Aizawa’s room was a little further down the corridor and you were standing in front of it, softly tapping at the wood and shifting on the spot.

“Everything okay?” he had asked, prompting you to jump in surprise.

“I...I um,” you had said, glancing from him to Aizawa’s door. “Everything’s fine, I just needed to…”

You had waved almost frantically, a blush peppering your cheeks.

“It’s nothing...I’m sorry I disturbed you!”

He had watched you scurry out of the men’s dorms, chancing glances over your shoulder at him and shooting awkward smiles.

It was strange to say the least, and he wondered about it long into the night. It still played on his mind as he took a seat at the breakfast table. The students were still in the process of getting up and only you, Aizawa and Vlad himself were around, helping yourselves to bowls of rice and cups of coffee. Vlad picked at his own food, still curious about the night before. He watched as you shot second and third glances at Aizawa, visibly gathering your nerves. He saw you get to your feet the second Aizawa did and follow him to the buffet table. He listened in as you began to speak in nervous whispers.

“Shouta,” you whispered, glancing over your shoulder, “I need to talk to you.”

“You’re talking to me now.”

“I mean...I need to talk to you... alone .”

Vlad dropped his gaze as you looked in his direction and shovelled food into his mouth to disguise the fact that he had been eavesdropping.

“Are you sick?”

“No.”

“Are the students okay?”

“Yes.”

“Okay,” said Aizawa, lowering his cup. “We can talk about it later.”

“But…”

“Later.”

Aizawa left you at the breakfast buffet with no further room for argument, slipping back down into his seat on Vlad’s left as if nothing had happened. You followed, flopping down into your own seat on Vlad’s right, all three of you eating in silence. Vlad’s eyes darted from his left to his right, as intrigued by this new development as he was annoyed.

~~~~~

“It’s okay, deep breaths, deep breaths!”

You patted Uraraka on the back, holding her hair back from her face as she wretched. She clasped her hands over her mouth, self conscious about throwing up in front of her classmates, but too wobbly on her feet to reach the portable toilet nearby.

“Come on,” you said, easing her arm over your shoulders and guiding her to her feet. “Slow steps.”

You guided her to the toilet, only letting go as she shut the door behind her and taking the chance to look around at your surroundings. The sun was up and training well underway. 1-A and 1-B had been assigned individual training exercises to improve their quirks and the result was organised chaos.

You didn’t have any sort of combat training, so settled for weaving your way through the crowds, offering up sips of water, pats to the back and encouraging words. It was something, at least, and gave you ample opportunities to try and get Shouta alone.

You had decided to tell him everything, from your night with Hizashi to your realisations about yourself and your own feelings. You had to be honest with him, even if it meant being rejected. You knew he had some kind of feelings for you. You knew that he wanted you on some level. You needed him to see your side of things, though so far had been unsuccessful. Every time you got closer, he found somewhere else to be.

It was disheartening, to say the least. You wondered if telling him the truth was a mistake, though shrugged off the idea almost immediately. If you never told him the truth, you’d never know his reaction.

You knew that the moment you returned home, back to your house and regular job, you would lose all of your confidence. You’d not only go back to your regular bed, but your regular demons as well.

You thought you knew better than anyone that you were running out of time and the clock was ticking, but had no idea that the end was much sooner than you thought.

You thought you had until the end of the week.

In reality, you had about 36 hours.

35:48:32

~~~~

23:59:47

“So what’s the story with you and Eraserhead?”

Your eyes bulged.

“W-what do you mean?”

You switched off the showerhead and turned back towards the onsen, realising too late that you were on the receiving end of not one but three sets of eyes.

You had tried to get Shouta’s attention again at dinner, but he had announced plans for extra lessons with the underperformers in his class. Whatever it was you had to say to him could wait until later.

You had been more than a little depressed at this development, though nowhere near as upset as Kaminari and Ashido, both of whom had begged for you to rescue them.

You must have looked unhappy as you stepped outside, for you were almost immediately jumped by Pixie Bob, Ragdoll and Mandalay, who invited you to take a soak in the hot springs with them. Maybe it was the prospect of girl talk or the fact that they reminded you so much of your own trio of girlfriends, but you took them up on it.

You hadn't expected them to ask your love life so directly.

“I...I...uh…haha, Eraserhead? Eraserhead and me?”

They grinned at that and you didn’t blame them. In their position you wouldn’t have been convinced either.

You sighed, setting aside the showerhead and getting to your feet.

“We had sex,” you said, sinking into the water. “Twice.”

“I knew it,” said Pixie Bob, nudging Mandalay. “See? I told you. I always know when people are sleeping together.”

“Oh, we’re not sleeping together anym-“

“But you’d like to?!” Ragdoll asked, tilting her head to one side.

“I…I…”

“It’s like a sixth sense,” Pixie Bob continued, seeming not to notice. “A second quirk, if you will.”

“ Sure going to come in handy during a rescue mission,” sighed Mandalay.

“Don’t be so dismissive! We could...I could,” Pixie Bob scratched her chin until inspiration struck. “If someone had heavy blood loss, I could ask their lover for their blood type!”

“What kind of guys have you been hooking up with? Vampires?”

Pixie Bob looked offended at the very idea, though Ragdoll only smiled.

“Does Eraserhead know your blood type, (Name)?” she asked, returning you to the center of attention.

“Honestly? Probably.”

It wouldn’t surprise you, all things considered. You were still convinced he’d read your staff dossier during your first few weeks at UA.

“See,” said Pixie Bob. “Sixth sense. Incredibly useful.”

Mandalay sighed and rubbed her temples.

“You must think we’re crazy.”

“I work for UA,” you laughed, “I can handle crazy.”

“I’m sure you can,” said Pixie Bob, with a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows that made Mandalay groan. “Seriously, though, what’s the story with you two? How’d you end up... knowing each other’s blood types?”

You weighed up the pros and cons of telling them, before ultimately throwing caution to the wind. You hadn’t even gotten around to telling your friends the full story, much less about your intentions to confess to Shouta. Hizashi and Nemuri didn’t know about the night at Ego ; it had always seemed inappropriate to tell them.

It was a relief to finally have the whole story off your chest and, for the first time since your arrival, all three of the Pussycats were silent, all pondering the same thing.

It was Mandalay who spoke first.

“We’ll help.”

“H-huh?!”

“Yes,” said Ragdoll, giggling with glee. “We’ll take care of everything. ”

To their credit, they really did have everything worked out.

The following evening, once training was complete, they planned to host a ghost walk, pitting class A against class B. While the walk took place, the teachers would host remedial classes with their underperforming students, just as they were doing now.

Unbeknownst to any of the students, however, they also planned to have a barbecue once the ghost walk was finished. Both Vlad and Shouta had agreed to take a break from the remedial classes around that time in the hopes of restoring the morale of the underperformers, giving them at least one good memory of summer camp.

While the students gathered around the campfire, the Pussycats would send you and Shouta back into the woods to double check all of them had returned. It was the perfect opportunity to have a private conversation and you could hardly wait.

You returned to your room on a high, both so anxious and excited that you could barely concentrate on your book.

Your fingers trembled. You wondered what you would say. You had originally planned to make it up as you went along, but having a deadline gave you more of an incentive to think it through.

You rested your head against your pillows and laid your book down on your chest.

You had a feeling the next day was going to be eventful, though had no idea how right you really were.

~~~~

17:30:24

Remedial classes went about as well as was to be expected. By the time he escorted them back to the dorms, they were in varying states of despair.

“Don’t look so sad,” he said, “it takes dedication to be heroes. If you fall apart at every hurdle, your career won’t last very long.”

He dropped Mina off at the girls’ dorms last of all, waiting for her to close the door behind her before continuing up the corridor and back out towards the entrance. He paused midway, noticing that your bedroom door was open by a sliver and the light still on.

He remembered what you had said to him at breakfast; how nervous you had been. He felt a little guilty for keeping his distance, but had a feeling whatever it was you had to say to him was something that would require one hundred percent of his attention and time, which at that moment he was unable to give.

He knocked at your door before stepping inside, a soft smile creeping across his face at what greeted him. You had fallen asleep reading, a book resting over your face and cell phone in your hand. He could hear you snoring underneath it and took a couple of silent steps forward, just until he was close enough to pick up the front and back covers between his thumb and forefingers and peel it off your face. He slipped your bookmark between the pages and rested the book down on your bedside table, finally reaching across to try and slip the phone out from your hand.

You had starfished your body across the bed and it wasn’t difficult to loosen your grip on the phone. For one nerve wracking second, Shouta thought he’d woken you, for you crumpled up your face and rolled over onto your side to face him, murmuring in your sleep.

“...fair,” you said. “Sh...fair.”

He looked down at the hand closest to him, palm upwards across the bed. His own fingers twitched at the sight. He remembered how it had felt to hold your hand at Ego ; how you had trembled as you followed him through the club. At the time he had dismissed it as excitement, but now that he knew you better he understood it was nerves.

“Shouta,” you murmured, eyes closed and words slurred from sleep.

“I’m here,” he said, putting your phone down on top of your book.

“Sh…” you said again. “...un.”

He pulled the blanket across your body and you snuggled into it, a peaceful smile breaking out across your face. He wanted so badly to wake you up, but couldn't bring himself to. He knew he’d regret it later, though had no idea how much.

“Sleep tight,” he said, stepping back out of your room and switching off the light.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked back towards the entrance, oblivious to the fact that he was being watched.

Mina Ashido had gone into the washroom to brush her teeth and comb her hair and noticed your open door on the way back. Initially she had wandered over to wish you goodnight, but froze on the spot when she saw Aizawa tucking you in.

She clasped her hands over her mouth as he walked out of the door, pressing herself against the corner of the wall to remain out of sight. She was curious, yes, but not so curious that she was willing to risk even more remedial classes.

She rushed into the girls’ dorm room the moment he was gone and slammed the door shut behind her.

“Everyone,” she hissed, as the others groaned and rubbed their eyes, far from impressed at the early morning interruption. “Wake up! You’re not going to believe this!”

~~~~~~

14:42:45

“I don’t believe you.”

“I know what I saw!”

News of your late night interlude with Aizawa was the talk of the 1-A breakfast table, even if everyone was divided. While Aizawa’s presence in your room definitely raised questions, there was no evidence it had been anything other than innocent. Mina had seen him tucking you into bed and nothing more, leaving the events of that night up to personal interpretation, of which there were many.

“I’m telling you,” said Mina, “he was smiling . It was weird.”

“She could have told him a really good joke,” shrugged Kaminari.

“In her sleep ?”

“Remember that time I told Professor Aizawa a knock knock joke?” Sero said, grimly. “He made me do laps.”

“It was a pretty bad joke,” chuckled Tsuyu.

“You’re all wrong,” said Hagakure. “She’s dating Present Mic!”

“Present Mic?” said Uraraka, sounding more than a little confused.

“They do seem to get along well on his radio show,” said Deku. “That doesn’t mean they’re a couple, though.”

“Maybe she’s dating both of them,” shrugged Kirishima, to which everyone began to chatter in uproar.

“In any case,” said Iida, bellowing over everyone as he lowered his orange juice, “it’s inappropriate to speculate on the private lives of our teachers.”

“But that’s what makes it fun ,” said Mina, who was more than a little put out that people still didn’t believe her.

She glanced over at the teacher’s table, where you and the Pussycats were deep in discussion and Aizawa and Vlad compared notes on their lesson planning.

She knew what she had seen, but had no idea how to prove it.

~~~~~

1:24:21

The third day of training passed just as quickly as the first. You rushed around the grounds, handing over bottles of water and offering words of reassurance. It felt like a workout even though you weren’t the one training and you breathed a sigh of relief when it finally came to a close.

You mopped your brow and peered out over the horizon, taking in the golden sunset.

It was almost time.

~~~~~

00:24:12

Shouta...I’ve been thinking…

We need to be honest with ourselves. You aren’t Hizashi and Hizashi’s not you. You aren’t each other’s substitute and it’s unfair to everyone to pretend you are.

You frowned as you took a sip of soda.

You’d been lost in thought ever since you’d arrived at the midpoint with Ragdoll, going over and over everything you wanted to say to Shouta. In many respects you felt guilty, for you knew you weren’t paying as much attention to the ghost walk as you should.

You didn’t notice the thump of heavy footsteps nearby until Ragdoll herself hopped to her feet to listen.

“What...is that…”

“Is it a student?”

Ragdoll squinted and moved closer to the trees. The footsteps had slowed, but were still audible in the distance. You got up yourself, but she motioned for you to stay where you were.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” she said with a smile. “Maybe Pixie Bob made one of her earth creatures for extra scares.”

She walked towards the trees, disappearing into the shadows and out of sight. It made you nervous, though you didn’t know why. You tapped your foot against the ground and chewed your bottom lip, listening as both Ragdoll’s footsteps and the heavy ones fell silent.

It lasted only for a second, though it felt like years. You reached for the satchel of extra gear the two of you had packed and rummaged inside of it for a torch. You knew you shouldn’t leave your post, but you wanted to feel just a little safer.

“R-Ragdoll?” you called out, fiddling with the switch. “Are you-“

The footsteps started again and you froze in place, watching as something emerged from the trees. You dropped the torch and it flashed on when it hit the ground, illuminating the enormous creature stumbling towards you.

Your heart froze in your chest and you took a step backwards, insides turning to water.

You recognised this sort of creature from Tsukauchi’s investigation of the events of USJ, though had only ever seen them in photos. You shivered as you took in its exposed brain and dead, fishlike eyes, watching helplessly as Ragdoll thrashed in its grip.

“Get out of here, (Name),” she called out, the creature squeezing her body until the radio fell from her head. “Tell the others!”

You knew that you should obey her, but you were frozen to the spot, unable to do anything but watch as two other figures emerged from the trees. One was a young man with a patchworked face; the other wore a black and white costume that hid any identifying features from view.

The man with the patchworked face glanced from the creature to you, examining you from head to toe as if coming to a decision.

“Hmmm,” he said. “You aren’t on the list.”

You had no idea what list he was talking about, nor why you weren’t on it. You wondered if he was talking about the list of attendees to the summer camp, though prayed you were wrong. The camp’s location was a secret, or rather, was supposed to be one.

“Run!” Ragdoll screamed again and this time you obeyed, sprinting away along the dirt track and back towards camp.

The patchwork-faced man turned languidly to face his companion and shrugged.

“Twice,” he said, “make a copy. We can’t have her alert the others.”

“Right away! Just leave it to me!”

“Honestly, we only just got here and already you’re telling me what to do.”

You glanced over your shoulder just in time to see two identical men with patchwork faces, one of which was beginning to follow you.

Shit, shit, shit.

You ran away, reaching into your pocket for your phone. You needed to warn the others, you needed to-

Shit

You stumbled over an uneven spot in the floor, phone soaring out of your hand and into the trees as your mouth filled with blood.

You rolled over onto your back and crawled over to reach for it, though the tumble had slowed you down significantly. The second patchwork man strolled towards you at a leisurely pace as if you hadn’t bothered to run from him at all. You pushed yourself up onto your feet, but your ankle throbbed and caved in, leaving you crashing back to the ground.

“Ow,” you muttered, shuffling back towards the trees and out of danger, though not remotely fast enough to get away.

“They said I’m not s’posed to hurt you,” he said, taking a step closer, “just scare you a little.”

He smirked, taking in your burst lip and grazed knees; your frantic rummaging through the bag of supplies.

“Looks like my job’s already been done for m-“

He inched backwards as you dragged out the thing you’d been looking for: a flare gun, packed in case of emergencies. It was harmless, of course, but in the darkness looked just like the real thing.

“Tell me,” you said, “are you a clone?”

He raised his hands in mock surrender, conflict visibly playing out across his face at the activation of your quirk.

“I am,” he said.

“Tell me,” you said again, far more forcefully, “do you share memories? Will you both remember this conversation?”

“I share his memories. He doesn't share mine.”

You didn’t know if the clone shared the original’s quirk as well as his memories and were more than a little aware that you only had a short window before he figured out you weren’t holding a real gun.

“ Tell me ,” you said. “Where is the league of villains? Where do they gather?”

He squeezed his hands together, blue flames rippling across his skin as he recited an address. You committed it to memory and then pulled the trigger, limping off into the trees as he dodged the red sparks.

You limped as fast as your legs would carry you, finally collapsing behind a tree to catch your breath. You reached for your phone with shaking hands, writing out the address in a message to Shouta and cursing under your breath when it failed to send.

“Come on, come on, come on,” you said, tapping ‘resend’ over and over to no avail. You had to warn them, had to tell them.

You gave up on sending the message and used the tree as a guide to get back up onto your feet, wincing as almost every inch of your body ached in protest.

Come on , you willed yourself. Come on, (Name), you can do this.

You weren’t a hero, but none of the kids were yet. You had joined UA to guide and protect them and cuts and bruises didn’t change that obligation.

You froze in place at the sound of footsteps, clapping a hand over your nose and mouth, eyes darting around at your surroundings. The trees swayed in the evening breeze, the stars shone brightly overhead, seemingly oblivious to what was happening within the forest. You squeezed your eyes shut, heart pounding and skin clammy.

Why had the villains come here?

What was their goal?

You wished you had asked the patchwork faced man while you still had a chance.

The footsteps faded, their owner retreating in the opposite direction. You breathed a steady sigh of relief and peeped out behind you at the path you would need to take to get back to the main path. It would probably be faster to go through the woodland and you turned back to get your bearings, heart stopping as you found yourself looking into the mouth of another stranger, one who was currently dangling from the branch above you and grinning widely, revealing a set of shining teeth.

“M...meat,” he said, dropping to the floor and leaning back, one of his canines stretching from his mouth and slicing open your arm. “Fresh meat.”

You knew this villain. You remembered his court case; your father led the prosecution and landed him on death row.

Moonfish

You remembered going for coffee with your brother, who at the time was interning at your father’s law firm. It was his first real case and it affected him deeply. He refused to talk about it, even now that years had passed.

After seeing the villain in the flesh, you thought you understood why. He moved with inhuman dexterity, landing in front of you before you could so much as move.

You saw the blade coming. You heard it pierce the tree.

You didn’t, however, feel it go through your body, not until he jerked his head back in an attempt to free his tooth from the tree bark. You screamed in pain, the wound burning every time he moved.

“Show me,” he said, yanking his head, “show me how you look on the inside.”

His tooth snapped and he stumbled backwards, leaving you to flop forward, blood soaking through your shirt.

“Show me,” said Moonfish, stumbling forwards. “Let me taste your flesh.”

You opened your mouth to protest, ears ringing.

You didn’t know what you meant to say to him, only that you never got the chance. He stepped forwards to land the finishing blow, only to hear a noise in the distance. You heard it, too, eyes bulging in realisation.

The students still didn’t know about the attack and were continuing on the ghost walk. A pair of them were nearby, discussing the possible tactics of 1-B.

You searched your brain for the order, though struggling to settle on a single thought, skin prickling as Moonfish retracted his teeth and disappeared into the night, far more interested in a different sort of prey.

You tried to move, only to cry out in pain. The broken tooth seemed to have gone right through not only you, but the tree. If you tried to pull it out, you would almost certainly bleed to death far faster, but if you stayed there it wouldn’t just be you who bled.

You snatched up your phone and frantically dialled everyone in your phone book, blood soaking through your shirt and shorts.

You dialled Shouta to no avail.

You dialled Hizashi, who was in the middle of recording his radio show.

You dialled Nemuri, who was filming an interview on a late night television show.

“Someone,” you murmured, vision going dark and limbs going floppy. “Someone…”

You looked up towards the sky, taking in the bright stars with a bitter smile.

You knew it was impossible, and she was far away, but you could feel your mother pinching your cheeks.

~~~~~

00:05:20

Of all of the heroes in all of the world, Eraserhead was perhaps the most mysterious. What few people knew of his existence knew even less about the man. He was a shadow, venturing out of the darkness only to ambush would be criminals and vanish just as quickly as he came.

He worked best after dark where he could travel unseen. Ironic, therefore, that on this night in particular he stumbled over his feet. He sprinted through the undergrowth, phone pressed to his ear.

Hello, this is (Name). I’m not around at the moment, please leave a message!

“Come on,” he hissed, coming to an abrupt halt and dialling again.

Shouta glanced around at his surroundings, entirely in his element, yet powerless to act.

After returning Kota to the lodge, his phone had exploded with missed calls and messages.

“What is it?” Vlad had asked, noticing the blood drain from his face.

“I’m forwarding an address,” he said, copying one of your messages. “Pass it onto the police when they get here.”

“An address? What-”

“Just pass it onto them! It’s important!”

He had no idea why it was important, of course, only that you wouldn’t have sent it to him so many times if it wasn’t.

Your phone went through to voicemail again and he swore under his breath,

“Idiot,” he hissed. “What did I tell you about facing unknown villains?”

He remembered the night you got him with pepper spray.

Why would you try and confront a villain without help? You could have gotten yourself killed.

“You better not have done anything stupid,” he said, dialling your number again to distract himself from the fact that if you had gotten that information by using your quirk, you must have gotten close to a villain.

“Over here!” Tiger yelled nearby. Shouta followed the sound of his voice, arriving at what had previously been the midpoint.

His ears began to ring when he saw what remained of it: an abandoned table, soaked with blood, an abandoned torch flickering on the ground.

“This...this is Ragdoll’s radio,” said Tiger, lifting it up from the floor. “Oh my god…this...this is blood!”

“This blood’s cold,” said Shouta, dipping his pinky finger into it and glancing across at the radio in Tiger’s hands, “most likely hers.”

“There’s so much,” said Tiger, voice breaking, “that idiot...her quirk isn’t suitable for combat. She knows that.”

Shouta crouched down to pick up the abandoned torch.

“There’s no blood on this,” he said, turning it over in his hands. “Whoever dropped it wasn’t injured.” He fiddled with the on switch and turned to face the table, where Tiger had picked up Ragdoll’s abandoned radio. “They were frightened, though.”

“(Name),” said Tiger, picking up his train of thought. “Ragdoll...she must have told her to run.”

Shouta cursed and followed the dirt track, dialling your number as he went. He froze on the spot when he spotted an abandoned flare in the mud.

“This way,” he called out, rushing over and crouching down to examine it.

By then, it had largely burned out, but that wasn’t what caught his attention.

Generally speaking, people fired flare guns into the sky. This one had pretty clearly ricocheted off a tree. Whoever fired it had done so in self defense, as a distraction.

“Did you find anything?”

Shouta glanced over his shoulder to see Vlad arriving from the opposite direction.

“Did you see anyone on your route here?” he asked, stomach churning at the head shake he got in response.

“They’ve sent out a helicopter to track down any stragglers,” said Vlad, pointing to the sky. “We’ll soon have a better idea of what we’re dealing with.”

“There’s not enough time,” said Shouta, dialling your number.

He had a pretty good idea of the sequence of events so far and didn’t like it one bit. You and Ragdoll had likely been ambushed by multiple villains. Ragdoll had almost certainly told you to run, not only because you were a civilian, but to raise the alarm. Someone had followed you to this spot, but what had happened next?

He got his answer a few seconds later, for somewhere to his left a phone started to ring.

“That way,” he said, sprinting in that direction, Vlad not far behind.

He couldn’t seem to move fast enough; his legs felt heavy, as if he was wading through water.

He followed the sound to its source and froze on the spot at what greeted him.

It was you, impaled by a long, jagged piece of metal that ran all of the way through the tree behind you. Your hands, lips and clothes were covered in blood, cell phone still ringing in your lifeless hand.

He couldn’t move, couldn’t say a thing, not even as Vlad arrived behind him.

“(Name),” said Vlad, dropping to the ground and examining your wounds. “(Name)...”

He turned to Shouta, ready to tell him that you were still warm, only to fall silent at the sight of him standing there. His mouth opened and closed helplessly, an expression of unspeakable horror and dread across his face.

He clasped a hand over his mouth and turned away from the scene, the scent of blood and smoke making him retch. He remembered every time you had asked to talk to him; every time he had chickened out of saying how he really felt.

Vlad was calling out to him, but he couldn’t make out a word, too lost in memories to be at all coherent.

He remembered you tapping a wet cloth to his face so many months ago. He had been furious then, though it all felt meaningless now.

You need to be more rational in these things. Running head on into danger gets people killed.

Good job I had a big, strong Eraserhead around to protect me.

“Aizawa,” said Vlad, “Aizawa...she’s…”

He didn’t get an answer, though, just a yell as Aizawa dropped onto his hands and knees.

They were in the forest, but all he could hear was rubble crashing to the floor, silently taking Shirakumo with it.

To this day, he still wasn’t fast enough.

Vlad turned back to you and tucked your hair behind your ear, face dropping at the muffled mumbling coming from your lips, intertwined with the muffled sobs coming from Aizawa that he would later pretend he didn’t hear.

“Shouta...it’s unfair...unfair...un...fair.”

00:00:00

#aizawa x reader #aizawa shouta x reader #eraserhead x reader #there is some like #references to #yamada hizashi x reader #but this chapter is mainly aizawa x reader #habanero

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phdna · 3 years

Text

TFatWS episode 5 keysmashing below!

What do you mean it's the second to last episode? No.

Mr Wyatt Russell acted the hell outta that opening scene. I mean, he was on fire the whole episode, but the opening scene just reminded me so much of the unhinged Walker from the comics that it was extra special to see. Walker was never a character I cared about reading comics but I'm not immune to geeking out over him

Bucky unconscious so Sam has to fight a supersoldier by himself for a while? Thank you Marvel I love it when Sam gets to shine!

That being said, it feels so viscerally wrong to fight over a bloody shield. There are many correct ways to make this shield switch hands but this is definitely NOT one of them.

Bucky "I am not afraid to throw a tantrum to make a point" Barnes needs to learn how to not take two steps back with Sam whenever he takes one forward. If next episode he does something stupid again, I'm gonna cry

SAM. Why does Mackie have to destroy my heart so much??? This might be worse than the end of episode 1!!! He looked so devastated after that fight, I felt zero satisfaction knowing the shield is back with him

The soundtrack also didn't help. Like at all. That song always has me tearing up even out of context - in context it was a lot

My baby Joaquin Torres is back! He's such a cute kid. And apparently the new Falcon! And he doesn't even have to look like a bird to get the mantle! Hope he gets himself a Redwing too!

What... What is the Contessa doing here. I need answers.

Karli needs both a hug and to be stopped. That's going to be tricky. Like, stopping her is a priority, of course, she's a full-blown terrorist now... but how to handle her after she's stopped? No way she'll trust Sam easily again, but he's her best option, so :/ I hope this doesn't have an unhappy ending, I really do

I still have no idea why the hell Bucky would feel he has to make amends with Zemo (am I missing something???) but all I care about is that the Dora have Zemo as they should, and Bucky and Ayo seem to be alright-ish

Eli! Didn't expect he'd make a comeback in this show!

"If you ain't bitter, you blind" goes down as one of the best lines in the show. I don't make the rules.

The entire Isaiah sequence was... Heavy. As it should be. But that was hard to watch

Sarah and Sam bickering nonstop whenever they're together is so cute, I want a whole movie about them and nothing else

A community looking after each other??? Did you mean my favorite trope of all time that always makes me tear up???

Bucky showing up and awkwardly trying to show he supports Sam while aggressively glaring is adorable. Baby steps are hard!

I'm sorry, Sam, but I now ship Bucky and Sarah, they're pretty cute around each other

Bucky: It's time for me to leave and stay in a cold hotel room with no friends no family nothing that matters in my life I have no home nobody cares whether I live or die alas I know no one in the area who has a couch I can borrow so I'm doomed to this bitter fate

Walker doesn't deserve the Hoskins family. (Although the hill I'll die on is that he wouldn't have become such a horrible villain if the government hadn't made him Cap, so he's only like... 80% to blame)

Aw man, Sarah's kids playing with the shield was just the cutest thing I've ever seen. (And Bucky waking up from nightmares on the floor of his empty apartment vs waking up in a HOME to the sight of children being happy and loving what the shield stands for?? Ugh, my heart!)

Anyway I would die for any member of the Wilson family

Oh, so Bucky was in on Steve's plans, canonically. I've always thought so but it's nice to have it spelled out. Anyway, good on Bucky for using his words and apologizing to Sam! Long time coming and very necessary! I hope this is an ongoing thing, even if offscreen, and that he learns how to do better in the future

And Bucky genuinely opening up about how he's been feeling and Sam responding to him so warmly and wisely? Helped him in like 5 minutes more than any of his court-mandated therapy ever did. Sam is amazing

Sam and Bucky speed running from "we're sort of partners maybe" to "we're bffs now" through the power of fixing a boat and throwing a metal frisbee sparks so much joy

Sam and Sarah talking towards the end of the episode was so sweet and I was so happy to see Sam finally getting the support he deserves

Shield training montage!!!! Cool as hell!!!!!!

Batroc just won't stop oh my god how many times will they have to beat him

Speaking of which... Sharon. Honey you know I love you but you're way out of line. Just... god. What a mess, I'm not looking forward to this and I'm... Having doubts Marvel will handle it well

Can't believe they wouldn't let us see Sam wearing his new uniform today!!!! That's evil!!!

Walker DIYing a shield show be menacing but somehow it was so funny. Like... "I'M EVIL NOW!!!! Let me go buy spray paint."

I.... Honestly think I would have preferred the whole show to be more like this episode. Sam is a really fascinating character and this episode more than most explores that

#tfatws spoilers

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monkey-network · 2 months

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Every Tyler the Creator Album Ranked

And then, out of the bleu, I listened to every album from the predictably unpredictable Tyler, the Creator. Frankly, I only knew him best from Loiter Squad and The Jellies with the occasional cameo via Regular Show and Axe Cop. It was last Fall where I started listening to music more, eventually going Tyler's full discography. Here we are now, recognizing his game, getting surprised in more ways than one, and going through his albums from good to peak. Don't take this as a "worst to best" ranking, I will confidently say he has no bad records. But, gotta discuss one thing though before we get to the list and that is...

0. The Grinch Album

Back in 2018, Tyler was commissioned to make a couple songs for Illumination's Grinch movie. They were okay even though they wasted his version of "You're a Mean One" on the opening minutes instead of the part that matter. It was in the same year that he made an EP with songs inspired by the movie that weren't used in said movie, just something Tyler was into doing. It's only six songs, ten minutes and change, but it's breezy while not being annoying about the Holidays. I'd overall say, since it came beforehand, the EP's great in getting a feel of IGOR's instrumentals but with a more upbeat tone. You can really tell Pharrell Williams was a big influence to Tyler here, coincidentally since Pharrell made songs for Illumination and a couple of these Grinch songs resemble his works in a way. If I were to rank it, it'd be number 6. Way too short to fairly ranked among the others but admittedly memorable compared to the bottom 2. With that said, NOW let's do this...

7. Cherry Bomb

Again none of these are bad albums, and I say this was a very important one for Tyler's career. Cherry Bomb is to Tyler what Vaudeville Villain was for MF DOOM. After the Wolf Trilogy, this was him popping off one more time like the old days before coming to terms with where he wanted to go next, you notice with how things mellow out halfway in. You get how his direction in music shifted while not feeling ashamed of what used to be his initial style; Flower Boy wouldn't have worked without this and I can see why it's Tyler's personal favorite. With that said, most the tracks aren't as memorable as the later albums on this list. 'Deathcamp' is a fierce bop opener, I love 'Find Your Wings', 'Okaga, CA' and '2Seater', but man it can be a tonal mess that doesn't reach the same highs. Plus it's the one where I can say the mixing is weird; like some vocals feel muffled and the production sounds unintentionally worse than Goblin. The titular 6th song I just hate, personally the all time worst song he's ever made and it's not close. Not as great an album as I'd hoped, but to dismiss this album would feel wrong as it exists no differently to Tyler's growth as a artist. Change ain't easy, y'know.

6. Goblin

Yeah, even I can't deny this is the weakest of the Wolf trilogy. It's better than Cherry Bomb in that it has a... more consistent flow, but that leads into my biggest problem. Goblin feels too same-y and just a messier expansion to Bastard. 'Yonkers' I'm amazed got the praise it did when I could tell Tyler made it as a joke; emblematic of his career I guess. Still, when it hits it hits, we got 'She', 'Tron Cat', "Nightmare', 'Windows', and you get into it better than Cherry Bomb. Now I'm one of those crackpots that thinks of this, where if you ever get into Tyler's music, I recommend Goblin after Wolf where you'll understand the latter more but listening to Goblin then Wolf as naturally ordered will play out like an edited timeline story if listened to all at once. Goblin overall feels like that middle child where it fits the time it was released but hasn't aged as well as its siblings.

5. Scum Fuck Flower Boy

This is probably blaspheme but it is one of those cases where this is great but the next few albums are just better to me by comparison. I can appreciate this album more after listening to Cherry Bomb; the neo soul heavily leaning from CB's latter half songs. The vibes are more chill but retains those underlying somber feelings like previous albums. This felt like he refined his style; Tyler got to loosen up lyrically & it's all a mood. At the same time, I didn't grow up with this album while I wish I did. It just doesn't resonate with me as much while I do grasp how the Creator was feeling when he made this. Best way to describe is that I could see the characters that exist in the albums; I can see Wolf Haley, Baudelaire, IGOR, etc. It's hard seeing Flower Boy himself because he feels that overshadowed between his works of the past and future. Again not like I didn't understand, just that it wasn't as impactful as I'd hoped. Don't take this as a negative, because this is just how strong Tyler's music can be for me.

4. Bastard

I genuinely tend to switch between Bastard and Wolf as to which is number 3. For Wolf, it's with the storytelling and the composition that's done better. For Bastard, it's the energy and unfiltered fun with it being Tyler's first mixtape. I was taken aback initially on the contents of this like I will not call it "horrorcore" but it's like JESUS christ; can't even tell you what's on this for the fear of getting flagged. However, I say Tyler's music gets better with re-listens. Bastard feels like the title lives up to the name; Ace and Odd Future making bangers together, flippin' birds to the sky, and the titular track laying out that it isn't just shock value for the sake of it. This feels like the album Tyler would always want to make starting out, with that no fucks given confidence being the foundation of him exploring his troubles with love and developing a career. Basically, the "Fatherless Behavior album" as my friend pointed out that blessfully hasn't aged like milk given the man's future livelihood. I enjoy Bastard for its garage appeal and this being where Tyler got to start out before 'Yonkers' pushed him to stardom.

3. Wolf

This to me has the best storytelling in Tyler's discography. I like that it kinda tricks you in terms of what the perspective is for the album's concept. You could say this is about Wolf Haley himself finding some peace after Goblin and getting in the love triangle with Samuel and Salem. You could say this was more Samuel's album while Wolf is mostly out the picture hanging with Salem. Either way works with Tyler's growth considering this is far less shocking than Goblin and Bastard combined. You can tell while Samuel exists as the remaining edginess of Tyler's past, he's cooled down with the graphical lyrics for a different approach to his music; 'Answer' and 'PartyIsntOver' shows his softer tune that fits the album's camp aesthetic. Again, this and Bastard I will flip ranks on certain days, but I can see why it's the fan favorite among the initial three.

2. Call Me If You Get Lost

From what I've seen before listening, I figured that this would be a flex album and Tyler did not disappoint. Tyler Baudelaire felt like a real persona, I'd say the evolution of Wolf Haley with DJ Drama being the cherry on top. I think this wouldn't have worked as well without the hypeman, not only for being a great jab at DJ Khalid after the one sided beef back in 2018 but an enjoyable narrator that I couldn't imagine any other for the spot. Call Me is just the epitome of swagger, the time where Tyler can finally gun out with his rap skills while it's not full on chest beating. Like his previous albums, it explores his love life and how he works out his feelings when things don't go right. Felt like Tyler at his most vulnerable, especially with 'Wilshire' that's the longest song if you don't count the notable conjoined tracks like 'Sugar/I Thought You Wanted to Dance'. When you recognize growth, this album was it. Incorporating his previous albums into this, utilizing his ability to make banger after banger. That's if you don't count The Estate Sale, basically a victory lap upon the existing victory lap that was the base album. When I say 'Sorry, Not Sorry' was the pinnacle of Tyler's whole career I mean it. Call Me If You Get Lost felt like a celebration, where you're with Tyler in how much he's living life. This seriously would've been number 1 with or without Estate Sale, if not for...

1. IGOR

Might as well say it now: it's his magnum opus. I've brought up a couple times now that Tyler's music can be messy and that can apply here, more on a emotional level than technical. Here though, that's what makes it perfect. This album is about the love you had being pulled and eventually crushed, and it's not around to sugarcoat. What helps it stick out is knowing IGOR exists as his own being, not just a persona of Tyler. He embodies how we all can feel when it comes to heartbreak and how ugly the emotions can actually be. This wouldn't have worked without 'New Magic Wand', without 'What's Good' or 'I Don't Love You Anymore'. Tyler's music, from what I've recognize, has always been taking ugly with the beauty you can find and this is that note perfected. Being the shortest album of the collection, this album's ergonomic where I can hardly listen to one song on its own and was the record I've listened to the most because it got better every time. This isn't even accounting for 'Are We Still Friends', which I've considered the all-time greatest closer I've ever listened to. It brings me to actual tears every time and it's like everything clicked. This felt like more than just Tyler proving himself as the Creator, but him respecting the oldheads of music with this neo-soul masterpiece.

Conclusion

Tyler's music is the first instance I truly grasped what he meant by each album pinpointing the certain periods of his life. Listening to his works in order, you understand his growth as an musician without it ever feeling out of nowhere. What I love most is that you can tell he constantly had fun producing; the confidence he always has even at his worst can't be understated. It feels like Tyler got to grow up on his own terms, never taking his success for granted and becoming the most prolific artist I've known next to Kendrick and Dre. Having caught up, I'm genuinely interested in his next direction because hell, what else is there to say?

He's the Best

#tyler the creator #Tyler Okonma #odd future #music #hip hop #rap #neo soul #albums ranked #list #reviews #long post #Good Stuff

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witchesoz · 3 years

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After Oz: Legends of Oz

I hesitated before doing this one, because this movie is mostly based on the book "Dorothy of Oz" by Roger S. Baum, and I haven't read said book. It is something that tends to get on my nerve, when people actually don't care about the original material an adaptation was based on, and consider the adaptation as its own entirely original piece of work, when in fact, a lot of it was taken from somebody's else work. I mean, the perfect exemple is Shining. Some people praise Kubrick for being a pure genius for inventing this story from A to Z, and consider Stephen's King television series a "poor attempt at a remake of the movie", when... you know, King originally wrote the Shining and Kubrick merely adapted it. In fact, people tend to forget most of Kubrick's movies were adaptation. Dr. Strangelove? Loosely based on "Red Alert". Lolita? Everyone knows it is Nabokov. A Clockwork Orange? Anthony Burgess. 2001: Space Odyssey? Inspired by shorts stories of Clarke, the co-author. Eyes Wide Shut? A 1920s German book, Traumnovelle. And so forth and so forth...

Hum. Sorry for the rant. I just needed to explain why I always want to take in consideration the original material when tackling an adaptation. But since I haven't read and can't get this book, I will mostly rely myself on the Wikipedia plot and other reviews I read. If you wonder, yes, Roger S. Baum is Baum's great-grandson (or great-great-grandson?), and he wrote "Dorothy of Oz" as a direct sequel to the first book, "The Wizard of Oz", ignoring all of the others, and... apparently he is not a really good writer. But anyway... I still decided to do a little something about this movie, because... well just because I wanted Oh yeah, another thing... an elephant in the room I have to adress right now. I only discovered it this year, by doing research about the movie (because before I only saw it at the time of its released and then forgot about it). You can know it, or completely ignore it - yes, I know that this whole movie was the result of a huge scam that robbed hundreds of people out of their money, and that the case has been even brought to trial. But... well the movie is still here, people still saw it, it is still around, will be for still quite a long time, and it is now part of the Oz inheritance, that you want it or not. Anyway, a lot of Oz movies had a dark and troubled production. It seems almost like a pre-requisite: if you do an Oz movie, you'll never end happy. Maybe it is a curse? Who knows.

So... let's get into the subject. Is "Dorothy's Return" a bad movie? (I'll use this name, because "Legends of Oz" was the name of the intended franchise of three, maybe ten movies). I wouldn't say so. A lot of people said it was crap, or worthless, but I wouldn't call it bad. People also said that it is a bland movie, and I would say yes - but only partially. I think a good lot of the extreme bad reactions were caused because of 1- people who just disliked the idea of more Oz adaptations, 2- people too old for this movie, because you have to remember that this is a movie aiming at children and 3- people who are hard-die fans of the MGM movie and not so much of the original Oz books. It may also play in account that Dorothy's Return was roughly released the same year, and played as a "rival" to "Oz the Great and Powerful".

Now, note that it isn't a memorable movie (except for a few bits). It isn't an excellent movie. It isn't a cult classic (even though it may become it with the whole scam background, who knows?). It isn't something I would watch again and again with pleasure. It isn't something exceptionnal or groundbreaking, it is even quite generic. But, it has some good parts, and it manages to be entertaining, and honestly as a child I could have sit in front of it and watch it with no problem. Because, yes, it is a children movie. The action is rushed, the characters lack depth, some moments are too sugary-sweet or even cringy (for exemple the song "We'll work together". Seriously, I just looked away and sped up a bit because that was too sickening-sweet for me.) As a result, as a child movie they missed things that could have been really good (the old tree agreeing to be use for a boat, which is played straight up as him being killed, the characters even say so, but then it turns out he is still alive as a boat? You could have had a great, deep, fascinating almost philosophical moment, but you just waste it for a happy ending). Anyway, what was I saying? Yes, a children movie. As a result, some people called the movie "too simple". On the other side, people called the story "too confusing".

To an Oz fan like me, it isn't actually confusing. It isn't at all - but indeed, for someone with a limited knowledge of Oz, it will be confusing. Because, while they base themselves on an Oz book that re-uses many elements from the books (the Queen of the Field Mices, the Sawhorse, the China Country...) it also decided to include a lot of elements from the MGM movie (the Wicked Witch of the West is the one from the MGM, Glinda is also quasi-identical from her MGM counterpart, the Winged Monkeys work with the evil people...). As a result, yeah, it may be confusing. But the inclusion of the MGM elements actually managed to correct some flaws of the original story. For exemple, in Roger S Baum's book, the Jester was merely a normal jester possessed by the ghost of the Wicked Witch of the West, through her magic wand. Wait, magic wand? There wasn't any magic wand mentionned in the original book! But in the movie, to use the broomstick of the Wicked Witch makes much more sense.

I'll take a short time here to comment on the character of the Jester, who is, I think, the highest point of this movie. He is a good villain. A cliché but interesting backstory cashing on the idea of Oz vilains as siblings, a clear shout-out to the Joker which isn't so bad, interesting plans. He is also the provider of many nightmarish elements (the fate of Dorothy's companions, which I think was a very good idea, or the people turning into puppets and being used for a creepy dance) that made this Oz movie feel... well Ozian. Because a good Oz work is a work that will traumatize your kids! I guess a bit part of why the Jester works so well is that he basically repeats and remakes all his sister, the Wicked Witch, did in the MGM movie, and let's be honest, she was a great villain. (And this again makes sense when you remember the Jester is originally supposed to be possessed by the Witch's ghost). But at the same time he has his distinctive signature and style, with his Jester persona, his circus-related punishment and his personal plots to conquer Oz. [People noticed obviously the sweet irony of things in this movie. You have a double-character that, on the Earth world is a cheater and criminal trying to steal people of their houses and using several fake identities, while in Oz it is a villain that turns people into puppets he can manipulate and relies mostly on cheating and misleading Dorothy to her doom. Which is eerily similar to what the creators of the movie/franchise did with their financers and investors.]

Talking about the Earth side... The whole "earthly" parts are all bland and not memorable. Just like Dorothy, who isn't really... anything to be honest. The songs sung aren't memorable either. All of that is a fail. A lot of people also considered the Earthly animation uncanny, or even disturbing, but I personally wasn't bugged by it at all. I saw much more uncanny animation.

When it comes to the Oz part, I actually think they managed to create a perfect "Ozian story". As in, the general schema of the girl entering in Oz through an uncommon mean (here a people-eating rainbow, that I have to say was quite a scary scene to look at), then passing through many small kingdoms, meeting new friends, forming a team, discovering the villain and fighting him off - this plot was repeated by Baum times and times and times again, and probably comes from the original novel Dorothy of Oz. But it still works, as simple as it can be. Plus, the use of the China Country and the Candy County (I think its their name?) was quite a good choice. The China Country was one of Baum's earliest invention, while the Candy County (originating from the Roger S Baum book) is eerily similar to the Bunbury village, an invention of Baum, inhabited by living baked goods that also get angry at the protagonists for trying to eating them. Yes, all in all, the characters feel really Ozian. As for the other member of the team, "Wiser the Owl". Well... he had the potential to feel an interesting and Baum-ian character. But it falls flat because he just becomes one living fat joke. I mean, fat jokes can be funny. But when the character is mostly the joke itself well... yeah, not really working. He had a much interesting role in the prequel comic book.

Because yes, there is a comic book associated with this movie! As I said before, originally the project was to create a franchise of several movies, with toys, goodies, applications and video games. (Or at least that was the project the scam used). The comic is however found under the original title for the movie "Dorothy of Oz". I don't have much to say about it, outside that is was quite pleasing (even though it sometimes doesn't make sense when put in direct relationship to the movie), and that it introduced one interesting idea: that the magic of the broomstick/Witch relied mostly on manipulating the weather and nature. The Jester causes a flood to destroy the Munchkin town, he causes an earthquake to break the China Country, he uses heatwaves to melt the Candy County... And another interesting point, the role of Wiser. Indeed, in the movie he is presented as a "motor-mouth" that keeps talking about everything, knows a lot of stuff and has the tendency to finish other people's sentences. But it gets quickly overshadowed by the fat jokes (cause a big part of his character is that he used to be able to fly but now, because of his love for candy, he is too fat to fly). However, in the comic book he has rather the role of the one voice of reason and intelligence that offers down-to-earth, simple solutions to problems where the other Ozians search for more extravagant and magical possibilities. Exemple (SPOILERS: when trying to create a rainbow, the team searches everywhere, thinks of asking witches, wizards and candy makers. Wiser has to remind them that anybody can create a rainbow with just a good crystal and some light. SPOILER ENDING.)

(I actually read the comic book before looking at the movie, which may explain why I consider it better than the movie.) To return to my opinion on the movie... Not the greatest Oz movie, but certainly not the worst. Average, but on the good side. Entertaining and interesting, even though bland and generic. They got the feeling of an Oz story but they just didn't found a way to freshen up or make the story shine on its own. A good villain for a heroine easy to forget. Simple. Ideal for children, or to kill time, or just to inspire one for more Oz work.

#oz #review #after oz #opinion #animated movie #legends of oz #dorothy's return #legends of oz dorothy's return

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