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neonscandal · 2 years

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Manga With Me: JJK Pocket Theory Edition

Prison Realm

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: covers chapters 0-94

It’s been far too long since we’ve gotten an update on some of our favorite JJK mains (I’m a “Nobara is still alive” conspiracist, myself) but one in particular has been sealed for 835 days at the time of this word vomit (thank you @howlonginthebox on Twitter). In universe, I think we’re only talking 12 trauma packed days but I’ve been wondering a lot about what the prison realm really is.

Storage for one Gojo Satoru, sure, but does the box hold untold pain and traumas as well? Here’s what we know:

Time does not pass in the prison realm

Our last look at Gojo, he’s surrounded by skulls likely previous inhabitants of the box because

The box holds one inhabitant at a time unless the person inside takes their own life

Aside from the above, there are only two gates out

I just want to know what the prison realm is and what Gojo is being subjected to so below are a few ideas of what our favorite Six Eyes might be enduring. Let me know your thoughts below!

Dreamscape

Likelihood: 3/10

Think ethereal, sometimes happy dreams that come to a screeching halt as he struggles to keep facts straight as time stales around him. Strictly nightmares would be too simple for Gege’s unique brand of heart rending writing so picture Gojo sliding into the familiarity of his hey day back at Jujutsu High but then cut to bloody Geto in that alley. Cut to Riko’s limp body. Cut to Geto cooly threatening Gojo’s found family/students. Cut to the warning signs that Geto was losing his way that Gojo missed because they were the strongest together. But they were together less and less. CUT TO KFC! 💪🏾

Endless Onslaught

Likelihood: 2/10

When Ken!Geto first began socializing the idea of the prison realm to the other curses, I figured it would be haunted or the prisoner would face an onslaught of relentless curses. But Gojo wouldn't be haunted by curses. He tipped the scales with his birth. He's objectively and canonically the strongest. That would just be training for him and I doubt the curses would want that when they just needed the strongest sorcerer out of commission. However, their plans against the sorcerers tend to use a strategy of numbers to overwhelm them. We already know the sorcerers are increasingly short handed so something like Geto’s Night Parade and Shibuya would be all they need to put the jujutsu community off kilter. If an onslaught were the case, maybe the idea would be to wear him and his resolve down completely. After all, it’s not like there’s anything he can do from the inside, right?

Pickled Prison

Likelihood: 1/10

This theory is much darker and implausible given the way it would completely destroy any ending. Its foundation comes from something I saw in Inuyasha so I hope I’m not terribly ruining/misinterpreting the practice. What if he’s turned into a curse, pickled by all the resentment, regret and angst he keeps at bay around his students. Mahito and crew talk about tipping the scales and part of that was getting Gojo off the board and reincarnating Sukuna. But what if they could flip Gojo too? When we first learned about Sukuna having actually been a man first, I wondered whether he became the King of Curses because of the 1000 people he slaughtered or if he was a man who tried to turn himself into a living god but failed turning him into a curse. In Inuyasha, the premise is a little different as a saint sets out to become a living Buddha but when his faith falters, his soul strays into darkness and he begins to resent those he volunteered to protect and care for. I went down this hole because I saw someone’s tweet surmising that Gojo was "enlightened" when Toji "killed" him which likened him to a god and Sukuna’s foil. Either way, I see no peace or resolution if that were to be the case. Last people standing will likely be Yuta, Megumi, Hakari and/or Yuji and they still wouldn’t be a match for OP Gojo turned curse.

‼️ Update: this is apparently more spot on than I thought, check out the back story on the real Ryomen Sukuna

Reflection and “Rehabilitation”

Likelihood: 6/10

What if it’s just Gojo alone with his thoughts? I feel like in essence, that would be pretty similar to the downward spiral the dreamscape would bring on because Gojo already has a lifetime of trauma, loss, regret and isolation to ruminate on. I can’t help but think about the panels below and what emptiness Gojo saw staring into that eye. Enough to drive somebody mad, especially without the external stimulus of teaching or being around others to stave off those darker emotions. I think back to JJK0, fresh after killing his best friend, Gojo was able to smile and speak kindly of Geto because Yuta was there. With Ken!Geto being the last thing he saw before being sealed, imagine how angry at himself he’ll be for being careless or too attached and not properly dealing with Geto’s body. How his attachment put everyone in danger and just declining from there.

R&R Remix: Suspended Judgement Day

Likelihood: 7/10

Playing into the actual appearance of the box and Gojo’s shock upon seeing it, there has to be a theory that speaks to the box’s eyes. So this theory is two fold. Suppose the prison realm is a mirror of reflection as with the theory above but echoed by the people that you failed. Like it’s Gojo’s closely held regrets and insecurities as regurgitated by his parents who he feels curse the day he was born as it sealed their deaths, Riko who regrets being given hope by Satosugu at the end of her life, Geto who - where do we even start? It’s one thing to silence the voice in your head but to hear people you love or held dear say the sick little things that you think about yourself out loud would break the average ‘Jo. This perceived scrutiny from others stems from the idea that hell is other people. Inversely, what if the eyes on the outside of the box actually allow the prisoner to see glimpses of what’s happening without context. Imagine catching the final moments of one of his beloved students KNOWING he could help them but being powerless because he’s in the box. What does being the strongest get you then? I think that would make this prison a bit too perfect for Gojo’s suffering.

Either way, I think Gojo will be worse for wear once he’s finally unsealed. I think he’ll feel responsible and shoulder all the losses from the Shibuya incident and, inevitably, everything to come.

#manga with me #dark trio #manga recommendation #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #prison realm #jjk headcanons #gojo angst #gojo satoru #satosugu #geto suguru #anime #jjk thoughts #jjk theory #readthrough #manga with me jjk

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theghostisametaphor · 2 years

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going slightly crazy thinking abt how shi wudu is the part of the water that humans 'control', the rivers they use for commerce, communication, the ocean voyages that offer profit and return on investment, the fishing industry & all the others that depend on it. like. water was so fucking important for moving shit and still IS even now. and he xuan is like, the parts of the ocean that people can't control? the thing people think of when they're like 'im scared of the ocean.' 'fucked up shit down there' the part of the ocean that reminds people they're powerless. like. black water. the water where there are fish that don't need light, or use it as lures, the crushing places we can't even go because the weight is too much. sinking ships. literally. what shi wudu does is guarantee ships safe passage. he xuan is the ocean that says 'fuck you im terrifying and endless and don't have to take you into account and i swallow everything, i hold all the missing and don't give any of them back.'

#still having thoughts after the most recent #tgcf #readthrough #im not GOING anywhere with this i just have feelings #abt how they mirror each other #he xuan shaping himself into something that can go up against him on his own turf and beat him #ahhhhhhh #i don't ship them exactly i just think about them sometimes and scream #shi wudu #he xuan

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heroicdivergent · 1 year

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Murrit Vasterror fucking sucks. I hate him. It's so good. He dares to ask the question no one wanted an answer to: "What if the Striders were also Eridan?" Or maybe "what if Big Brother was an anime sex pervert?" The other characters in the story complain about how incomprehensible he is, and usually this trope tends to be an exaggeration but it works for me. Between his obnoxious-looking quirk and bizarre turns of phrase that explain jack shit, his conversations are genuinely annoyingly hostile for me to read and try to comprehend. It's so bad. I love him. Murrit Vasterror fucking rules.

#homestuck #vast error #readthrough #murrit turkin #just starting up Act 2 of VE and man

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tharizdun-03 · 1 year

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The Case of Vanitas Watchrough & Readthrough

The Vanitas Opening is cute, very rom-com like. Basically just the two of them going on dates lol. I hope they're actually gay for each other. I need that. I really need that.

Vanitas episode was pretty good. Definitely more of an emphasis on world-building than character so far tho, and still has that Pandora Hearts comedy, but it's way less obnoxious, and presentation wise it's slick and stylish. It's got a solid hook, so I'll stick around for more.

I appreciate the Vanitas anime keeping the OST running even during gags. I feel like most anime stops the music during quick jokes, but keeping it going makes it flow better.

Rewatching Vanitas from the start as I'm gonna catch up now, and this is a very strong overarching hook.

Yeah, he's not. Like, at all. That is a very weird insult.

Hmmm...

Ooh. It's interesting that Noe seems to respect his teacher a lot and is very loyal to him in the present, but with this reveal, that could be tinted to being something of a coping mechanism or something, cause he's gotta have mixed feelings about him after this.

I am reading the Vanitas manga as well, just to see how it did things, and the art is pretty excellent, as expected. Altho the quality of scans varies.

Some non-colored pages too, cause the actual art in the manga is very good as well.

I like the kind of preview they did for the next volume at the end of volume 2, hope they keep doing that.

Noé is precious.

Vanitas is intriguing. I like him a bit more in the manga (I'm not crazy about Hanae voicing him) but it's interesting to ponder whether his preferring that his love doesn't love him back is cause he doesn't want to be tied down or if it's some self-inflicted punishment.

On the one hand, his love for Jeanne feels genuine, but on the other hand, his actions towards her feel very calculated to get the most out of her. Of course, they're not mutually exclusive, I suppose. Either way, lots of potential here. Shame he's a bit annoying lol.

Noè is probably still my favourite character, just cause, he's a sweet, precious little cinnamonbun.

baby

Could be how Noé kills Vanitas in the future then.

Vanitas no Carte Part 1 was pretty fun. Looks great. Stylish and sexy, with plenty of intrigue and strong world-building. Some annoying comedic faces and chibi intercuts tho. Noé is precious and wanna know more about Vanitas. Most a really faithful adaptation too.

The Vanitas anime definitely cuts stuff from the manga, but so far it's not really super significant stuff and they manage to communicate the info in other ways instead. Altho that Mikhail has yet to appear in the anime.

Mmmm...

Backstory episodes in Vanitas hit different. They happen a lot in Jun's stories, she seems fond of them. It's one of the things she's the best at too, I'd say. Sadly, this was the first episode with real significant cuts from the manga imo.

Before it's always been skipping some details you can infer anyway from the context, but entire scenes were also missing here. Mind you, the episode on its own was very good, but, you get more in the manga, and it's more essential to the experience here than it's been previously.

The visual direction has been less Shaft-like overall, compared to Part 1, and a bit more standard Bones, which I think works in its favour at the moment. They pulled some trademark Shaft in this episode tho, but it fit a lot better here.

Jun is still a bit of a mixed writer for me even here in some regards, but she's definitely improved from Pandora Hearts. Her set-up is a lot better constructed here. Bodes good, gives me hope the climaxes she's very good at could actually properly hit for me here.

I was hoping for Chloé to have a little bit more self-agency, so very much like this twist. Not yet quite sure why she's going against Naenia tho, but guessing because she manipulated her to keep living and Jean to become the beast, and she eventually realized that.

I'm just spitballing, obviously, we'll get more info on this next episode, I'm just thinking out loud at the moment.

Ah, alright, yeah.

Again, anime cutting stuff but nothing that crucial, just further small moments, further details, or more action that isn't VITAL to the overall narrative. I understand manga purists disliking it but as an adaptation, think the anime is doing the best it can good enough.

OH SHIT.

INSANE VISUAL

So, the theme of loneliness seems to be the central one in Vanitas.

Oh damn.

Another great spread. It pays to see how the manga depicted these moments as well.

Art was a bit off for the kiss in the anime, but they adapted the smile pretty nicely. This is very cute.

Usually, the comedy in Vanitas doesn't do much for me, but this was one of the most effective comedy-driven stretches.

Alright, I dunno how effective this twist is. Okay, I guess they're twins then, and not one year apart. And the reason for all this is because of some weird superstition that twins are bad luck for vampires or something? Maybe the manga elaborates on this but...

And then there's this, and I guess it's natural for her to assume that in her current state of mind, but with the twist not being that clever, this is just annoying, when it's obvious he might mistake her for him, as they look almost identical, and he has like PTSD so?

Mikhail is an interesting addition to the story.

Ignoring the execution of things, the ideas for her backstory feels very Mochizuki, and in a good way, so hopefully the manga does this in a way that is more effective for me.

Yeah, no, the whole that Louis was said to be ill but not actually was vague from the start, as was him supposedly being one year old but actually wasn't, and it all being based on this weird superstition is a bit weak.

Some nice stuff for Domi, her cutting her hair to look like Louis would've been really disturbing in the right way if the context was strong enough to back it up, and it reveals why she doesn't think Noe loves her, as she thinks Noe agrees that Louis should've survived.

But yeah, the twist and logic behind it are not strong enough to make it as effective as it could've been. I mean, I'm not here thinking it's so stupid, but it's just not super strong for me, but oh well.

This is also weird, why give Noé stakes AFTER he's dead? We'll probably get more on this tho, I think. Or I'm missing something.

Mikhail is at least twisted in all the right ways, in typical Mochizuki fashion. Beginning of his backstory was a bit tonally off in the anime, but handled much better here in the manga. Excited to finish the anime and catch up to the manga tomorrow and find out more.

Dude, this confrontation between Noé and Vanitas is crazy good.

Oh...

We'll see where this goes, cause having him be behind a lot of the stuff in the story yet having been basically completely invisible throughout the narrative doesn't seem fair to the viewer, but we'll see.

He's got the same eyes as Noè's cats, and also calls them kittens. He might be the cat lol.

Vanitas No Carte Part 2 is a mostly faithful adaptation that when it has to cut things, chooses the least crucial parts, and story-wise it really ramped things up and delved into the more interesting and darker ideas, shedding light on its mysteries. Really good overall.

Jeez, his entrance is way scarier in the manga.

Caught up to the Vanitas no Carte manga, which was consistently very good, and occasionally great! Jun's writing skills have improved, and I'm more invested than ever right now, so I very much hope that she has a lot of story left to tell cause I think there's plenty of promise.

#vanitas no carte #the case study of vanitas #anime #watchthrough #readthrough

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starsaroundsaturn · 2 years

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I’m reading bnha again (finally!), I’m on chpt 339 and the way that shouto puts his hand on izuku’s shoulder! the way he says that [redacted] already has a clear picture of who they want to be! the way he implies izuku is all of their role model in a way! the affection! the love! i cannot! physically! handle! it!

also I love how mad izuku was when hatsume stuck her chest in his face, the look of sheer annoyed rage was perfection

and I know that my interpretation of Izuku as ace or demi is at least relatively unusual but as a demisexual person I would also be raging over somebody doing that to me, or at the very least get very uncomfy

so yeah I still headcanon izuku as ace/demisexual ;D

#izuku midoriya #bnha #readthrough

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sassintheclass · 2 years

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Reading through their scripts

Katie Adam and Angela

#throwback #filming #new series #waterloo road #series 11 #readthrough #scripts #original character #may 2022

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anotherleftturn · 1 month

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Twenty Years Ago

There has been something that has been on my mind. As of this month it was twenty years ago that I read Pet Sematary, and it seems only fitting to reread it even though I am in the process of rereading IT.

There is one thing more that is making me want to reread Pet Sematary: in the process of rereading IT I have found Easter eggs for Pet Sematary in IT. I am wondering if I will find the same thing only vice versa with Pet Sematary with Easter Eggs of IT sprinkled in there.

#pet sematary #IT #readthrough #reread

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1-50thofabuck · 2 months

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As always, this was written on the fly without research or referencing anything else. So if I say something incorrect it's because I was forcing myself to work from memory and I don't want to look anything up as I write each part. If I research or discover something in between articles I'll add that info to the next article. This one likely contains misspellings, typos, poor wording, etc as again, I wanted to write on the fly conversationally and not sit and workshop it into a prose poem. I added a few things after I wrote the article but it will be clear what those parts are. In future articles I won't explain all this, just wanted to make it clear again as I get into the monster writeups. PLEASE comment corrections, thoughts, insights, opinions, and insults. I'm lonely!

All the World’s Monsters: Readthrough Part II: Air Squid to Archer Bush(the complete “a”s!)

Finally! The Monsters!

That’s what I’m talkin’ about. All the text for the monsters is IN CAPS, SO THE ENTIRE ENTRY READS LIKE THIS. WHEN QUOTING I WILL NOT USUALLY DO THIS BECAUSE IT WOULD GET ANNOYING, DON’T YOU THINK? So if I quote “blah blah blah” it actually reads “BLAH BLAH BLAH.”

Air Squid

Starting off with a bang. I said before this is the kind of thing I love. Flying squids rule! So, let’s dive in(fly in?).

Each chapter begins with a drop cap, which is nice. The little detail of the fighter dropping their sword is cool. I dig it.

This is a Dave Hargrave monster, and that’s one of the names we’ll see a lot. It’s an intelligent monster, with IQ range 2d6, i.e., they have Intelligence scores of between 2-12, so, from almost animal intelligence to quite bright. Chaotic, neutral is its alignment, with the comma between the two just like that. Remember, in Holmes Basic, which this was following, PCs couldn’t even choose to be chaotic neutral - it was true neutral or nothing. I’m not sure if this applied to monsters - I’ll have to look through the Holmes list again. It may even be reflecting a single axis alignment system and noting that the creature could be either chaotic or neutral. Hmm. (I’ll know by the next article, I’m trying to more or less honestly write this on the fly!) (Note: I figure it out with one of the following monsters.) I won’t go into all this with future monsters, just a note for the first one.

Hit dice from 6-12d8+1, with size ranging from 35 to 75’ long. (I did read ahead through the A’s, and I thank Hargrave for clueing us in; you’ll find a frustrating number of monsters whose size is “shrug.”) Quite a spread, but not really illogical. It seems to be one of those things that early writers did that ended up not being the standard: giving many monsters a fairly wide HD range, where most monsters in official publications didn’t have any HD range at all.

AC of 7 seems okay, interesting that it doesn’t scale off of HD in any way, but not incorrect necessarily. Fly 12 seems reasonable. Dexterity range 1d6+6 is okay I suppose?

The air squid is found outdoors, in water(so presumably it swims too even though only flight speed is listed?), and of course, “air.” These don’t get as specific as other D&D writeups that would include mountains, swamps, forests, hills, and not just “in the air.” I don’t believe any monster stats had an entry or “slot” like that previously, like a part of the stat block or writeup that says “environment” or “terrain” or “found in.” I think it wouldn’t be til 2nd Edition that that became a standard part of the stat block. That info still existed by way of the wandering monster tables. For example, a monster is found on the tables for hills and mountains then obviously those are the two places in which they can be found. Also, the “interpreting the monster entries” section lists cities, mountains, and so on, so they were aware of the idea. Granted, the editors came up with the explanations for the environment types, or as they phrase it, “found in,” and apparently didn’t enforce much consistency. The air squid’s lair is “on mountain peaks.” Sure, why not?

15% chance in lair, only 1 ever encountered, and they always have a type E treasure.

Here’s where it gets really crazy: this thing has 13 attacks, and the size/HD doesn’t matter: the tentacles cause 1d8 points of damage in “constriction,” though there are no rules for this. Presumably the monster just grabs, crushes, and releases. Would it come to ground to do this? Just hover around the ground grabbing and crushing, not grabbing, holding, and flying up high to release? Meh. Plus a d10 damage with its beak. The damage not scaling isn’t really a big deal, but the attacks seem a bit wonky.

Why no ink spit? I’d find that a lot more interesting than a ton of attacks, personally. Being described as “sky-blue,” one would also expect a surprise bonus, at least situationally. Oh, and if you wondered how it flies? Hargrave didn’t just go with “Uh, magic, like, probably an insane wizard’s experiment or something, you know?” but instead attempted to give something of a naturalistic explanation with the squids being “helium-filled.” I can’t help but imagine popping a fully-inflated air squid with a well-placed arrow or spear. It could become like a mini game, with characters trying to pop air squids as they fly by. An attraction at the most incredible carnival ever to exist. Sure only 1 is supposed to appear but let’s be serious with our lack of seriousness.

Not much else to say about the air squid really. It’s pretty cool. With a generation of hindsight it could use some workshopping in my opinion but these were pioneers, dangit. The next entries won’t focus on some of the topics I focused on here because now they’re been addressed.

Airfang

The second monster in the book, and the first “..wtf?” Like, what actually is this thing? It’s apparently “tiny,” with an HD range of 8-12. What is “tiny” in this context, since official “size categories” such as tiny, small, medium, and large were not to come for a while(I don’t think it was until 2nd Edition AD&D)? Is tiny how I would interpret “tiny” if someone told me something was “tiny?” Itty-bitty? Probably not. A foot? Who knows how tiny this up to 12 HD monster with 2 attacks scoring 3d4 damage each could be?

It’s a “metallic scaled creature” with an armor class of 2+4(?) that is “mostly mouth, tentacle, and wings.” Huh. It reminds me of some of the random little enemies in old NES games that swarmed you and you had trouble even figuring out what the heck they even were. Of course, most of those didn’t eviscerate a starting character in a round or two by dealing massive amounts of tiny damage from its tiny tentacles and tiny mouth.

Is the 2+4 representing separate areas for the tentacles and body(because a “tiny” creature should definitely have different AC ratings by location, a mechanic that was kind of trash even on the few official monsters that used it). Or maybe they meant 2-4, which should more properly be 4-2, reflecting that the AC improves as it increases in HD?

Once again, we’re given very specific locations that these abominations can be found, such as “outdoors.” Well that sure narrows it down, thanks. Like the air squid, it’s also found in “water” and “air.” So, basically, literally everywhere. And why in Discordia’s name is it found in water anyway? It has scales and tentacles I guess? It’s faster than the air squid, with a flight speed of 24! I forgot to mention, it also “latches on with its mouth and then bites repeatedly,” so I’m not sure if this implies that it only has to attack once with its mouth and then it auto-hits, or if this is just a descriptive visual, but either way, it’s pretty lame.

You encounter 3d6 of these, too. 3d6 tiny, indescribable monsters that inexplicably have a mountain of HP and have the potential for enormous damage, swarming a PC. Just imagine using these and explaining how their appearance is totally silly, they’re too tiny and fast to potentially make out, one of them took an entire round of hits from the entire party and didn’t die, three of them reduced one party member to bones in a round, somehow, and potentially, some of them are automatically inflicting damage after “latching on.” If your players don’t quit on you, you’ve either built up a huge Loyalty rating with them, or they’re just very, very lacking in discrimination. Or perhaps you knew they’d enjoy a good, absurdist comedy encounter.

Its alignment is “hungry,” hahahahahahahaha! :| If this was a one-off joke, or it was a monster that was otherwise good, it’d be okay. Sadly to the first one, having peeked ahead, this isn’t the first time this “gag” is done in the “a” monsters alone.

To the second one: this monster sucks. I have trouble believing that out of 5 billion entries, this boring, overpowered, uncreative nonsense was one of the best.

Mystery solved; turns out, this is an airfang

Ant Man

An obvious idea that would be done a number of times - and I’m not saying that as insult, at all - this version is based on creatures from a book, “Kavin’s World,” which could also be the name of a sci-fi sitcom.

These also have a very wide HD range, from 1-14. Not having read the books or feeling that it would be worthwhile to research it, I can’t say how widely the ant men in it varied in strength. Their AC does not vary, at a very high 2. So even the single hit die ones are as tough as plate mail. They only move 6, so, fairly slow(I’ve seen some relatively quick ants). Their intelligence skews towards good - 2d6+6, varying from low to genius and averaging at high(13). Dex is average(3d6). Seems to me an ant’s might be a bit low, comparatively, but hey.

Neutral alignment is fair. Again, I have no idea how these things are in the book. They appear a lot of places, but no place unreasonable for an ant, much less an alien ant or whatever these things are. 200d20 of these appear in a lair, which even by ant standards seems pretty high, but book yadda yadda. Wandering or in lair they have the same amount of treasure, and a 100% chance of it, at that. Seems a bit odd but whatever.

Boy do they get a lot of attacks. 2 “hands”(quotes theirs), 2 stings, and a bite, scoring up to 44 points of damage plus poison from the stings which cause 4d6 on a failed save for another potential 24 damage… yikes. Keep in mind, this describes the 1 HD version and the 14 HD one. A 1 HD monster that can potentially cause 68 HP damage in one round. The bite says “HIT -2” but I’m not sure what that means. It’s a -2 to the attack roll with the bite? Or the damage is 2d6-2? I’m guessing the former, but I’m not positive.

Ant men are big-ass ant people with four arms, two which end in stingers, because sure! and two end in “hands” that score damage as a two-handed sword. They’re also immune to “mental spells,” which I assume means charm, fear, illusory magic, probably hold, and so on. They believe that other sentient species, including those with demonstrably similar intelligence, are cattle, which is not a very true neutral position to hold. Sounds neutral evil or lawful evil at best. “True Neutral. I believe that there should be a balance in all things. Nature is balanced, law and chaos must be balanced, good and evil must be balanced. And everyone not of our race are animals to be used as slaves and food.” Not seeing it.

I don’t know what to make of this one, but it’s not the strangest one I’ve seen so far, so it’s okay.

Ant, Giant

An expected monster, a classic. Is this the first time a giant ant was statted in print? I don’t know, but IT HAS FROM 1-27 HD. But it also doesn’t give an actual size range, so I imagine this is so you can stat from chihuahua sized giant ants to “Them!” giant ants up to true kaiju giant ants. This is also the first one we’re seeing that has an AC that scales to its HD, in this case “its armor class is 3 plus one third of the number of its hit dice, fractions are rounded up giving a range of 2 to -6.” Chuck Cady did well, I like it, and obviously pleasing me is everyone’s top priority.

Its damage also scales, +1 per HD, which gets pretty high - arguably, unreasonably so - but on the other hand, one of my biggest gripes at high levels is how bad the damage often is by high level monsters(the tarrasque doesn’t do jack in damage to any party high enough in level enough to fight it), so I’m just a hypocrite. Wait. I just realized. I thought it was +1 per HD + acid, and it’s actually +1d3 per HD in acid damage. So a 27 HD giant ant doesn’t get +27 damage, it gets +27d3 damage. In acid.

So its bite doesn’t scale, with a 1 HD rat-dog or a 27 HD kaiju ant scoring the damage of a short sword… plus or minus a few dozen d3 in acid. It seems really weird to me that the acid scales that greatly and not the bite, but… I’m kinda okay with it?

Do ants use acid? Hmm. Well, slugs don’t, so. At least there are only 3d20 of them in their lair and not 2,000+ of them like ant men.

“Alignment: any, hungry.” C’mon, Chuck. I’m introducing good-aligned giant ants and blaming you. The giant ant appears in all the same places as the Ant Man, even though this has a different creator. Ants can be found about anywhere, though…

I would be remiss not to mention the incredible description: “The generic description of the giant ants.” (In all caps of course.) Now we’ll never know exactly what an ant looks like. “I once lay awake long into the night, wondering just what kind of creature was the noble ant.”

Ape, Desert

Back to Hargrave with another pretty decent monster. Desert apes are apes with a literal third eye with accompanying hypnotic powers. I think I’d have liked to see a full-scale psionic ape, but this is cool. Movement 10 is a bit unusual for the way this game scales movement, but I don’t have a problem with it. HD spread on this one is only 4-8, reasonable for rank and file apes up to the leader. Intelligence averages low at 2d6, with dexterity being high, equaling that of the very agile giant ant and ant man(for whatever reason). AC 4 is.. all right I guess.

Chaotic neutral is okay, though I dislike the tendency to lean towards that alignment that seems to have existed since the beginning. I’d like to see hypnotic apes that are more lawful, allowing them to better take advantage of their incredible power, but honestly this isn’t a complaint. Despite how it may sound, very few of my comments are “complaints,” merely observations, though I may make them in a sardonic way in a lame attempt at humor. The truth is I highly respect the effort and passion that is put into these kinds of works, even if I joke otherwise.

Found in “dungeons, open, deserts.” Can we just skip listing “dungeons?” Literally every smegging monster to ever exist is found in dungeons. Pterodactyls are found in dungeons. I’m sure treants are found in dungeons. Like, literally every monster is indexed to a specific “dungeon level” for the purpose of putting them in dungeons. There’s really no need to state “dungeons” on every single monster. Also, what is “open?” Is that the same as “outside?” Or do they mean non-forested, non-mountainous regions, like plains or something? The opening explanation for the book doesn’t list “open,” so it’s another case of monster creators doing what they want and the editors not enforcing any kind of continuity. It’s not a big deal, but I have to comment on it in a readthrough.

Two attacks, one being a rather heavy club(scoring 1d8 damage) and the other, hypnosis, which is listed as an attack with no real indication of what “hypnosis” actually entails, though it lists it as a “visual” attack, I guess because it’s using one of its eyes, so perhaps it means a gaze attack? Not sure if “gaze attack” was a term cemented into D&D/AD&D yet. Either way, is hypnosis the same as charm, or…?

These apes cannot speak a normal language, though you might imagine they could, being of low human intelligence and having hypnosis and stuff. Alas, ape biology simply doesn’t allow for the forming of words like we use, and there’s no such thing as evolution or crazy magical effects to cause this to happen, and so we’re stuck with psionic apes only communicable with through magic such as speak with animals, and we’re told these chaotic neutral scoundrels will lie 30% of the time.

Ape, Snake

This is one of those monsters that when you look at the name you just try to guess what it might be. An ape made of snakes? An ape with snake arms? An ape filled with snakes? This is another Hargrave monster, with the most reasonable HD spread so far, 5-7. these small spreads are okay(not saying the larger ones can’t be, they’re just uncharacteristic of what we tend to see in official writeups). Technically they exist in AD&D for various humanoid monsters as well, they’re simply expressed differently: a stronger kobold is statted as a goblin, an even stronger one as an orc, etc. By the time you get to hobgoblins, their strongest members are statted as ogres. So their HD could have been shown as “1+1 - 4,” and it would have been a greater spread than the snake ape.

Let’s skip to the description to see what this thing actually is. One line leaps out and suckers my face with tentacles: “Also known as an octorilla.” Dave, buddy, you could have called this an octorilla and you went with snake ape instead? Octorilla is much cooler, and gives an almost immediate idea of what it might be like. Was it so it would go into the book earlier, like why people give their businesses names beginning with “a” so they get in the front of the category in the yellow pages(back when people used yellow pages)? Tentacles aren’t snakes, Dave. “But maybe people back then wouldn’t have known!” People “back then” wouldn’t have known half the stuff we put in these games, let’s move on.

So, this thing was “spawned in the vats of chaos,” which was basically the precursor to “probably the result of a mad wizard’s experiment.” Both of these are the equivalent of Marvel Comics’ “they’re a mutant.” They are what they are and we don’t have time to come up with origins and explanations, dammit. (Not even kidding - mutants were created because Stan Lee was too lazy to continue to come up with origins for characters so he basically said “what if a mad wizard(God) did it?” I’ll wait for angry responses from Stan Lee fans “correcting” me about something I couldn’t actually care less about.)

AC actually has a range, from 6-7, or as I observed previously, should probably be listed as 7-6(I won’t comment on this in the future). Move 8 seems okay I suppose for an octorilla. Swim 6, so, it’s better running around on land than swimming. Intelligence very low, but not quite animal, averaging 5, with a high dexterity averaging 16! Why exactly?

Alignment “chaotic,” so I suppose they are going with the single description alignments. Found in dungeons and “open,” again, among other places, specifically woods and water, which makes enough sense.

This is another with way too many attacks. I really miss OD&D with 1 attack per character or monster regardless of how many arms it has or whatever. Two of its three attack types have scaling damage, and it’s high damage. It gets 4 attacks with its arms, which I guess is a punch or slam of some type, beginning at the same damage as a two-handed sword. The largest cause double this damage. Its beak begins at 1d8 and can also double for the largest ones. It also gets four “constrictions,” which score double its “regular damage,” so, 2d10 for the smallest and 4d1 for the largest? You know that’s overkill. 7 HD giants don’t do that kind of damage in a single attack(though they should). The description tells us that if a sucker-lined arm hits twice in a row or two arms hit in one melee turn(which was probably still 1 round in Holmes and not 10?) constriction takes place and continues until either party is dead. This is when I’m noticing it actually says “1-4 constrictions,” so maybe it only gets the arm attacks unless the previous conditions are met? It’s kind of confusing, and generally, such conditional attacks aren’t listed among the regular attacks like that, but this was an early time. It would certainly make the monster more reasonable if that’s the case. It also says that there’s only a need to make an attack roll for constriction “each turn” if someone is wearing plate mail. That tells me they do mean rounds, but what is the roll for? If they’re saying if an arm hits twice in a row or two hit in a round, the constriction is automatic, then there was already an attack roll made - two of them. Are they saying that constriction isn’t automatic if someone is wearing plate mail? I don’t get this at all.

Aside from some confusing aspects, including what this abomination actually looks like(sure, gorilla and octopus, complete with octopus beak - I still have no idea what that would look like), it’s a neat monster. I like it.

After completing Part II of this readthrough, I looked up “octorilla,” and found that such a monster was published in “the Arduin Grimoire II,” by Mr. Hargrave here. Perhaps Chaosium appealed to Hargrave to change the name because the book was lacking in “a” monsters, or he only really finally decided on “octorilla” between AtWM and tAGII, but I doubt it. Also remember that the introduction expressly stated that no “Arduin Grimoire” monsters are found here, and the second volume of tAG hadn’t been released yet, so this was probably a precursor to the later Arduin “octorilla.” You can see an OSE writeup and the original monster writeup here, complete with pictures(the modern version, not by Hargrave, skips the beak!).

Arceel

It would be understandable to think this was a made-up nonsense word by emphasizing the pronunciation incorrectly, like “ar-keel” or even “ar-seal,” but it is “arc eel,” as in electric eel. It’s man sized, and 10 HD! Sheesh!

The AC is 2+6, the same thing its creator, Steve Henderson, did with his last entry, the nonsensical Airfang. “Its AC is high due to its rubbery skin.” Thanks for the important info, why does its Dex average high though? Also, it’s “repulsive,” lest you think it was adorable.

It has low human intelligence, but never lairs nor has treasure(I guess it’s the lack of hands?). Chaotic in alignment, it only lives in swamps - not “outdoors” or in dungeons - and its swim rate is abysmal, maybe to allow PCs to escape when they realize this thing is an inexplicable bucket of HP that does 4d6 lightning damage. It’s described as a “lightning bolt,” but clarifies in the description that it “must touch its victim.” I’m not sure if “must touch” simply indicates that an attack roll must be made as opposed to it being an area of effect power, or if it also means that someone touching it takes damage.

These eels are a lot cooler, put them in your game instead

I wish it flew like the air squid. Water-based monsters get so little use, comparatively, in my opinion(though this could be a flaw in execution, i.e., people need to find ways to use them more). And the HD seems pretty high, really. I know it’s a nitpick, but I don’t care for the cutesy name either. Why not just call it “giant electric eel?” That’s what it is, man. It doesn’t even have acid or cold breath given to it by a mad wizard, or that it gained in the vats of Chaos, so it’s just a big-ass electric eel.

Archer Bush

This is one we’ll see other places, such as Mystara. I suppose it’s one of those natural or obvious ideas that multiple people come up with, as mentioned before. It’s mentioned as being taken from the book “Symbiotica,” so it’s just as possible that whoever created it for Mystara was inspired by the same book.

It has no intelligence, but usually has treasure; which makes sense as it’s described as being a “guardian” creature, planted almost invariably for such a purpose.

No alignment is given, not even a joke one like “alignment: wood.” That’s not funny, but neither is “hungry.” Speaking of which, it’s found in “open,” as well as woods. So I guess “open” must mean literally any outdoor area at all aside from cities, which are listed as their own environment, and ruins, which are actually considered part of the “cities” category for some reason. Which means technically, nobody ever plants these in the ruins in which they lair, nor do wealthy lunatics plant them around their yard for security. I’m sure the creator didn’t intend to make their use that narrow, I’m being pedantic, or something similar to it. I don’t think it actually needs an alignment, and sometimes I think systems overstat things that don’t need them. (DC Heroes was the worst for that, statting things like coins - and by the rules, the weakest human can snap one in half.)

One of the most reasonable HD attributions so far, and it doesn’t even have a spread! The AC is pretty low for something that could logically be argued to be a bit higher. Its dexterity is 12, so it’s going to act in melee a little faster than an average person; too bad it doesn’t get melee attacks, and it isn’t high enough to give it a bonus to its ranged attack, and monsters don’t really work like that anyway. It attacks with the “probability” of “a light bow fired by an eighth level fighter of average dexterity.” I don’t put “probability” in quotes to mock it, but to highlight a specific way that certain rules were often expressed early on that you didn’t see so much later. If you read the “AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide” - and I‘m going to write a short article in the future on why you should, regardless of what RPG you run, and what parts are universally useful and often overlooked - Gygax goes into dice probabilities, and describes the potential universality of die rolls and how one can be exchanged for another. I talked about this a bit in the previous part. Looking at chances as probabilities, converting them to percentages, can be very useful. I also point this out to question why “light bow” is mentioned. One could argue it’s to reflect the range or damage or something, but it expressly states that it factors into its hit probability somehow.

It certainly doesn’t factor into its damage, which is insane: it fires 50-100 needles, each of which score 1 HP damage, so we’re talking 50-100 HP of damage potential per round from one bush alone and they average 21 appearing at a time. And that’s before poison, which is save or die, meaning an average of 1,575 possible save or die attacks PER ROUND. That assumes all 21 are within range, but still.

Well, we’re done the “a”s, and I could use a breather after that last one. K. Jones, I’ll be watching you.

Next time we sail into the “b”s, with the Bagda and Fallowman, and, oh I don’t know, tentatively end with the writeups of beetles. See you then!

#rpg #d&d #rpgs #ad&d #osr #all the world's monsters #readthrough #arduin #arduin grimoire #ose #chaosium

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xiane · 7 months

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In Sleep You Know Chapter by Chapter Intro

This podcast is a readthrough of In Sleep You Know, one chapter at a time, by me in my cozy and magical bedroom/workspace.

If you’ve been around lately, you know that I’ve been teasing this for a bit! This podcast is a readthrough of In Sleep You Know, one chapter at a time, by me in my cozy and magical bedroom/workspace. I’ve got a short intro to check out before the chapters start, if you’re interested. This podcast, like Magic All Around, is available on both YouTube and Spotify. Transcript: Welcome to In Sleep…

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#In Sleep You Know #Podcast #Readthrough

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livelaughstuck · 11 hours

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Show Notes:

Alpha Kids: Get on fuckin in there for real though G's Meenah piece for the Disabledstuck zine The Disabledstuck zine

Moosie on itch Moosie's personal website

Music and edited by Domi

Domi's Soundcloud Domi's Ko-Fi

Website Newsletter Ko-fi Discord Twitter Youtube Tiktok The Unofficial Homestuck Collection Fanstuck/Problematic Faves Submission Form

#homestuck #podcast #live laugh stuck #lls #readthrough #read through #moosestuck

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ellipsesplay · 1 year

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Our table read on the evening of Tuesday, December 20, 2022 (or in South Korea, the morning of Wednesday, December 21, 2022). These Gals came from different parts of the globe. We look forward to creating a beautiful Universe together during Milky Way Theatre Company’s New Works Festival in January 2023! #michigan #newyork #massachusetts #korea #colorado #tennessee #kansas #texas #vermont #tableread #readthrough #reading #script #newmusical #milkywaytheatrecompany #readers #actors #performers #theatre #zoom #online #music #musicaldevelopment #science #astrophysics #galaxies #family #adulthood #ellipses #ellipsesmusical (at Universe) https://www.instagram.com/p/CmedNMUutDN/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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neonscandal · 2 years

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Manga With Me: MHA Edition

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: focused on chapters 50-100 and references previous chapters.

Who doesn’t wish they could experience something again for the first time? Join me during my first MHA read through with reflections and head canons. If you’re interested in reading and following along, let me know, I love bouncing theories off of people. Be sure to drop your head canons below, too! This is a fun chunk of chapters where we start learning about conflicting ideologies threatening hero society and refining characterization for some of my favorite characters.

Before, I organized my thoughts more chronologically, largely since I decided late in reading to do this. This section was chockfull of information so I organized things a little differently, feel free to read what interests you.

We left off with Stain and now we’re ready for a deep dive as this arc finds its natural end while igniting a chain reaction felt on both sides of the Hero-Villain spectrum.

IDEOLOGIES

Stain’s ideology basically asserts that, in a super powered society, true heroes don’t do it for a paycheck, specifically, you don’t wield your quirk for your own sake. As the manga’s perspective is largely influenced by Deku, adversarial opinions against hero society are practically nonexistent until he gets exposed to more ”villains” ironically through his own vigilantism. Stain’s distilled messaging comes down to: what is a hero, what is justice and is this what society’s really supposed to be like? Despite his takedown, it sparks a change in the minds of the public, villains, heroes and fledgling students alike as seen with Denki’s “radicalization”.

Stain believes All Might is the only person worthy of being called a hero. Ultimately, through this fight, Deku also earns Stain’s recognition as a true hero. I’m intrigued that he is able to pick, out of all the natural born super humans, two people born quirkless to elevate above the rest. Ironically, when discussing AFO, All Might even concedes that “When a person has power, they instinctively seek a way to use it,” so perhaps he too, is flappable.

Broadly, when we look at motivations, we’ve been introduced to a myriad of reasons heroes go into commissioned work both at UA and the Pro’s (Iida and Todoroki - familial pride and tradition or force/spite, Uraraka and Pro!Mt. Lady - money, Bakugo and Pro!Endeavor - to be the strongest, Pro!Ingenium and Mineta - to be popular, Pro!Gran Torino - the ability to use his quirk unbridled) and they aren’t always purely altruistic. All Might had no power and strived for it in order to be a stabilizing pillar to society. Where others recognize his quirk’s similarity to All Might, I believe Stain recognized Deku’s tenacity to save Iida (physically and from making an irrevocable mistake) and “giving help that’s not asked for [as that] is what makes a true hero”.

Inversely, Shigiraki was the first brush Class 1A had with someone who desired to challenge the paradigm. As we learned in the exchange at USJ, while he could talk about state sanctioned violence, his focus on All Might was, more or less, personal and infantile. We later discover his politics are influenced by the will of All For One who unifies through chaos and disorder. From AFOs perspective, villains created the Symbol of Peace which is literal when you remember OFA is a derivative from AFO. All Might stands tall atop all of their sacrifices. When AFO observes that heroes have so many things to protect, I imagine he specifically targets All Might’s own pride, image, and bluster. This is evidenced by All Might’s continued desperation and furtiveness to hide his weakness and illustrated more profoundly in Kamino with the visual below. Without OFA, All Might is underwhelmingly human and weak.

Under AFO’s mentorship, Shigiraki begins to refine an end goal which puts All Might and Deku firmly in his cross hairs. Though largely unrelated to Stain, he’s able to pivot public discourse about Stain into momentum for his own aimless movement. As he recruits additional allies, many of which are staunch Stain supporters, we see that even within his ranks, there’s a delineation of ideology among individual members which are impressed upon Class 1A as they begin to interact.

Where Deku grew up quirkless, awed and obsessed with hero culture, he meets Kota at the training camp who finds the kids training their quirks and aspiring to be heroes disgusting. This disdain is explained by the senseless death of his pro hero parents at the hand of a villain. Praised for giving the ultimate sacrifice and meeting an honorable end, Kota doesn’t digest the nobility in his parents being there one minute and gone the next. Given his behavior prior to coming into contact with Vil!Muscular, one would assume he didn’t have a quirk either but imagine the reader’s surprise that Kota inherited his parents’ quirk. This is the first time we see someone who isn’t adversarial to heroes in the criminal sense, literally someone who could be a hero, who has such a profound distaste for hero culture and quirks despite being gifted as well. This is our first insight into the fact that, similar to Shigiraki and his underlings, individuals in the general public have delineating ideologies as well that make up the general acceptance of hero dominance and legal quirk suppression.

PARALLEL’S

Iida is a great example of the fragile balance between someone being tipped in the wrong direction because of a personal vendetta. We see this extrapolated further with Shigiraki as his identity is revealed later in this section of chapters to be the discarded grandson of All Might’s predecessor. If we look at nature vs nurture, Iida had a stable environment (though Todoroki surmised that even his family must also have a dark side so maybe there’s more to this) but Tensei’s isolated brush with Stain sent him over the deep end. Later, electing to keep permanent physical damage as a reminder to become a true hero is another example of why I find him unhinged. Like, he’s right but in the wrong way. Shigiraki is said to have been born twisted when, in fact, a careless hero society largely nurtured him into being AFO’s pawn. His circumstances are a perfect example that anyone can be a hero. Only one person had to stop to help a kid, no one had to wait for a pro to be compassionate. Regardless of the relative size of the transgression, both were swayed. Relative to these transgressions, it kinda leads me to wonder, if the positions were reversed, would Shigiraki have had more resolve to have remained hero-like by comparison when Iida seems so close to the edge of villainy already?

Uraraka’s economical meal plan of not eating is actually depressing. Her situation speaks to the real life military-industrial complex benefiting from the impoverished or those who cannot afford higher education but, in universe, UA recruits much, much younger. She’s also a whole mood because being awake does in fact cost money (same, sis). There’s a parallel between she and Mt. Lady who has trouble staying profitable because her quirk causes so much property damage. Wouldn’t someone with finances like that be a weak link and susceptible to manipulation? Especially as UA comes to terms with there being a mole? Whose attention did Mt. Lady catch to be included in Bakugo’s rescue mission?

Mineta is a plague in Class 1A and a menace to the female students especially. He rightfully earns the criticism and ire of his peers and even Kota pointed out that he should try being a good person before becoming a pro hero. Inversely, we are subtly introduced to female pedos Pro!Pixie-Bob, desperate to wed in her 30’s, and Mt. Lady. Both make questionable comments toward underage male students which, may earn a “wait, what!?” in the moment, but largely go on without scrutiny and they maintain their standing as pro heroes which seems kind of problematic, no?

Gran Torino reveals that there was a time when he needed to be able to use his quirk freely and legally wherein he otherwise didn’t want to be a hero. This does not differ from Muscular’s desire to use the quirk he was born with without holding back. Without a license to do so, that marks him negatively and naturally puts him up against heroes enforcing the law who he ultimately kills. This oversimplifies his crimes but at the same time, this base desire to be unbridled by law to use one’s own physicality autonomously also resonates with Bakugo. It’s that public desire to be powerful that leads Shigiraki to try and influence his morality which ultimately is in-exploitable since Bakugo, with a seemingly villainous temperament, is obsessive with his pursuit in being #1 hero.

This section more sharply defines the similarities between Shigaraki and Deku as successors and Shigaraki vs Stain as an idealists. Shigiraki (villain) and Stain (one could argue vigilante aligned with his personal morals) are similar but different in their pursuit to “destroy what [they] hate”. Ultimately, their destruction is to different ends but bystanders wouldn’t know the difference. Tomura’s youth and immaturity was recognized by Aizawa and All Might as his conjecture and aims tend to be pretty juvenile but, what’s interesting is All Might doesn’t see the same in Deku. Though Deku constantly highlights his own immaturity compared to his peers as with his initial decision to use his mother’s costume, his non-discerning fanboying of hero culture, and his insistence to constantly undergo damage beyond words regardless of the potential for permanent damage in his pursuit to emulate All Might. Moreover, their similarities converge inextricably on a single person, All Might. Deku, in particular, cites that who he is starts with All Might (arguably true of Bakugo as well) which all but guarantees his face off with Shigiraki. I also find this identification particularly harmful considering, in many ways, Deku actually surpasses All Might from running to Bakugo’s aid against the Sludge monster (both largely powerless at the time) to actually seeing the OFA predecessors at the Sports Fest which I believe astounded All Might. As such, his trajectory is sure to surpass his idol but he continually limits himself in only trying to emulate All Might rather than focusing on his own strengths.

AFO and All Might are rivals who’ve both taken a young ward as a successor. I find that the care AFO provided in thoughtfully pushing Shigiraki to flesh out his own ideals and plans have allowed growth on a level that All Might’s cloak and dagger approach of partial truths and lies by omission has not given Deku. AFO has used and exploited Shigiraki’s anger, hatred and disillusionment with hero culture to turn him into a villain. But he does so while allowing him to be strong enough to stand on his own in AFO’s absence and does so with a transparency that the All Might/Deku pairing lacks. All Might, only following AFO’s defeat, begins to question whether he’s providing enough guidance or acting like too much of an idol/crutch for Deku to see beyond his obsession and make OFA his own. I think this realization was made real only after losing OFA. While he’s withheld the likelihood of his impending demise or powerlessness, I think in AFO’s resurgence, he processed the gravity of Deku remaining in the dark. Perhaps All Might and Deku were more similar than even Gran Torino surmised because it seems careless and immature. Further, All Might’s lie of omission about OFA existing to beat AFO - if All Might beat him, why seek a successor in the first place? He bestowed it as a gift rather than passing it as an obligation. Deku is too pure and naive. He dutifully carries the weight of this secret (that of a manufactured quirk because All Might impressed that concern) alone and keeps up with rigorous training and challenging schooling alienated by this burden. All Might’s falsehood doesn’t ring the same way as Aizawa’s rational deceptions which always serve to protect the students, usually from their own hubris. In this instance, it feels more like this lie protects All Might and his pride more than anything. Later, when Inko expressed valid concerns of Deku heading for a future as bloody as All Might’s.. which he literally is, All Might still pressed with the only bargaining chip he had left, his life. This seems like a cheap way to manipulate Inko which paints him more and more as a coward.

CHARACTER ALIGNMENTS

Stain (Lawful Evil) Shigiraki (Neutral Evil) Shoto “The Handcrusher” Todoroki (Neutral/Chaotic Good) has immaculate golden retriever vibes after recognizing Deku as a friend. His bow to the chief of police after getting a warning following the Stain incident was mad shallow though. It’s a wonder he manages to be socially inept in some cases due to his isolated and traumatizing upbringing and yet derisive and sassy AF in others. Katsuki Bakugo (Chaotic Neutral but evolving) - Objectively, Bakugo is a nerd. From being studious & going to bed early to being just as big of an All Might fanboy as Deku. Bakugo’s compulsive need to best Deku & increase the gap between them frequently sees him go to violent ends to do so. Deku’s progress makes him incredibly insecure as their dynamic changes and it leads to an insurmountable stalemate. They are frequently partnered or pitted against one another for training which only widens the emotional chasm between them. It’s cruel and unusual to see Bakugo, who trends toward violent dominance and Deku who’s more submissive to constantly be forced together in manners that are clearly not working in reconciling them.

Where they both had a shared desire to be #1, Bakugo’s strength never made him question whether he’d succeed, especially in light of Deku’s quirklessness. Regardless, Deku remained earnest and, largely selfless, where Bakugo seems to be motivated by his own self obsession. This is with the limited context we’re given through Deku’s perspective. Deku’s characterization bears mentioning within Bakugo’s because the two are intrinsically linked as protagonist and deuteragonist respectively. In my mind, Aizawa counters this bias as the reader’s neutral and, in this section, we see him comment on Bakugo’s steady decline because he can objectively observe that the pressure to keep up with Deku is getting to Bakugo and it’s impacting his development. Ironically, Bakugo only sees Deku and Todoroki as competition due to their power but doesn’t see Momo (#1) nor Iida (#2) as threats (not that his own class standing is far behind). To him, a hero is not their brain but their brawn because he inherently believes that winning is what heroes do. We see this reinforced with 1st grade Bakugo facing off against 4th graders. Though triumphant, Bakugo is shown with tears in his eyes which could be fear or pain and he’s encouraged by the rallying cries of his friends/lackeys though Deku looks rightfully concerned. We see the crux of his emphasis on strength when Mitsuki calls Bakugo weak for being kidnapped which.. largely speaks to his personality and subsequent emotional development. Despite Deku’s biased perspective, there are times when the reader sees past the cruft of Bakugo’s rough temperament. For instance, Bakugo smiling against the towering wall that is All Might during the exam very much gives me that Harry Potter/Neville Longbottom dichotomy. Like, why not him when he too can smile in the face of danger? I’m sure Bakugo, as dots begin connecting more and more, begins to espouse that as well & it breaks my heart. Because, before the dynamic shifted between them, they were both (and are) All Might fanboys. Additionally, and in defense of Katuski mufuckin Bakugo, we see an implicit understanding of Bakugo’s character through Aizawa’s words during the press conference. Because one thing Dadzawa knows is his kids.

Bakugo is unapologetically & relentlessly Bakugo. If he’s not feeling something, he’s not going to lie about it and his unshakeable pride is deeply rooted within him as surmised by Best Jeanist. Like Deku, Bakugo can formulate strategy though he’s largely characterized as rash and succumbing to emotion. By himself, amidst the LOV & notably sans Deku, we see him reason while retaining his characteristically explosive bravado. Since Bakugo’s more expressive and less collaborative, Deku tends to get the accolades. Before his rescue, Bakugo’s one track mind is off putting to observers though he holds true to his end goal in everything he does. It’s just without the compassion or charismatic finesse that is a hallmark of Deku’s character. After his rescue, he’s eager to break even by paying back Kirishima & lightening the mood, literally, with Denki which is a small step toward inclusion in the larger group and signs of emotional intelligence. Did Deku tell him about the goggles? Izuku Midoriya (Chaotic Good) - Deku frequently and foolishly sacrifices his position and himself to uplift others, most notably regarding Todoroki during the Sport Fest and Kota. He will use any means to save the day but also, it seems, even he is capable of triaging his preference. When he thinks of “saving any of them” at the training camp, he visually thinks of Bakugo, Uraraka, Todoroki and Iida first. When faced with the obstacle of taming Tokoyami vs running to Bakugo’s aid, he ultimately chooses to save them both though I wonder if he would do the same had it been another peer whose quirk wasn’t immediately beneficial and ultimately tamed by Bakugo and Todoroki’s flame in the first place. Even with the Sludge Monster, would he have rushed to aid at all if Bakugo weren’t the one in harm’s way? Tsuyu Asui (Lawful Neutral/Good) - The most level head and probably the person most likely to succumb to an authority figure’s disappointment. She impresses upon the class that if “we break the law then we’re no better than the villains” to combat the class’s precarious propensity for vigilantism when Kirishima and Momo join the problem child ranks to save Bakugo. Another example of this was Aizawa’s direction at the training camp. Aizawa asserts “From how they talk, seems like you students are the targets... so we’ve got no choice. This is a matter of survival! You should defend yourselves! As for what comes after... I’ll take the heat myself.” Deku broadcasts the message, “tell everyone in classes A and B... that Pro Hero Eraserhead says it’s okay... to fight back!!” This isn’t really ambiguous to have elicited so many different interpretations from students but they assigned meaning which was indicative of their character. Tsu interprets this as protect yourselves (true to Aizawa’s thoughts) though Tetsutetsu and Bakugo see this as an invitation to take the offensive. Notably, she was incredibly cool headed during the USJ invasion as well and it makes me question how she gets along with an increasingly unruly set of hooligans and which alignment she’ll ultimately fall under.

CAPITALISM

Does Kirishina have money or does he just spare no expense for Bakugo? Class wise, it’s apparent who the haves vs have nots are.

Rich kids - Momo, Todoroki, Iida.

Comfortable - Bakugo, Deku (that All Might merch comes from somewhere), Jirou, Sero, Kirishima

Broke AF - Uraraka. Ojiro, possibly

I’m still determining where everyone else fits in.

CHRONOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS

We know the Stain incident sets the stage for things to follow but one thing in particular that got my attention was Deku surmising that the implications of not getting credit for taking Stain down had already begun gnawing away at them. Predictions: Todoroki having Endeavor lauded despite his abuse (from what he’s trauma dumped). How did saying “we were saved” feel coming out of his mouth? Deku, it puts him on Shigiraki’s radar more squarely, Iida? Idk I maintain that he is slightly unhinged and any lesson will be learned radically..

Gran Torino provides a perspective that predates All Might and other heroes we’ve been introduced to. His observation that “the age we live in is one of suppression” tells me that, while we’re meant to believe society has recovered from the lawlessness of day’s prior, this peace seems hard won and hanging by a thread.

Deku’s fanboying means he sponges everyone’s strengths and weakness but his specific and constant imitation of Bakugo entertains me to no end. Ultimately, we know imitation is a form of flattery but really I think the Deku has always seen Bakugo as a hero. Unlike All Might who was ever present but out of reach, Bakugo was the in the flesh hero that he watched and admired. Now that he can actually pull off some of those moves, it unnerves Bakugo endlessly and he’s not wrong. Iida and others recognize Bakugo’s influence in Deku’s rapid development.

Following Nezu’s confession that the use of robots at UA were to circumvent claims that people were being injured during the entrance exams and Aizawa’s subsequent comments killed me. Essentially, it asserts Aizawa’s belief that what’s done must be done regardless of societal pressures/political correctness for the good of all.

Quirk drawbacks are an interesting component to this quirked up society. Like Superman and his kryptonite, there’s a steep price for some of these powers as we’ve seen so far with Deku’s broken bones, the recoil on Bakugo’s shoulders, Todoroki’s trouble regulating safe body temperature, Sato’s sugar daze, Denki’s short circuiting, Aoyama and Uraraka’s nausea/vomiting, Aizawa’s dry eyes, and All Night’s small might form (though this is more from his initial fight with AFO). Quirks themselves are not infallible as with Tokoyami’s natural weakness to fire/light types but the added strain your quirk’s use puts on your body to the point of potentially disabling you (temporary or permanently).

Though we know Deku’s perspective can sometimes skew or fail to comprehensively and reliably relay events, his initial quirklessness and obsession with picking apart hero society continues to expose the world building through his muttering for the reader. We’re effectively quirkless and learning about the need for many shops to cater to quirks of varying physical manifestations, ages and sizes, etc.

The idea that there is a thin line between hero and villain is one that is constantly reiterated with new circumstances. Previously, Bakugo’s power and performance at Sports Fest made him a stand out until his terrible sportsmanship/attitude made him something to be feared. Something to be imprisoned because of how strong he is. In fact, one of my favorite observations comes from @explodo-murder who pointed out: yk another thing that's so fucked up about what they did to bakugou at the sports festival is that they quite literally showed the entire world how to restrain him. //they showed what one had to do to keep him from using his quirk. // they basically handed the league, and any other villains watching, step-by-step directions on how to keep him hostage. // like what the actual fuck. Moreover, how did they devise the hold so quickly? Did UA use the Sludge monster incident as a blue print?

Tokoyami’s lack of control over his quirk, Dark Shadow, was the difference between hero or monster at the training camp. Quirks aren’t divided evenly, some people have “useless” or “weak” quirks where some have the power to manipulate or kill. Stain lamented previously that he wanted to reclaim his own hero status which likely came into question due to his audacity to challenge hero culture as a student. He despaired over the “fundamentally corrupt view of heroes with the educational system” which later refines his belief that the only redeemable heroes are those earned through tireless self sacrifice which presents this interesting idea of indoctrination. At Deku’s middle school, while the home room teacher didn’t look like a hero, there are a number of specialized hero high schools, no doubt also taught by former/current pro heroes. It’s kind of like how the United States is realizing the latent issue in sugarcoating their own history. If heroes are the teachers, are viewpoints that challenge the status quo even discussed or dissected? Todoroki calls Stain a fundamentalist which sharply contrasts Deku’s disbelief that people can think about hero society any differently than his obsession. I wonder if Todoroki’s awareness stems from him being brought up in a hero household or if it really is Deku’s relative simple mindedness. Later, Aizawa makes it a point of saying that “they let him off the hook [likely] to hold it over [him] later”. But who is they when the principal and UA staff seem otherwise amicable and understanding? This, at the very least, is when readers should begin questioning whether even “freedom” can be a cage. Even Vil!Compress earnestly conveys that “kids today have your values chosen for you” which suggests that the education their being spoon fed may be suppressing their to think critically. Deku concedes this when he realizes AFO and the chaos he instigated aren’t in history books when learning about OFA from All Might. Every brush with villains, Deku’s lens for public discourse and perception widens and thus so does ours. In these chapters, the story’s depth increased as we explored beyond Deku’s initial understanding of hero culture.

Dabi’s cold flames that barely touch Todoroki was noticeable and intentional and this has already been spoiled for me. 😭

From the Sports Fest to Uraraka predicting that Bakugo would “[consider] it disgraceful to get rescued” - omg they are an unexpected friendship that I want to see more of. Especially highlighting bruiser Uraraka who pursued physical strength after her Bakugo bout.

The media in universe, very much like our own media, is a big player in influencing the general public. It pushes Stain rhetoric while highlighting hero failures and subsequently vilifying them. If heroes control education, who controls the media?

Deku is frequently getting sucker punched - Bakugo during the exam, Iida in front of the hospital (like really, why?), All Might at the beach serving up a Texas smash. Like at what point does Deku break or fight back?

I wonder if the Kamino incident is when Bakugo starts looking at All Might more critically. Like he’s definitely put 2 and 2 together on he and Deku but I also want to believe he’s becoming a bit more disillusioned by the bluster and seeing Toshinori Yagi for who he is.

Interestingly, during Kamino there’s a disclosure about there being a mastermind behind the LOV that isn’t Shigiraki but, Best Jeanist’s response, the hero task force may not have been made aware. Who would benefit from an ignorant task force and how big of a secret is AFO before this?

I know using Kirishima as bait for Bakugo hurt Deku. He speaks of Kirishima building a rapport with Bakugo since school started. Meanwhile, Deku’s known him for like 10+ years but he tables his feelings in that moment. I can’t help but feel that inadequacy and envy. Despite this animosity, Deku still calls him “Kacchan” and still prioritizes his safety over his own well being broken and inoperable arms be damned.

With these clear divisions between hero and villain, All Might never once recognized Shigiraki as someone to be saved. Even though he recognized how infantile he was and could probably make the stretch that he was being influenced by someone else, his grief over Shigiraki’s fate is only because he’s Nana Shimura’s grandson.

All Might’s final act as the number one hero still hit the feels AND PUTTING BAKUGO ON THE SPLASH PAGE!? This page hits HARD AF. All Might’s final proclamation still caught in my chest. Deku mourning, Bakugo realizing.. like I can’t. Deku vs Shigiraki on losing their mentors, where Shigiraki has been nurturing a support system at AFO’s behest, All Might’s pride leaves Deku to carry the burden alone. He subsequently tries to make up for this with the insistence that “[he] can focus on raising [Deku] right” like a parental figure which I think muddles the lines for Deku even more. Take Deku’s noticeably absent father and naïveté and introduce idol All Might turned parental figure All Might? You are messing this kid way up.

When we talk about quirks, there is an inherent fear of anyone too powerful who isn’t also unflinchingly morally upright. AFO being jailed without a trial is an example of this and we have to question whether it’s justice or suppression.

No wonder people think All Might is Detroit smashing Inko. What was the purpose in him going hard in their house. And comparing Inko to Nana? Purr. 👀

Ending this section with the group’s desire to go back to when they could all just smile together and be kids? Now that they’ve gotten an actual taste of their mortality beyond Aizawa’s fake death’s, of course they’d crave simpler times. But they’re not kids anymore, at least not according to hero society.

If you made it this far, let me know what format works for you! Otherwise, see you in the next 50!

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