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hotforhandman · 4 years

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How would you end the series if you had the power to choose the ending?

Oh boy. This is gonna get pretty long, so imma put it under a cut. If I had the power, here’s what I’d do from here on out:

Machia and the rest of the League reach Shigaraki, and in the face of the overwhelming odds against them and the losses they’ve already sustained, the heroes are forced to fall back. In the wake of the battle, plus the destruction to surrounding cities, the general public starts to question the effectiveness and reliability of heroes- especially since they all left the cities that Machia was travelling through, meaning no heroes came to help when they were destroyed. Shigaraki learns about Twice’s death, and between that and everything else built up in his head he goes on a bit of a rampage. After a little while though, maybe some interference from the League members, he begins to realise that this stuff isn’t making him feel any better. He still feels like shit, he still hates everything, destroying this stuff is only a short-term catharsis. So maybe that’s when the League sit down and actually start to talk about what would make a real difference: flushing the corruption out of the system.

In the meantime, the heroes are facing the worst crisis they’ve ever seen. Protests up and down the country, parents pulling their kids out of hero programmes (maybe even show a few of the UA kids getting in rows with their parents about it, perhaps even show Shiketsu or Ketsubutsu getting shut down), funding pulled from hero agencies. Hero merch and even buildings are vandalised as people take their fear and uncertainty from the rising villain attacks and turn it against the people who are supposed to be saving them but failing to do so. Izuku sits down with All Might and All Might tells him everything about Nana, Kotaro and Tenko, and what Gran Torino had said to him. He laments that even as the number one he could never save anyone, and that a part of him knows that his role as the Symbol of Peace had a nasty double edge to it, that it convinced normal people that they don’t have to try- prompting flashbacks to the mall conversation. He tells Izuku that that’s why he chose him as his successor, because most people would just turn the other cheek and wait for a hero to show up, but Izuku didn’t do that.

At some point after continuing to train with OfA, Izuku makes contact with Nana, who tells him how much it hurt her to let go of her son, and how much she regrets it knowing what she knows now. She begs Izuku not to give up, to help her put right what she made wrong. Izuku tells her it wasn’t her fault, it was AfO’s, but agrees to help her anyway.

Meanwhile, Shigaraki and the PLF focus on liberating villains in captivity, including those in Tartarus. We see the return of several old faces. There are three major exceptions, though: first, we get Spinner. Spinner confronts Stain, and we get a bit more of his backstory. We get to see some of the abuse he suffered, how hard it was growing up looking like he does in a town that was openly hostile to heteromorphic quirks, and a story about how he went to his local hero office asking for help, only to be roughly rebuffed. Maybe he got briefly arrested after lashing out in anger. We learn that it was after this incident that he became a complete shut-in, until he saw Stain’s messages. To his dismay, Stain dismisses him too, saying that the League are no better, that Shigaraki is a false leader just looking for infamy the same way the heroes look for fame. Spinner is visibly hurt, and as he frees Stain for a moment it looks like he might leave with him, but in a fit of rage he turns and declares his loyalty to the only person he’s ever felt seen by, and kills Stain. After, it is shown that Dabi was watching.

Mr Compress and Toga find Overhaul, and Overhaul asks Toga where Twice is, being as dismissive and offensive towards him as always. Toga starts to scream at him, threatening him and breaking down, but Compress stops her. He soothes her for a few moments, then tells his own story about how he used to be in organised crime, and used to have a family, only to have it all taken away by his boss. That he’s found more kinship with Shigaraki and the League than he ever did in the Yakuza. Then he hands Toga back her knife - using his prosthetic hand - and lets her do what she wants to him.

Shigaraki goes straight to AfO. AfO praises him for what he’s become, tells him how proud he is, and Shigaraki sits down to talk. We find out that AfO had been planning to allow Ujiko to experiment on him from the start, that he’d been running smaller tests and experiments on him since he was a child without his knowledge, that his slightly enhanced physical attributes were due to this, but that he had to be sure Shigaraki’s body could handle it before activating the dormant form of AfO’s quirk he held. We find out more about how AfO groomed him and what his life was like in between AfO taking him in and the beginning of the series. At the end of their conversation - seemingly reminiscing about happy memories - AfO suggests that they leave together, that he continue to coach him in how to use his newfound powers despite his waning health. Shigaraki opens his arms as though to accept him, but as they embrace he activates Decay and says once again that he has no need for him anymore, that he thanks him but that he is so much more than AfO ever groomed him to be.

The end of the academic year rolls around simultaneously and we get to see a hollow and sparse student body watch the third years graduate and become pros, though many have either dropped out or been pulled out. Bakugou and Kirishima and several others argue about whether or not it’s worth continuing. Some even start talking about vigilantism, which has been on the rise lately. Aizawa, Izuku, and Eri visit Mirio, and Eri sincerely apologises that she couldn’t fix him before he graduated, which meant he couldn’t graduate into full hero status. Mirio smiles and assures her that at the end of the day, pro-heroes mean nothing if there aren’t normal people surrounding them helping out too, that he can be a hero in a different way. Eri hugs him.

I guess we could put a timeskip in here, some more stuff with the kids, idk. At some point in a massive publicity stunt, a large number of documents are sent to several media outlets including the medical records of one Todoroki Touya, as well as the details of the rearing and training of the now-retired hero Hawks, outing both the number one and the Commission itself for their dirty deeds. The Todorokis all come under fire from the press, being bullied for details, and Natsuo is the one who snaps and tells them everything. Enji, who’s been living apart from his family for a few months, makes a public apology and is pressured into retiring his agency and title. With the top agency in the country down, hero society all but collapses.

However, encouraged by Aizawa, Mic, and a few other teachers, the kids continue to train and work somewhere in the limbo between hero status and vigilantes. Maybe they even meet up with and work with some vigilantes to stop smaller crimes or side villains in the area. These sort-of-heroes rise in notoriety and publicity and people start coming to them for help.

Honestly idk what exactly to put in here, it’d need a bit more thought, but basically the PLF continues to pick off heroes and erode society, banding more and more villainous organisations together, until Izuku’s merry band of hero/vigilante hybrids consider themselves prepared to take them on, including Izuku being able to fully wield OfA.

Insert a large number of super epic battles in here, a handful of tragic deaths, and a few bridges and sympathies being formed (such as Aizawa and Mic with Kurogiri, maybe Shoji and Spinner, idk). Some of the villains point blank can’t be swayed, like Dabi, who admits to having sent the documents and tells Shoto that he regrets it, that he wishes Enji hadn’t retired so that he could burn him alive and laugh as he did so. Maybe Shoto beats him in a fight or maybe he completely burns himself out, either way he is defeated. Then we get to the final confrontation. Izuku vs Shigaraki. It’s a massive battle, all of their skills get to be used and seen, we’ve all seen Naruto, and when it looks like Izuku’s going to lose, that’s when he steps back and for a moment, lets Nana take over. That’s when Shigaraki hears the one thing he wanted to hear from any of his family, any of the people who claimed to care: I will try to do better. All of the vestiges band together to give Izuku a second chance, and Shigaraki redoubles his efforts in one last attempt to cut all ties to his past. At this point most of the other villains have either been subdued or have laid down their arms and are watching their battle. And Shigaraki pushes himself too far. Maybe he starts to struggle with his own mind like the Nomu, losing coherency. His emotions and his physical power too much for him to handle. Knowing that he’s not going to last much longer, at least not as himself, he forces Izuku down and makes him promise to do better, maybe somehow using quirk bullshit he shows him everything he’s been through, everything that we the readers know but that Izuku does not, and with tears in his eyes Izuku agrees. The hero-vigilantes and the remainder of the League work together to finally put him out of his misery.

Afterwards, whilst society begins to rebuild and recover and we see the hero system completely scrapped. Izuku himself heads the development of the new system, using all the masses of information he’s collected over the years plus everything he learned from Shigaraki and the League. Shigaraki gets a proper funeral, and though it’s a relatively quiet affair, Izuku and Toshinori are there, as are the remaining four core League members (though Dabi is in chains). Toshinori reflects on how, even though Shigaraki’s story started as something loveless and lonely, it ended with real friendship and a true family, and that he hopes somewhere Nana is greeting her grandson with the warmth and love he sorely lacked growing up. And the series closes on Izuku grown up, helping Eri with her high school application, flashing through some of the efforts being made by his surviving classmates to create a truly inclusive society where everyone, regardless of background, quirk, or circumstance is offered a hand. He contemplates how if only someone had reached out a hand to Shigaraki, he could have been like Eri, he could have been saved. But then he realises that despite all the pain and damage Shigaraki caused, if it weren’t for him then nothing would have changed, and even though hero society was ‘destroyed’, a much better thing is being put in its place. Izuku had become a number one hero he could be proud of himself for being. And so he helps Eri seal her envelope, and mutters a quick thank you out of the window, before heading out to help her post it.

-+-

Hooboy that took a long time to write. I’m sure there’s a lot of stuff I missed and plotlines that need polishing that I didn’t include, but that’s roughly what I would do if I was put in charge. Hope that’s a satisfying answer!

#jay answers #bnha spoilers #ch282 #damn I put a lot more effort into that than I thought I was gonna #we shall see where it really ends up going XP

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chibimyumi · 5 years

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Hey! Hope everything's fine (: I wanna ask about the following: what do you think will happen to r!Ciel? I just can't see o!Ciel, Sebastian, the Undertaker etc killing r!Ciel... He might decide to leave the scene for his brother's sake. It would be quite ironic if r!Ciel will choose to sacrifice himself after UT's hard work to bring him back to "life", given the fact that he's an ex-human who committed suicide.

Dear Anon,

First of all, thank you very much, I am doing great. I hope you’re doing great as well! Secondly, I am so sorry for the late reply.

What I think will happen to R!Ciel.

I definitely think that Undertaker will do anything in his power to make sure that R!Ciel does not get killed again; we have seen Undertaker’s obsession with the Phantomhive family, after all.

Sebastian is the titular character of this series, and right now he is incredibly scared of the reaper. Functionally, Undertaker is designed as the main villain and foil to Sebastian. Therefore, storytelling-wise, I think the logical proceeding would be for Sebas to thwart Undertaker when it comes to R!Ciel. Both of them would share the same reason to oppose each other, namely that they are each other’s greatest obstacle in achieving their respective goals. For Sebastian, it is to fulfil his contract and devour O!Ciel, which Undertaker is trying to prevent. For Undertaker, it is for Sebas to NOT fulfil his contract, as he wishes to reunite the Phantomhive family as much as possible. As such, though R!Ciel is of course a character of his own, he does also function as a plot-device for Sebas’ character arc to bear fruit.

Unpacking ‘Need vs Want’

Any good character arc should contain a good ‘need vs want’ correlation. The part above ⇈ and the greatest part of the manga so far, addresses only the ‘need’ in the ‘need vs want’ in Sebastian’s character arc. The ‘want’ is mostly left untouched. Sure, we could say that Sebastian ‘wants’ to fulfil his contract in order to have O!Ciel’s soul, but there has never been any explicit explanation as to whether Sebas had a choice in the matter to begin with. He did not seem to have any say in whether he gets summoned or not, as was suggested by him telling O!Ciel to dismiss him if he required no service of him. Here, we learned that Sebas can’t just leave on his own accord; i.e. he is chained. From this, we may conclude that sacrificing R!Ciel was the fee to get Sebastian to travel to the human world. If we do accept that he had no say in whether he wanted to come or not, we could say that by ‘paying’ with R!Ciel, Sebas was put in a magic-parcel and sent to O!Ciel, with the included promise to enter a bond of servitude. In order to dismiss him, the same postage fee would have been required to repack him and send him back.

If we accept Sebas’ condition of entering the contract as being involuntary, all the ‘want’ in him that is left so far is:

wanting his meal to be delicious

to not be a speechless slave.

Out of these two ‘wants’ however, only number 1 counts as the correlation with the ‘need’ which befits a character arc. Number 2 is more of a coping mechanism, or a means to an end, if anything. Whether or not he acts like a speechless slave will not really change the way he fulfils his contract. For number 1 however, Sebas does need to act differently depending on how he wishes to manipulate the flavour of O!Ciel’s soul. Sure, so far in the manga, Sebastian has done quite a few things already to influence the flavour of his meal, e.g. letting the snakes attack the boy in Snake’s tent in the circus arc, or not allowing him to continue simpering due to trauma in the werewolf arc. (But one could even argue that shocking him out of trauma has more to do with the ‘need’…)

The current development in regards to Undertaker is probably the first time where Sebas’ ‘want’ arc can finally shine. I shall explain below:

R!Ciel and O!Ciel’s bond.

One of the most important things the flashbacks were telling us is that O!Ciel and R!Ciel have an incredibly strong bond, and that O!Ciel used to be hyper dependent on his older sibling. After R!Ciel died, O!Ciel had to rapidly grow up in order to fill the shoes his brother left behind, as well as to establish his own identity, or arguably, his brother’s identity according to the almost idealistic standard to which the younger twin held him.

O!Ciel is no longer dependent on his twin, but if we read this spread page from the werewolf arc as the order of guilt-level O!Ciel feels towards people, we see R!Ciel being in position number 1.

So the arc for O!Ciel here is to decide whether his sentiments play a role in his decision making.

Will he show that he has entirely let go of his sentiments and see R!Ciel for the zombie he is, and continue his revenge arc in a bee-line?

Or will lingering sentiments flow into a mini personal-redemption arc now that the main object of O!Ciel’s guilt is back?

Considering O!Ciel’s personality, I personally am more willing to bank on a route 2, where the sentiments might threaten to influence O!Ciel, but him having to smack these feelings down even more harshly. If anything O!Ciel has learned in the past almost-4 years, is that the dead stay dead. Back in chapter 19, O!Ciel even lectured Soma on the stupidity of wishing things back that are gone at one point.

O!Ciel realises very well that R!Ciel is not his brother anymore. We have seen his shock upon seeing his brother’s corpse talking to him, yes, but afterwards, the first spoken reaction we see of him is utter outrage. That scene was so full of spontaneity and catharsis, it is hard to believe that he used all those long, looong moments of absolute silence to come up with a script to give people a ‘show’ of how he wants his zombie brother deader. If anything, the long period of silence was probably him considering what the return of ‘the real first born’ means to him, and how it will influence his future. And of course O!Ciel is not happy to find out that the one adversary even his demon seems unable to overcome, has become their adversary again in a major problem that O!Ciel cannot afford to hand-wave. During the Campania- and the Boarding School Arc, O!Ciel could say: “Oh, Undertaker is up to no good, he has to be stopped. If not, then it sucks for others.” But now, if Undertaker doesn’t get stopped FOR GOOD, well… it will become: “That sucks a lot for me!”

Returning to Sebastian’s ‘want’

So, what does all this rant about O!Ciel have to do with Sebastian’s ‘want’ arc? If O!Ciel goes for route 1 (bee-line to revenge), then Sebastian and O!Ciel’s ‘want’ arc will overlap, and the two of them can head towards the same goal (albeit with different motivations).Here above however, I said that I am more likely to vouch for route 2.

If O!Ciel opts for route 2, then O!Ciel’s ‘want’ and Sebastian’s ‘want’ will contradict, as surely Sebastian is not waiting for a soul with ‘too-many-sentiments-to-kill-a-corpse’ flavour. In that case, however reluctant Sebastian might be to fight Undertaker again, he will at least make sure that O!Ciel’s resolve to kill the zombie won’t wither. This task however, will require a much greater effort and determination on Sebastian’s part than anything he has done so far in terms of ‘seasoning his meal’. The snake-stunt in the Circus Arc was adding some salt and pepper perhaps, but this time, playing a hand in whether or not O!Ciel has the guts to kill R!Ciel will be as flavour-changing as choosing between boiling or stir-frying a meal.

Hence, with clashing interests between demon and boy, Sebastian must see to it that his ‘want’ won’t be hindered by O!Ciel’s ‘want’. So, ladies and gentlemen, and other respectable individuals, here is where we might see Sebastian’s first ‘want’ arc where he acts solely out of personal desire. Regardless of whether O!Ciel would initially choose route 1 or 2, the final result (if Sebas has any say in the matter) will still result in them going after R!Ciel.

R!Ciel Leaving Baby Brother?

As for R!Ciel leaving the scene for his brother’s sake… I personally find it quite hard to believe so. As explained in the Boarding School Arc, Bizarre Dolls – however well they are made – are in essence the embodiment of a person’s strongest emotions and fixations in life. R!Ciel’s fixation is probably his regret that he could not stay by his baby brother’s side to protect him and planning every detail out in their ‘glorious shared future’. Remember how R!Ciel could not handle O!Ciel saying he is going to live his own life and become a toy maker? Yikes.

The possessiveness of R!Ciel that was unfiltered due to his young age became the essence of his current being; a baby-bro-con zombie. Instead of “braaains”, it is “baby-brooooo”. In short, I do not think there is any chance R!Ciel will be able to physically and mentally let go of O!Ciel. As touched upon in this post, I think Undertaker’s and O!Ciel’s shared objective is to force O!Ciel to live a ‘happy life’ together with his twin.

If anything, R!Ciel’s (artificial) intentions fit the theme of Kuroshitsuji perfectly; humans are too greedy to let go and will submit to their greed ever after death.

If we consider this, then the Bizarre Dolls tell us that: “what makes humans human is their greed and fixation. In order to make a corpse human again, the main and only way to make this possible is to restore this greed and fixation.

#Kuroshitsuji #Black Butler #Sebastian Michaelis #Ciel Phantomhive #O!Ciel #R!Ciel #Our Ciel #Real Ciel #Bizarre Doll #Zombie #Undertaker #analysis #Character analysis #Need vs want

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theoriginalsuki · 4 years

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I finished hiraeth and absolutely loved it!!! I had a question though, what were your thoughts on TROS? Did you like it, hate it, tolerate it? What was your motivation behind doing such a beautiful fix-it type fic?

Thank you so much for reading, and for indulging me to talk about writing!

I have Many Thoughts (TM) on the entire trilogy that are constantly evolving. One of them is that they are (all of them) inherently flawed. Which is not to say that I don't love them -- it's like your mother, you know she's not perfect, but you can't just let anyone go around insulting her.

When I first watched TROS I was confused about what I had just seen. It was too fast, too disconnected, and undid several of the developments that occurred in the previous films. Bringing back Palpatine was just stupid. I was so mad that they robbed Anakin of that final victory. Why would they regressively ruin the OT like that? Was it just laziness? Recycling an old villain so that they didn't have to look deeper into the motivations and philosophies the previous films had put forth?

I thought at the end of TLJ that Kylo Ren would either buckle down, refuse redemption, and become a tragic villain -- or that he would start to reverse his corruption, to the growing horror and suspicion of the First Order, who would eventually try to assassinate or depose him, if he didn't jump ship of his own accord.

Still, I have this thing about canon. It's called canon for a reason, because it carries an authority that other mediums lack. So my challenge, with fanfiction, has always been in taking what canon has given me and wrestling with it, the way Jacob wrestled with the angel of God. It gives me catharsis and a chance to mould it into something I prefer in equal measure. So instead of just ignoring the problems TROS brought us, I try to highlight them. Grapple with them. Call them out and make sense of them. It may read like I approve of the decisions made, but that's not the case. It's more me accepting what I've been given and trying to make the best of it. Not letting the disappointment get the last word, if you will.

With the Rise of Kylo Ren comics supplementing canon, it inspired me to latch onto those themes and story points and use them to flesh out the disaster of TROS. By grafting onto what we were given I could, in a sense, heal some of the hurt of it.

I also wanted to see Rey in the position of the pursuing lover. Lots of fics have Kylo Ren/Ben as the pursuer, and that's nice, but man, where does that leave us women who have never been much sought after by the object(s) of our desire? Aren't we worthy? What would it look like for a woman to woo a man? What if a man could be moved to love a woman, not because of instant attraction or sexual desire, but because of her devotion? I mean, you don't earn love, it's true, but it is no small thing to be loved by another human soul. That's got to affect a person, even if he or she can't reciprocate the way the lover hopes.

So in summary, my motivation was to make myself feel better about Star Wars and to write a love story I longed to explore. And since I am full of ideas and many interests, the themes around those two things multiplied and branched off, and who knows if I did any of it justice? One of the only things I dislike about writing, is that by writing it, you exclude, and the other paths close off, and it is what it is. But I suppose that's also what makes life beautiful.

#ask #ask me #Reyo fic #Reylo fanfiction #anti-TROS #TROS fix it #Kylo Ren #Ben Solo #Rey #Reylo #fanfiction #writing #blah blah #other tags

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dimples-of-discontent · 5 years

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“Absence, darkness, death: things which are not”: 14x18 watching notes

“What’s Deal with Catharsis?”

Let’s talk about catharsis. 13x04 has been haunting me since it aired. I couldn’t get over Dean sitting on a therapist’s sofa asking “So what’s the deal with catharsis?”. I know it’s obvious but it is also a dramatic term and we are hardcore missing some catharsis in this show. Essentially, it’s the purging of negative emotions that are typically repressed which, in drama, enables renewal or restoration. One of SPN’s narrative problems, for me, is that it gives us precious little in the way of catharsis. There are notable exceptions (12x22 when Dean confronts Mary in his dream, for instance) but for the most part negative emotions are repressed, sublimated, and remain unaddressed.

This is especially (haha, autocorrect turned that to “epically,” which is also true) for Dean and Cas. And it’s not sustainable. We need some purgation of their negative emotions, we NEED them to know crucial bits of information that reveal their true feelings instead of repressing them: Cas killed a million Deans but Dean doesn’t know! Dean was nihilistically depressed when Cas died but Cas doesn’t know! Cas sacrificed his soul (and happiness) to save Jack and Dean doesn’t know! The layering of dramatic irony is all very well and good, but we need to stop it at some point.

“A quintessence even from nothingness”: Absence and Negative Space

Do I actually think that will happen soon? No. I was interested in “Absence” being the title of this episode since absence is defined by the things it is not. Cas explains it in terms of Jack--not bad but the absence of good. And that’s kind of where we are with DeanCas too. It’s not definitively one thing (romance) but it’s the absence of any other convincing explanation. If they aren’t these other things--brothers, friends, war buddies--then what are they? “Absence” also refers to Mary, of course, who was absent from their lives once and now is again to be experienced not as a person but a lack. Their whole maternal relationship is defined by feelings of loss and absence so in a sad and terrible way it’s returned to normal. SPN is full of things that are not definitively one thing but which are NOT a bunch of other things and, in all cases, the slipperiness of the definition is itself the narrative problem.

SHAMELESS RENAISSANCE POETRY PLUG please go read this poem by John Donne on the winter solstice, which is all about death and renewal:

Study me then, you who shall lovers be At the next world, that is, at the next spring; For I am every dead thing, In whom Love wrought new alchemy. For his art did express A quintessence even from nothingness, From dull privations, and lean emptiness; He ruin'd me, and I am re-begot Of absence, darkness, death: things which are not.

It’s called, “A Noctournal upon St. Lucy’s Day, being the shortest day” and I adore it. Also...it (along with a lot of Donne) seems so SPN-appropriate that I think he would have been a fan. (Donne is the preacher who wrote the “no man is an island” sermon and asked “not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee”. He had a massive command of rhetoric, yo.)

Anyway, “absence, darkness, death: things which are not” is what the title immediately made me think of. Jack promised a new beginning, forged from the darkness that was Lucifer, and part of me is still convinced that this is what he’ll bring, despite appearances. We all predicted early on that he’d have a moment to go darkside and, yeah, this is it! His choices would also matter--because this is Team Free Will--but it would then be his choice to act evilly. Even if that happens, though, he can choose not to and part of me thinks he will. We don’t have other Big Bads on deck for the end of this season/start of S15 so I’m assuming episodes 19 and 20 will focus on the Jack problem until it reaches a crisis that carries us through to the summer. But how they will resolve it, I hope, has more to do with the power Jack holds to create as well as destroy. Or maybe Chuck’s reappearance will set this balance off? We’ll see.

Also, “absence makes the heart grow fonder,” which I’m going to keep an eye on as the season goes on.

Destiel is Pain

It’s fascinating that the promos were edited to suggest that this was an episode with MAXIMUM DEANCAS DRAMA OMG!! when it kinda...wasn’t. I know @occamshipper pointed out that they edited it just like a het romance drama, centering on the “you’re dead to me” and building up the angst and tension. And that was there, but it wasn’t everything. PR isn’t showrunning, yes, but it does mean something; it means they think the GA cares. And that’s kind of a big fucking deal at this point because what the GA cares about determines what we’ll see more of in the show. It’s not definitive at all. But it’s a trend and an important one that some fine folks have been tracking for a while.

The “you’re dead to me” was not not a big deal--and I had hoped very much that we’d get an apology along the lines of, “Cas, I’m sorry. What I said--I put the whole Jack thing on you and that’s not fair. I did the same thing. We all did. You didn’t fail us.” Let’s cross fingers and hope we hear that the next time they talk (since Sam stopped Cas from trying to give comfort in this episode...pray4Sam who was SUCH a brother-in-law/marriage counselor here). But it’s a Buckleming next so I don’t hold out hope. In any case, it’s a big deal because while Sam now knows that Dean doesn’t consider the whole thing Cas’s fault Cas doesn’t know that and will continue to go on thinking that a) he’s only good the Winchesters insofar as he’s “useful” and b) he’s a failure to Dean specifically. THAT’S TERRIBLE AND WE NEED TO CORRECT IT IMMEDIATELY!!

But we won’t correct it immediately because the show is riding DeanCas tension as basically the A plot at this point. Building angst to a breaking point surrounding Jack just emphasizes that. Jack caused our biggest DeanCas rift to date, both by Cas’s unwavering support in him that led to betraying Dean (running off with SOME WOMAN after stealing the colt from under his pillow after the mixtape scene, layering romance trope on romance trope) and by coming into existence the same day Cas died. Jack’s essential good or evil nature has been the biggest disagreement in their relationship for 3 seasons now so it makes sense to center a crisis on it.

And Dean doesn’t even KNOW about Castiel’s deal with The Empty! He doesn’t know that Cas traded his soul to return Jack’s to earth...only to have it be destroyed. True, The Empty said it would only come when Cas was happy and the thick angst we have now doesn’t suggest he’ll be happy anytime soon, but I think Dean and Sam are about to find out about the deal and Dean’s about to be pissed the fuck off at Cas for doing something SO STUPID (so like a Winchester). Maybe in the same conversation where Dean apologizes we can have Cas tell him the truth about the deal? Like, can they talk please? The real villain was miscommunication all along though, right?

Zombie Moms

Just a little sidebar to tell myself to return to 13x12, “Various and Sundry Villains” (a Yockey ep) and the two witches who were able to get Rowena the Book of the Damned (crucial in this episode, as Rowena unwittingly leaves it with Jack) try to resurrect their mom and bring her back...wrong. Because necromancy is extremely tough (and why didn’t Jack need any victim blood to bring Mary back the way that the Plum sisters did??) what they bring back is just a murderous simulacrum that was, honestly, what I was afraid they were planning to do with Mary. I’m relieved that they didn’t.

Both episodes owe a great debt to the Buffy episode “Forever” (5x17) where SPOILERS FOR BUFFY after their mother’s death her younger sister attempts to bring her back, only to realize at the last second that it’s not possible and the thing outside the door is a horror. It’s a very intense episode about grief, following “The Body” (5x16), one of the most devastating TV episodes to ever air. It was obvious to me that Yockey et al. were using that episode in 13x12, though not totally clear how. They even cast the zombie Mom like Joyce!!

In any case, in 13x12 the sisters’ refusal to let their mom go was an example of the toxic sibling codependency that Rowena used to kill them (as they beat each other to death, one using a hammer just like demon!Dean). In 14x18 Jack’s desire to bring Mary back is an example of his being unable to cope with the reality of his actions and his fear of losing the Winchesters. That’s not toxic codependency, but it is a refusal to go through the stages of grief. There’s definitely something going on here--and going on about Moms--that I can’t pick apart now but want to (or hope someone else will!!).

On which note, my chemo fatigue has found me so I’m gonna sign off. Apologies for typos or lack of clarity. I have really missed doing episode notes, though, so maybe I’ll be back to it soon. I’m psyched to see how this season wraps up, how about you?

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k-she-rambles · 5 years

Text

Jeez Louise, this is nonsense, but okay:

Why I think the Reyincarnation Theory (Rey is somehow a reincarnation of Anakin) is plausible:

Okay so. The Rise of Skywalker has a lot of things to do as a film. It has to conclude the sequel trilogy and thematically link all nine movies as “the Skywalker Saga.” But there’s a problem.

For various reasons, Han, Luke, and Leia, the original trio, can’t be used to do this (they’ve been written out, Carrie Fisher’s untimely passing, etc.). Their legacies are important, but the sequels solidly focus on new characters. We don’t have an in-focus Skywalker in the sequel trilogy at all, do we?

(Yes, yes, Kylo Ren, sure. But he doesn’t actually count. He’s an antagonist, purposefully designed to be a bit pathetic --it’s no accident that Snoke eventually snaps at him that he’s playing at being evil, and he’s actually a more successful villain and much more Vader-like after he symbolically breaks his mask and stops trying so hard. Heck, maybe he embraces the spirit, at least, of the Sith code (through power my chains are broken; the Force will set me free...))

Anyway.

They’ve partially solved the problem of linking the movies by bringing back Palpatine. Nothing like a returning villain to do the job, and I’ll be very surprised if they don’t retcon it so that he was somehow influencing Snoke (see also: Palpatine’s tendency to keep his apprentices as pets more than full apprentices, Snoke's comment about Hux being a dog, Palpatine's ‘always a bigger prize’ mentality towards promising youngsters, etc).

But bringing back Palpatine creates a whole new narrative issue: It makes Anakin’s story (finally breaking free of his limited choices out of love and destroying his master, supposedly bringing balance to the Force) unfinished. I’ll get to that later.

Then there’s that bizarre subtitle. The Rise of Skywalker? What the heck does that mean? It’s an awkward title, especially since we’re used to using it as a family name. Luke Skywaker, a Skywalker, another Skywalker. But here it’s phrased in a singular way, like a title, or the full name of a person. What if someone in the sequel trilogy is not a Skywalker, but “Skywalker” full stop? The only person available for the job, really, is Rey.

Where does Rey come from, anyway? It would seem pretty out of character for Han, Luke, or Leia to have a secret kid that they just...dropped off somewhere. Luke grew up without knowing his parents. I don’t think he would like doing the same to another kid. Kylo Ren said that Rey’s parents were nobodies, and he was telling the truth from what he knew. Rey certainly sensed no lie. But when she looked for answers in the Dark Side nexus, she didn’t see whoever dropped her off on Jakku. She saw only herself. Could it be more accurate to say that Rey’s parents were no-one?

Back to the structure of the series. Looking at the Original Trilogy by itself, Anakin being saved in ROTJ is not the catharsis of Anakin’s story, but of Luke’s. Luke, who idolized Anakin and hated Vader, had that thoroughly kicked out from under him, and came back angry and certain that there was still hope, still another way, a way out, and being proven right (tell your sister you were right).

Anakin’s story in the first six movies does reach a conclusion: he saves his son out of a free choice of love after decades of being defined by hate and a life of limited choices, destroys the Emperor and so the Empire.

And yet.

We have to ask the question: did Anakin bring balance to the Force?

The sequel trilogy seems to say no. The First Order rises from the ashes of the Empire and gains power. Whatever Snoke’s deal is is going on. Luke has come to the conclusion that rebuilding the Jedi Order will only perpetuate the problems that led to its fall and Darth Vader being a thing. (He’s not wrong, but uh, TLJ possibly could have handled that better. Luke grew up on Tattooine, never knew the Republic or the Jedi Order as it was, and never showed any hesitation about following the spirit rather than the letter of the Rules. He’s maybe not the right character to deliver that message, and certainly not so cynically.)

And Palpatine, apparently, is back.

So Anakin’s story reached a conclusion, but it was temporary. The Chosen One prophecy is potentially unfulfilled. There was a redemption, but there was no rise, no triumph. But there could be!

If Rey is somehow Anakin, or meant to finish what Anakin started (see what I did there?), it would explain a lot!

There’s Anakin’s lightsaber, which “calls to Rey,” and triggers visions, which are an Anakin thing in the movies. Despite Kylo Ren’s claim on it, whenever he and Rey fight over the saber, it hesitates, but ultimately ends up with Rey.

There’s the lovely line in TFA about the same eyes in different people.

There’s Rey’s fighting style, that overhand pressing forward that Anakin loved so much.

There’s Kylo Ren’s obsession with Darth Vader, and come to think of it, isn’t it weird that there’s zero inkling of Anakin’s Force ghost telling Ben to sit down and reevaluate his choices? Except, perhaps, that nebulous call to the light and Rey’s determination to give him a chance to do that, even though he doesn’t end up taking it.

There’s Rey’s facility with droids and Binary, and teaching herself to fly.

There’s that new trailer --Rey and Kylo fighting like Ben and Anakin, but with water all around instead of fire. And then Rey in a dark cloak with a saberstaff, looking ready to kick someone’s butt.

I’m not any good at conclusions, but I think it’s really plausible that the “road trip” aspect of TROS is going to be chasing the slow revelation of who Rey used to be and how she can finally bring balance to the Force --by ending the Jedi and the Sith, and creating a third way that is an appropriate blending of the two.

#long post #i am a nerd #sorry for becoming a star wars blog #hi yes I love rey's saberstaff #rey's parentage #tros theories #tros speculation #rey is anakin #the reyincarnation theory

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bakudekuficlibrary · 6 years

Text

BakuDeku: Smut One Shots Part I

55 Works.

Click here for: Part II, Part III, Part IV, and Part V!

Make Every Moment Last by osakakitty

( E | 6,885 | 1/1 )

There are days where Izuku Midoriya wakes in a different world. It is usually a world very similar to his own, but with noticeable changes. The thing that changes the most is Katsuki Bakugo. Sometimes he's a friend, sometimes he's not, and sometimes he's something else entirely.

Canon-Divergent story where Midoriya has the uncontrollable ability to travel to parallel universes. He sleeps in one, and may wake up in another. By seeing through the eyes of many different 'Izuku Midoriya,' he learns things about himself and Bakugo.

Caught Looking by EAter ( E | 6,537 | 1/1 )

He hadn’t meant to look, but once he did, he couldn’t stop. Izuku always knew Katsuki was attractive, in a sort of removed, passive way. He’s obnoxiously fit- with good posture and clear skin and those sharp, dangerous eyes.

Really, it’s a wonder Izuku hadn’t stopped to stare sooner.

[Underage]

Let's Be Alone Together by lalazee ( E | 2,623 | 1/1 )

Prompt: Deku being aggressively forward in his pursuit of Bakugou, and how that big oaf would react to someone else actually making the first move.

“Are you going to spend your entire life wishing you’d kissed me or are you gonna grow some balls and fucking do it?”

K-9 by warschach ( E | 18,304 | 1/1 )

Izuku takes in a stray on one rainy night, except it's not a dog, it's a dog shifter who goes by the name, Katsuki. After the initial wave of panic and embarrassment, Izuku thinks his new pet/roommate is pretty cute.

Too Early For This by Skaii ( E | 7,882 | 1/1 )

In the process of rescuing a girl from a villain, Katsuki becomes afflicted by an aphrodisiac quirk. His pride refuses to let him be a victim. But for once, maybe Deku helping him won't be so bad...

Series Part 1 of The 'BD' in 'BDSM' is for BakuDeku

[Underage]

Lips, Teeth, Hands by litathesissy ( E | 2,044 | 1/1 )

“Fuck me,” his omega said, and Katsuki dissolved.

Subliminal Desires by DMMegsie ( E | 6,351 | 1/1 )

Being at the top is hard. Public apperances, travelling the world, and fighting villains to boot.

Yet at the end at the end of the day sometimes it is good to just sit back and relax.

At least that's what Katsuki Bakugou is thinking when returning home from another trip to his apartment and Izuku.

bakugou katsuki becomes a power bottom by writedeku ( E | 3,496 | 1/1 )

It is hard to describe what Izuku is doing to him, the extent of which he’s being — it suddenly occurs to Katsuki when he belatedly realises his nose is buried into his crotch — he’s being used. Him! Bakugou Katsuki, on the track to becoming the best hero in Japan, is being used. He pulls off to catch his breath, tears brimming in his eyes, his throat hoarse —

My Youth Is Yours by lalazee ( E | 2,419 | 1/1 )

“I love you.” “Gay.” “Are we really having this conversation while your dick is - oh.”

Hatred by OwlWanderer ( E | 1,008 | 1/1 )

I hate you. God, I fucking hate you so fucking much.

Pure Morning by lalazee ( E | 1,680 | 1/1 )

Dreamy, morning sex.

Prompt fill for: Bakugou bottoming for the first time, with praise kink.

Spice by Revenant_Crown ( E | 1,489 | 1/1 )

All Midoriya wants is to be used and there's only one person who can give him that—Bakugou Katsuki.

Series Part 3 of Kinktober 2017 Part 1 of Imposition

Panic by iknewaman ( E | 22,725 | 1/1 )

Katsuki's experienced a load of 'firsts' in his lifetime, but his most memortable ones include the firsts he shared with Deku.

[Underage]

It's Better Than Drinking Alone by osakakitty ( E | 7,116 | 1/1 )

On the fourteenth of July, Izuku Midoriya's girlfriend called him to her place, and dumped him. And now, on the morning of the fifteenth of July, he woke up with a gruesome hangover and no one to celebrate the day with.

Or not.

Modern-day AU where Midoriya and Bakugo are strangers who meet in a bar, and then have wild and crazy sex later that night. The morning after, it's Midoriya's birthday, but he can't quite remember everything that happened. Bakugo is still willing to give him a present.

[Dub-Con: Under the Influence]

Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 10 of Dark Side by Daiako (Achrya) ( E | 14,983 | 9 out of 11 )

ABO prompt fills, as requested on tumblr.

1. "You're mine, now. To knot and breed as long as I want you." Alpha Izuku/Omega Katsuki 2. “What’s this, slick? You’re actually getting turned on by this? I knew omegas were good for nothing whores!” Alpha Katsuki/Omega Izuku 3. “S—stop, I can’t think straight right now, your pheromones are making it too hard…” Alpha Katsuki/Omega Izuku 4. "I love it when you moan like that." "You’ve been good, so I’m going to let you come" Alpha Izuku/Omega Katsuki 5. "Bite Me" Alpha Izuku/Omega Katsuki 6 and 7. "Ride Me" Alpha Katsuki/Omega Izuku 8. Omega tossing their Alpha over the shoulder" O!Izuku/A!Katsuki 9. Squirting, O!Iida/A!Todoroki 10. O!Izuku/A!Katsuki, Snake Shifters, Snake Charmers, and a bathroom hookup. 11. "Let Me See" Creampie, O!Iida, A!Todoroki, A!Shinsou

Series Part 2 of Dark ABO

[Graphic Depictions of Violence | Rape/Non-Con]

Indestructible (emotionally speaking, that is) by iknewaman ( E | 8,847 | 1/1 )

“Alright, buddy,” Katsuki says, swatting at the weeping guy with the broom. “Time to clear out.”

AU where Bakugou works at the cinema and Izuku is the cinema-goer who keeps coming in to cry at sad movies

Unhealthy Fixations by Thesis ( E | 12,522 | 1/1 )

Izuku is an adult who knows better than to crush on his childhood bully. AND YET.

A Helping Hand. by theweakestthing ( E | 4,248 | 1/1 )

Knees to the floor, no matter how hard he tried to get back on his feet his legs wouldn't move, not in the other's presence. His body wanted him on the floor, his body wanted him to open his mouth and beg, that wasn't him at all. That wasn't who Bakugou was, he wouldn't put his face to the floor for anyone.

Of all the people to force him to his knees, Midoriya was possibly the last person in the universe he'd ever want to do that for. The thought alone that the other was an alpha was surprising, maybe if he had the presence of mind to examine his interactions with Midoriya he might have been kicking himself, it wasn't like he cared it just seemed to him that the universe was working against him somehow.

He'd had a very long string of luck, now it seemed that he'd finally run out.

Mechanical Bull by warschach ( E | 27,573 | 1/1 )

Katsuki has a track record of bad choices, it's a condition, but Izuku might be the one choice that's right.

Playgrounds and playing fields by Stars1Are1Metaphors ( E | 16,872 | 1/1 )

It starts as a game. Doctor and nurse, they call it. They’re childhood friends and there isn’t anyone they trust more than each other.

But somewhere down the line Bakugou and Midoriya end up in a very… complicated relationship.

[Underage]

catharsis by dollcewrites ( E | 14,976 | 1/1 )

It's been six years since Izuku graduated.

It's been six years since he confessed to his childhood friend; his classmate and his inspiration.

It's been six years since he deleted Bakugou's number, asked his friends not to mention the name, spent every last effort of his heart turning off the TV and averting his eyes from the newspapers.

It's been six, long, long years since he gave up on Katsuki Bakugou ever loving him back.

all choked up by heroin__e ( E | 5,318 | 1/1 )

Bakugou Katsuki had a habit of turning away from the heard. At 16, he does this by coming to terms with wanting, desperately, to see his childhood friend cry.

[Fake Dub-Con]

spilling over every side by failbender ( E | 5,618 | 1/1 )

No good deed goes unpunished, not when there's a crazy lady with a complex and Lust Quirk parading around the city. By now, Katsuki should probably be used to things blowing up in his face.

[Dub-Con]

Sour Silk by BrightEyesEren ( E | 6,116 | 1/1 )

Midoriya Izuku starts to receive random gifts at his door. Chaos ensues when he realises he has a sugar daddy.

Chapter 3 & Chapter 9 of How Long Will This Last by osakakitty ( E | 2,489 | 2 out of 12 )

A series of short scenes based on prompts asked by my followers on tumblr. Will be updated infrequently. Whenever I have time to fill a prompt, I will do so as soon as possible!

Prompt 3: “Tell me to go and I will, but if you ask me to stay I’ll never leave you again.”

Prompt 9: “Can I kiss you?”

Procrastination by capncapnk ( E | 5,458 | 1/1 )

But it is still surprising to see his more-than-friend-but-also-lover-he-guesses in his office seeking attention though Izuku already turned him down.

Usually he'll get a text of 'wyd?' followed by a time and place if Izuku responds with a confirmation, and silence if he's busy.

Or slammed into the wall in the agency's shower for a quickie if no one was around, which despite his anxiety, he often acquiesces to.

There was also the time at the annual Pro Hero Gala that Katsuki discovered the bathrooms had their own individual stalls with thick walls that reached the ceiling and shoved him into one, to which he definitely protested because he was not fucking in a public bathroom. 'Germs, Kacchan', was his reason, and of course Katsuki made sure to make fun of him and his 'germaphobia' for a solid month after that.

Drinking Watermelon by warschach ( E | 8,906 | 1/1 )

For whatever reason, maybe divine fate, Izuku turned and looked over his shoulder and waved to them.

Katsuki’s heart full on stopped right then, and his fingers forgot their duty on the rails, and his body neglected its job to keep Katsuki balanced.

Izuku’s summer sweet smile fell into concern as Katsuki went airborne and cracked his skull on the porch.

or Katsuki works as a camp counselor, and Izuku is a boy made of summer heat and sunlight.

Head Game Strong by InfiniteTeal ( E | 3,284 | 1/1 )

Some of the students from class 1-A decide to go out to dinner together for the evening. Midoriya hadn't planned to joined them, but it's no surprise that he's under the table fooling around with Bakugou. It sounded like a good idea at first, but Bakugou has a hard time keeping it together when Midoriya gives him a secret blowjob while everyone else is sitting around him.

[Underage]

Sick Like Animals by osakakitty ( E | 3,848 | 1/1 )

Whenever Katsuki Bakugo is struck by his seasonal heat, Izuku Midoriya agrees to help him until it ends. He takes Bakugo into his care, providing him with the stimulation he needs. One morning, after a night of light sex, Bakugo unfortunately finds his heat unquenched.

Fantasy AU in which Katsuki Bakugo is half-beast, and Izuku Midoriya is an alchemist in-training. They both have a mutual understanding and need and for each other. Sex ensues.

where i feel you the most by shousanki ( E | 3,899 | 1/1 )

In which Katsuki comes 1) to terms with Izuku's screwy biology almost as unpredictable as the person himself, and 2) down Izuku's warm and willing throat.

cliff's edge by umbrage ( E | 3,061 | 1/1 )

Bakugou is sure there's a perfectly alpha-centric explanation to his deviancy.

Or maybe, there isn't, and that's okay, too.

Scoville Score by oisiflaneur ( E | 5,701 | 1/1 )

Midoriya's been acting strange lately. His friends try to figure out why.

It's... Not why they think.

times like these by dalyeau ( E | 3,333 | 1/1 )

Okay, so 'cute' isn't exactly a word in Bakugou Katsuki's vocabulary, and he has about a million things to call Deku that definitely aren't cute. They walk the wide spectrum between insults, constructive criticism, neutral observations, and compliments, and none of them really change the fact that Katsuki gets in bed with this guy at least thrice a week regardless. Deku’s face is average in every possible way, sometimes mildly attractive at best, and his body is strong, compact, and capable; his hands are a scarred ugly mess, his muscles hard-worked and nice to touch. So yeah, ‘cute’? Not exactly a description for Deku, in Katsuki's opinion.

His ass, however.

Sound Of You (With Me) by linkami1379 ( E | 8,068 | 1/1 )

Katsuki starts his second year at Yuuei High School like he started his first one: full of expletives, dedicated to becoming Number One, and friends with the shit-stain Eijirou. But a new student at Yuuei will tilt the axis of Katsuki's world, just a little.

Features Screamer!Katsuki and Speech Impediment!Izuku.

Also important side-character!Eijirou

[Underage]

All the Cracks They Left Behind by linkami1379 ( M | 11,175 | 1/1 )

Katsuki and Izuku become soul bound to each other when Katsuki is captured by the League of Villains.The shift in perception rocks them both to their cores and they seek to fill in the cracks life has carved into each other's hearts.

Series Part 1 of My One and Only

[Graphic Depictions of Violence | Underage]

Alleyway Affair by FreshMilko ( E | 2,343 | 1/1 )

When you’re both tied for number two hero, aiming at number one, credit is everything. So when the media credits your capture to your arch rival, well, Bakugou thinks he has the right to object.

20 y/o Bakugou fucks Deku in an alley. Deku is sassy as hell. A brick wall pays a heavy price.

If you give me your hand, I'll surrender my heart by soulstring ( E | 5,254 | 1/1 )

“We could be fucking. I could be having the greatest sex ever but no! My husband is an idiot and now my dick is about to fall off. Why the fuck did I marry you?”

It’s a rhetorical question but Izuku still answers naively with a, “Because you love me?”

“For tax benefits!” Katsuki wails, raising his hands to the ceiling.

In which Izuku and Katsuki are no longer teenagers but still horny, in love, and a mess.

Series Part 1 of weddings, receptions, and other plans gone awry

Passenger Seat by warschach ( E | 10,650 | 1/1 )

Aizawa unwrinkled the note, the sound of the crinkled paper thundered through the classroom as all eyes fell on Aizawa, and read aloud. “Go with me to the dance, fucking Deku.”

{the gratuitous, unnecessary, smutty, fluffy, silly sequel to my fic 'Black Light' no one asked for)

when the sunset shifts by ser_problematique ( E | 6,518 | 1/1 )

Katsuki has a problem; Izuku is there to help him through it. Smutty fantasy au with werewolf porn.

And It Was Alright. by quirklessloser ( M | 1,654 | 1/1 )

What Izuku had quickly realized was that this was not about him. This had never been about him. It was about Bakugou, and what he wanted; about how he wanted Izuku, and how he had decided that he would have him.

[Underage]

Dream Come True by shuppet44 ( E | 7,955 | 1/1 )

It's bad enough that Bakugou has to have these feelings about Izuku. It's worse that he’s stuck sharing a tent and, thanks to some sick twist of fate, a sleeping bag with him. But he's not sure if the moans Izuku is making in his sleep are improving or worsening his situation. One thing's for sure, he wants to hear more.

The Wolf by GreyDayMoon ( E | 3,977 | 1/1 )

Izuku Midoriya had been outcasted by the village due to the mark on his body that fated him for disaster and connected him to a monster.

Katsuki is the alpha werewolf of a pack and finally about to hunt down his fated mate.

(Have mercy, my first smut piece)

Series Part 5 of AU's I'm Thinking of Expanding On Later

[Graphic Depictions of Violence | Rape/Non-Con | Underage]

keep it low baby by shousanki ( E | 2,770 | 1/1 )

Katsuki doesn't give commands, no - he states expectations, and the universe reshapes itself to fulfill them. Including Izuku.

Series Part 3 of Kink Meme Fills ᕦ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ᕤ

A Fight To The Death by iknewaman ( E | 10,366 | 1/1 )

Izuku isn’t competitive by nature, but when the blond, cocky asshole from the other table’s team gets involved he suddenly becomes hellbent on winning.

Rival Pub Quiz AU

lucky by bishounen_curious ( E | 3,757 | 1/1 )

Kacchan never acts this closed off in bed, and it makes Izuku beyond nervous.

That is until Izuku finds out he's just embarrassed about what overuse of his quirk does to the sensitivity of his hands.

When a Bully Loves His Nerd by hopeless1665 ( E | 4,046 | 1/1 )

Katsuki can't help but bully Izuku endlessly. In his mind, if he doesn't, Izuku won't let go of his unrealistic superhero dream and could end up hurt or worse. Better to scare him and watch him from afar then have him close and end up dead. Izuku can't help but feel sad every time his childhood friend hurts him. He just wants them to be friends again, or better yet, more.

[Underage]

The Only One Who Can Make You... by TitanOrphanAnnie ( E | 898 | 1/1 )

PWP One-Shot about some fooling around after class that ends up fluffier than Kaachan was prepared for.

Storm Stayed by actualdevil ( E | 4,221 | 1/1 )

Inclement weather leads to finding shelter and reluctantly sharing a bed. Also, Kirishima was supposed to be here, damnit.

The Timeless Art Of "Please Just... You Know... Already!" by brichibi ( E | 3,593 | 1/1 )

Izuku notices.

And Katsuki notices Izuku noticing.

And it’s driving their classmates nuts.

[Nobody wants Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugou to bang more than Class 1A, because my god, they keep flirting with each other, and something's gotta give]

honey whiskey by bishounen_curious ( E | 3,046 | 1/1 )

“I brought Tennessee Honey because I know you’re a bitch.” This is the first thing Kacchan says to him. The second is: “I’m gonna fuck your brains out.”

twisted by tusslee ( E | 2,774 | 1/1 )

And, he thinks, it’s probably not even love. It’s likely just some twisted infatuation that he’s developed, his happiness a pavlovian response to Izuku’s tears. Maybe it’s because he is a sadist like Kirishima said.

Maybe he’s just a little fucked up.

“I’ll take that as a yes. That’s a strange kink, Kacchan, but I’d let you make me cry.” Izuku rocks back on his heels and tries to get Katsuki to meet his eye. “If you wanted. Do you want to?”

Took It Like a Champ by InfiniteTeal ( E | 3,238 | 1/1 )

Midoriya takes it like a champ when Bakugou forces him down to give the most miserable and rudest blow job of his life. He's the one that leaves Bakugou speechless in the end.

[Underage]

Devil in me by Acidiic ( E | 5,912 | 1/1 )

Izuku just wanted to have a nice time with his close friends. Parties can get crazy, yeah, he knew that. That’s why he tried to stick close to comfort. Never would he imagined his night ending up sobbing and moaning his best friend's name.

[Underage]

I Run From You by Morpheel ( E | 6,482 | 1/1 )

The forest was a dangerous place.

Anyone with half of a brain could deduce that much; yet to a prey species, this rule held especially so. The reach of woods was a diverse and lively ecosystem, thriving with both hybrid and animal alike. As cruel as it was- the food chain largely didn’t care whether you were hybrid or beast.

Izuku Midoriya knew this especially so. - - - What's a rabbit hybrid to do when cornered within the clutches of a savage, hungry wolf? Anything he can to escape. (Though his heat makes this a much harder prospect than expected)

Series Part 1 of BNHA: Hybrid A/O/B Works

Popsicles by battle_goats ( E | 1,350 | 1/1 )

Deku is testing Katsuki's patience with nothing more than a popsicle.

[Underage]

#BakuDeku #KatsuDeku #BNHA #Masterlist #bkdkfl masterlist #w:underage #ws:os #ws:complete #w:violence #w:rape #t:dubcon #g:smut #long post #curator ellie

390 notes · View notes

violetosprey · 6 years

Text

BTD/TDDUP: Who’s the most dangerous human character?

There is a counterpart post to this for the supernatural BTD characters already posted here if you want to check that out :P

I love the human characters in the BTD/TDDUP series. Probably a little more than the supernatural characters to be honest. When it comes to who I think is the most dangerous in regards to the public/humanity, I had to put quite a bit of thought into this. I don’t really have a ranking system for these, but the main things I thought about were body count, level of sadism, and physique/intellect.

I’m also going to be thinking about the difference here between who is actively the most dangerous vs. others who are potentially more dangerous. But the real rating will be based on who’s “actively” more dangerous.

*major spoilers below*

I’m going to do this post from LEAST dangerous to MOST dangerous (opposite of my supernatural post because while the winner there was obvious, there is more to debate here I think). Remember that these are only my personal opinion. All decisions are up for debate.

7) Chris

I think it’s easy to explain why I have Chris at the bottom of the list. He’s a sweet guy. Unlike any other the other characters in these games, he was never looking to actively harm anyone. He only snapped and seriously beat up one person. And said person was HIS abuser so…yeah it’s even a little justified here (he just takes it a little too far). There’s no indication either that Chris is quick to snap like this. It’s implied that the MC and he were married for quite some time. So he’s a rather gentle and timid guy who endured the abuse for a while. If we’re talking “actively” most dangerous, Chris is the weakest here. If we were considering his potential to be a danger to society, he doesn’t really display any strong/consistent sadistic tendencies, or a high intellect to make him a common criminal or a mastermind of any kind. I’ll give him this; he’s probably one of the physically strongest of the humans on this list. I’d say the strongest physically here are probably Chris, Lawrence (if you still count him as human), and Marcus. I don’t think his physique alone is enough to say he’d be a severe menace to society though.

6) Aria?

So we don’t learn a WHOLE lot about Aria. She doesn’t look all that intimidating. She doesn’t give me the impression that she sure works out enough to be able to take some of the guys on this list either. But between her and Chris, Aria I’d say is capable of being a lot nastier. Chris has a right to be mad when he’s beating you down, but Aria seems SO much more vile when she tortures you. Yes, she has a right to be mad as well, but I always felt more uncomfortable with Aria torturing the MC. I found myself wondering if she took it too far. I wrote a post long ago on Aria and my thoughts on her. There I go into more detail on why she makes me feel so uncomfortable (she’s actually the one character in the ENTIRE BTD/TDDUP series that made me have to take a break from the game for a bit). But while she scares ME a whole lot, I have to put her lower on this list realistically. Other than her sour relationship with the MC, I don’t really think she’s constantly tormenting other human beings in her spare time. At least not as far as I’m concerned. She’s an attorney for her main occupation, and very intelligent. So she’s definitely someone you don’t want to be on the opposing side at least. So her “active” danger level is more that she’s likely cutthroat in the judicial system, but not really offing people on the side. She does have a higher “potential” danger level though because not only COULD she possibly screw you over in the court of law to land you in jail…but apparently she has connections to HUMAN TRAFFICKERS. That.is.terrifying.

5) Marcus?

Those who have wandered around my blog tumblr for a bit know I ADORE Marcus. I think he makes a fantastic villain and a complete jerk :P He is INCREDIBLY intimidating. He’s got a strong build and police training under his belt, so good luck overtaking him. My money is actually on him being the physically strongest on this list. He IS the tallest, and has the muscle to fill out the space. I think his training could beat out Lawrence’s build (which just comes from manual labor). Chris is the only one I think who could give Marcus a run for his money (depends on Chris’s boxing skills and how well Chris keeps in shape honestly). And intellect? He’s both a good actor out in public, and calculating enough to plan a kidnapping and permanent captivity situation for his ex. Yikes! While I don’t think Marcus is a complete sadist (compared to some other BTD/TDDUP characters), he DOES show some enjoyment in tormenting the MC too. So then, why don’t I have him higher on this list? Well if this was a list for “potentially” most dangerous, Marcus would win. Can you imagine if Marcus was a full blown serial killer while working as a cop? He could cover his tracks REALLY well. He probably does cover his tracks after kidnapping the MC (AND he killed John to avoid witnesses). But the thing to remember here is that Marcus ISN’T usually an active murderer. He’s got one murder and one kidnapping under his belt, but as far as we know that’s pretty much it. He’s a good cop most of the time. He spends most of his time putting criminals away, not being one himself. The MC just makes him crazy. So “actively,” he’s not usually as dangerous as some of the other human characters. He could be more dangerous I think if people try to intervene and take the MC away from him. Otherwise, he’s on the public’s side most of the time. Like with Aria, probably will leave you alone unless you cross him.

4) Ellen?

So Ellen doesn’t have a strong build to make her impossible to fend off, and she doesn’t have any scary connections like Aria does. Plus, she’s only a college student. So why should I place her higher than people like Marcus or Aria? One word: Unstable. Oh she’s an intelligent young woman who carries on a conversation just fine. She has a lot of insight as well. But she also: Is interested in getting closer to a person she KNOWS is a serial killer AND necrophiliac, experiences catharsis by seeing others in pain, kidnaps Jack’s spouse and treats them like her pet dog, and has quite a bit of interesting ways to kill you both accidentally and intentionally. This type of behavior indicates she’s more likely to cause harm to others. The only problem is I don’t know is she’s really…done a whole lot of damage to other people at this point in time. She may be too young yet (her potential victim count simply hasn’t had a chance to climb yet). If she was willing to help Jack with his work though, something tells me she’s on the wrong track. Still, since I don’t know how often she’s gone out of her way to hurt others in her daily life, she could move up or down on this list in regards to “actively” dangerous.

3) Lawrence

So if you want to disregard the bit about Lawrence being rotted by the river and turning into a lich, Lawrence was indeed born a human. You can take him out of this list otherwise (I have him also in the supernatural post to cover my bases). Similar to Ellen, I’m placing Lawrence higher on this list because of how unstable he is. And unlike Ellen, we actually ARE given hints that the MC in BTD2 is not Lawrence’s first victim. If you’ve read my supernatural post counterpart to this, you know what I have to say about Lawrence. I’ll just cheat a little and grab from that post :P

“ He might freak out/snap at people more frequently that we realize. When he is upset too, unfortunately it’s not just that he’s letting his frustration out on whoever is standing next to him. Remember at the beginning of BTD2, how Lawrence got upset when Ren left? MC left the bar first, and Lawrence followed them OUT with the intention of beating them up. He’s dangerous. And when he kidnaps you (cuz he freaked out that he’d get in trouble for hurting you)…it’s kind of implied this isn’t the first time he’s done this. He’s not as big a sadist as the others, but sometimes he does take a little more enjoyment in cutting you up than he should if you’ve managed to send him over the edge. Not an intellectual himself, and he’s a little difficult to reason with. His physique also makes it hard to overtake him (you have to kill him when he’s sleeping).”

So yes, unstable, physical threat, small hints of sadism, and bigger body count makes Lawrence a greater danger to society.

The REAL Debate: Strade vs. Jack

If we’re talking “who’s the most dangerous to society”…of course the ones most ACTIVELY dangerous would be the serial killers. The only question is, which one is MORE dangerous? This can be a little tricky to answer. The problem is we have one serial killer who’s very straightforward and we know EXACTLY how he operates (Strade), while we have another who we hardly know anything about his methods of killing (Jack). Strade is openly charming and cheery, but takes extreme pleasure in tormenting and killing individuals he usually tricks/kidnaps from local bars. Jack is more of an enigma: You don’t know where he finds his victims, how he interacts with them, his method of killing them, and how often he kills them. We know that young Jack is pretty sadistic, but older Jack doesn’t appear to share that same level of sadism. Jack’s a big mystery overall. Both Strade and Jack seem to show no remorse in regards to what they do either. Physique, they’re…probably not too different strength wise to be honest. I don’t know their exercise routines to be able to choose one properly over the other. I’d say Jack is probably more intelligent (he at least shows his education more than Strade does). But since we don’t know how Jack operates when he’s killing, I don’t know to what extent he utilizes his intellect as a serial killer. For all we know, he could be a little more primal with his killings, and just uses his wits to cover his tracks. Who has more kills by the way either? Strade kills for a living, so he probably has a large body count considering that’s how he makes his money. Jack on the other hand lets the corpses rot away for quite a while, so I don’t know how frequently he feels the need to replace them. So how do I choose between the two of these killers then? Well there’s something I almost forgot about: longevity. We actually have CANON timelines for these guys. Strade is age 34 in BTD, and in BTD2 Ren is 2 years old than in BTD. I apologize if you haven’t played BTD2 yet but…Strade’s dead in BTD2. Gato confirmed that eventually one of his victims became too much to handle (in fact I think even one of the death endings in BTD can be taken as the canon ending that leads to BTD2- MC dies, but they’re able to take Strade out with them). So the oldest Strade ever lived to be would have been 36 at most. Jack in TDDUP is 50 years old. ��Young Jack in the extra scene is 25 years old. Electricpuke DID confirm that by that time at least, Jack had already killed. So he’s been a killer for a bare minimum of 25 years. Strade, I don’t know when he started killing, but let’s say maybe age 18 at the youngest (is it 18 or 19 you can go drink in bars in Canada?) So killing for 18 years possibly. Maybe he started younger, who knows. Even then, the numbers look pretty close. Just no way to really know the body count comparison between the two. Now in TDDUP, depending on your head-canon preference, Jack either gets away (I always consider the “You are alone” ending the canon one myself), or MC does successfully kill Jack. And really the only reason I think Jack gets killed is because the MC is his weakness. Strade bit off more than he could chew with his chosen victim, and Jack got caught by the one person he lets his guard down with.

Overall, I think this is a very close race, and maybe should be judged by who YOU think is the kind of person you’d hate to come across more, and who you think has killed more. For me, I think I’ll go…

2) Strade

1) Jack

Personally, I’d hate to be caught by Strade more I think, but I don’t know if Jack does any torture either. I decided to base this more off of Jack’s ability to get away with what he does for so long.

This was fun! Please do feel free to disagree though and even add your own thoughts.

#own post #btd #btd2 #tddup #gatobob #electricpuke #strade #lawrence oleander #marcus de la cruz #chris king #aria king #ellen klein #Jack Buchanan #horror game

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demoiselledefortune · 6 years

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Dragon Age Inquisition final play-through session!

So finished Trespasser

Overall that's a pretty amazing ending. I'm not sure if it's as interesting if you're not playing a Lavellan/romancing Solas; but it's densely packed with lores and things that'd make a replay (I mean I was spoiled enough to view Solas with hefty dose of suspicion from the start, and I did know he was an immortal of some kind from the beginning; and then got more spoilers as I progressed in the game -- but I expect there's still a whole lot of things to catch better now that I have full context). Trespasser is very well structured and paced overall, between the interludes in the gorgeous gardens of the Winter Palace (although I wish we had better to do in there that those silly and rather frustrating quests), and coursing through the Eluvian (which in itself is great, still allows a few fun sidequests; and lots of great lore drops). The political mess of a situation is a pretty logical follow up from the rest of Inquisition, and that the main choice in the end is deciding the future of the fate of the Inquisition in the political landscape is something I appreciate. I'd have liked if the end choices weren't quite as binary, but I guess that's simpler and ok, it's not like we have that many options. The Viddasala makes a decent minor villain; and of course the whole thing turns the whole Inquisition as an awesome set up to Solas as the kind top tier antagonist that I would put asides to my favourite video game villains. And hey, we even get a dragon fight! Except for once, we had an option of not killing her, which I took because I like getting an option not kill stuff (even though I of course slaughtered eagerly all 10 optional dragons the game provided before -- :3) which resulted in a pretty Hawk-esque fight by which I mean I ended up with all three of my companions down while I was running around trying to figure out how to manage to release the creature; which made for a very fun epic experience in a way that I seldom got from big boss fights in Inquisition apart from that. (I did solo fights due to companion death with Hawk on the first two dragon battles of DA2. Which ended up as good prep for the Arishok fight :3) The end game mechanic of your Mark running out of control, forcing you to release it at close interval was also a pretty great gameplay experience to make the last battles interesting and convey viscerally how dire this shit on your body is becoming... and almost makes up for how shitty the focus mechanics were overall. That we don't get a third round of discussions with the Companions before the last time in the Eluvians was a bit disappointing though. I guess they kinda ran out of material to discussion. It's also a bit odd that they drop us off at the very end to be solo before meeting Solas without a last framing discussion. The way they did banter spots to trigger though was great. (and a huge improvement on the way banter worked in Inquisition). In term of roleplay my character was the most shaken by the reveal of the Evanuris as False Gods. I always saw her as someone with a huge mystical bend, although not necessarily something that affected her choices a whole lot (besides, say, the Well of Mythal) and someone who values genuineness a lot so that reveal turning out around false premises hit hard; and trying to rebuild a sense of identity and view of the world out of that is going to take her time. She's not even the sort of Dalish who is the most focused on the past (obviously it's important, because it's one of the baseline thing that the Dalish care about; but it's not her main focus compared to trying to work with people, building consensus and exchanging viewpoint. My Lavellan is a diplomat and a community organizer at heart.) The reveal from Solas in contrast was less shattering. She'd figure out that Solas had to be involved somehow with the Fen'Harel organization (from the Vallaslin bit, especially) but expecting him to actually be Fen'Harel was a bit too huge a leap to make on her own... yet something that fell into place when it came and the feeling of catharsis of finally knowing what the fuck was up with him stronger than the feeling of betrayal. In the end I think she had a sense that nothing he could turn out to be would surprise her. She was saddened, bitterly disappointed, horrified; but she never felt like the person she'd fallen in love with wasn't the person in front of her, and she's not giving up on him. She kept the Inquisition as the Divine's guard, of course she did. As I said after Solas left she was sure something bad was coming, and knowing more about exactly what that something bad was only cemented that. And of course, the Inquisition is what she has left, in term of something built up. She has too much emotionally invested in it to discard it when the foundation of her world believes are shaken this way. As far as the other characters go: - Vivienne wasn't the person my character ever got along the best with; and while the epilogue frames her as a big pain in the ass, I think Ireya actually approves of it... what she held the most against Vivienne was always that instead of building herself up as a leader by gathering support from like-minded mages, she'd tried to grasp it parasitically from others in power, and it seems she finally started to do otherwise. Perhaps it's not so bad either for the future of the mages for there to exist multiple competing models... (well it also could result in disaster but what can you do) - I don't have much to say about Blackwall, he was one of my least favourite character and probably mostly for shallow reasons (I never got over that he's such an unattractive character for a romanceable option). His story is interesting yet unsatisfying in term of story integration. My character does have a higher opinion of him than I do and she was happy to see him fulfilling his purpose in the Wardens under his true identity in a way that made him feel better. - Ireya never felt very close to Cullen, but she always respected and relied on him a lot; and is happy to see him continue to work in the Inquisition as well as continuing to work on helping out Templars. - In a way my character and Varric are very similar people (in term of being caretaker at heart) that nonetheless never properly connect (they work on a very different register and of course Varric's feeling of awe at the Herald even though he works at it is a barrier). Still a good friend. I do love seeing him becoming the Viscount of Kirkwall (and annoying poor Bran) which I'm sure will make him happier (he was so depressed during Inquisition). - She always kept a little bit wary and careful with Cole while still valuing him a whole lot, except towards the end, he ended up being the only source of input on Solas' outlook and she's going to miss that. She hopes he will be able to help, somehow. - Iron Bull always impressed me with his emotional intelligence and savviness. He was never someone to underestimate and also someone who brings a lot of things to a group which Ireya valued a lot. Keeping the Chargers alive is a very rewarding choice in term of what that means for Bull's outlook (as well as the Chargers themselves being around) even though I expect you'd only see the difference at the very ending. My character also ended up very invested in his relationship with Dorian, and delighted to see what it brings to the both of them. - It was a joy to realise that Sera has grown up a lot, and reacts with much more tact and sensitivity (in contrast to how she was right after the Temple of Mythal/Vallaslin removal in the main game) when my character felt very shaken about the Evanuris reveal; as well as touched to see they continued being very good friends with the offer of getting into the Friends of Jenny. Keep on being awesome, Sera! - My character started being a bit in awe of Lelianna (she was something of a Fifth Blight stories fangirl XD) but also distrusting her emotional turmoil. She feels very proud of having helped her find an emotional peace once more, and in that context her becoming the Divine is something she's glad of. - While she was sometimes infuriating, Cassandra was always someone whose honesty and willingness to criticise herself earned great respect from Ireya. She was also very fun to tease and someone to bond over being sappy sappy romantic. A very good friend, and I'm glad she's rebuilding the Seekers into something better. - Dorian wears his heart on his sleeve and was a great friend. His ending gives my character great hope for the future. - Josephine was probably Ireya's best friend in the Inquisition or at least the one she felt was the most of the same wavelength, and she's glad to see her fulfil her ambition for her family; but sad to see her go far away. I also really liked Josephine's outburst towards the end of Trespasser, I don't agree with all the points she makes in term of having doubts about the kind of organisation the Inquisition is becoming, yet having some kind of doubts about it is warranted and to have Josephine work her role as moral centre by being worried about it worked very well for me. Overall Inquisition is a bit... too spread out with a lot of things; but still a very entertaining experience as a game!

#dragon age inquisition #dai #dem plays da

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cwl190 · 3 years

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Week 5

Benjamin Percy’s “Making the Extraordinary Ordinary”:

“Burton was enamored with the gritty nightmare of Gotham, the whiz-bang awesomeness of the Batmobile, and was carelss with characterization. So I didn’t believe... I was only a child, but after dreaming my way darkly through Gotham, the movie felt comparitively silly. Because it had no heart” (66).

“I remember my mother crying and running upstairs when I was suspended. I remember my father ripping up my report card and hurling the pieces across the room like the saddest sort of confetti, not saying a word, just staring at me with hooded eyes” (66).

“Silence, I came to understand, was knowing when to shut up” (67).

“Saunders reinvents grief by giving it a beating heart. And he normalizes the weirdness by giving her a pitiable desire we can all relate to. Would the story be just as effective if it were told as realism? Some might say so. But fantasy allows us truths that might otherwise be unavailable. Normally a reflection means little except as a way to check our teeth, to smear on makeup, but before a warped mirror we pause, studying ourselves with awe and care, struck by a new way of seeing” (71).

“We expect winged men to be angelic, muscled and white-robed and blonde-haired and backlit by radiant light, but Garcia Marquez plays against our expectations: this figure is far from heavenly. They call him an “angel”, yes, but they also wonder if he is Norwegian or a sailor, a “castaway from some foreign ship wrecked by the storm.” And he is not exalted, as we would expect, but persecuted. He performs no miracles. He cowers pitifully. They cage him, prod him, pick his feathers, throw stones at him, burn his side with a branding iron. And in this way Garcia Marquez not only makes the fantastic accessible but captures the human tendency to fear whatever is different and the desire to label, define, control” (73).

Benjamin Percy’s “Get a Job”:

“Whether we like it or not, work defines us. Work dominates our lives. And we have an obligation, in our prose and poetry, in the interest of realism, and in the service of point of view, voice, setting, metaphor, and story, to try to incorporate credibly and richly the working lives of our characters” (140).

“Nor, tonally, should you build baroque sentences when the mind of your character is empy, his life unadorned. Her voice shouldn’t sound like white lace and gold trim when her home reeks of cheap whiskey and wood smoke” (144).

“It is a job that frames and sets into motion every element of your story or essay or poem- and it is your job to do the required research that will bring the language and tasks and schedule and perspective of your characters’ work to life. Google can do only so much for you. The library can only do so much for you. You need to write from the trenches” (145).

“Writing is an act of empathy. You are occupying and understanding a point of view that might be alien to your own- and work is often the keyhole through which you peer” (149).

Tom Perotta's "Ordinary People"

““I can’t look at everything hard enough”: The tragedy is that, while we’re alive, we don’t view our days in the knowledge that all things must pass. We don’t- we can’t- value our lives, our loved ones, with the urgent knowledge that they’ll one day be gone forever. Emily notices with despair that she and her mother barely look at one another, and she laments our self-possession, our distractedness, the million things that keep us from each other. “Oh, Mama,” she cries, “just look at me one minute as though you really saw me.... Let’s look at one another.” But mother and daughter remain self-absorbed, each in a private sea of her own thoughts, and that moment of recognition, or connection, never comes. Eventually, Emily has to return away” (130).

“Some people think of Our Town as being sentimental. Obviously, there’s a wish-fulfillment aspect here: the character who returns to the past, in a sense conquering death for a moment. But what’s unsentimental is that it’s too much, the way the experience is heartbreaking for the character. There’s a real emotional courage in the fact that there’s not a catharsis: only an unflinching acknowledgement of the gulf between the town and the cemetery. The living don’t appreciate the dead; the living don’t even appreciate the living. For me, that’s not sentimental- it’s unbelievably tough. The play presents us with a difficult truth, and forces us to take a long, hard look at it” (130-131).

Leslie Jamison's "On Commonness"

“You remember too much, my mother said to me recently. Why hold onto all that? And I said, where can I put it down?” (158).

“I want to tell you how much it hurts, but I’m also going to tell you that there is a vioce inside of me, dogging me at every moment about tryingtoo hard to tell you how much it hurts... Carson’s mode of self-awareness doesn’t apologize for its emotion...” (158).

““I thought I would die” It’s so willfully plain. There’s something moving to me about saying it so embarrassingly straight. The following line, “This is not uncommon,” can be read so many different ways. The tone might be clinical or dismissive, as in, this is not an uncommon symptom of the disease of heartbreak. But it’s also an acknowledgement that what she’s going through is in no way extraordinary. It’s something that’s been felt before, and it’ll be felt again. Yet she owns this commonness, without apologizing for it, relinquishing it, or dismissing it” (159).

“I think there’s an additional layer of use when it comes to personal experience: You just see the events of your own life so differently after more years have passed. That doesn’t mean that the truest version of an event is going to be the version you write when you’re eighty. But your perspective keeps changing” (162).

MAKING THE EXTRAORDINARY ORDINARY—TRUTH:

The truth that exposes itself in “The Miniature Wife” and “The Infamous Bengal Ming” is the failures in the narrator and his wife’s ability to communicate with one another and that wild animals cannot mingle with humankind. The narrator’s wife being shrunken down and the negligence of the narrator portrays how she herself has literally been minimized through the course of their relationship. The marital problems between the narrator and his wife have existed even prior to the events of the story, and now it’s presented as the main conflict of the story. Gonzales reveals that it’s not really the incident that was the problem between them, but rather the catalyst.

In “The Infamous Bengal Ming”, the truth that becomes available in this story is that humans and animals cannot cross the bridge between their nature. Whether or not this is due to a communication problem is up to our interpretation, but everything the tiger does that he thinks will aid humans is villainized and he suffers the consequences of it. In the end, it doesn’t even matter because the tiger’s idea of love becomes distorted due to his senses. He finds some type of twisted euphoria in killing a woman he despises, and because of his hunger he eats her. The tiger still calls it love even though it’s clearly not, and I think Parameswaran is trying to make apparent the futility of trying to bridge that gap between species.

FEAR:

This observation applies to “The Miniature Wife” through the narrator’s fascination with his wife. Rather than try to find a solution to her problem, he observes her as if she is a wild animal as well as gives her a habitat for his own self-gratuitous reasons. We see that views her more as a test subject than as a person through ways such as peering at her through a microscope, prioritizing crafting a dollhouse for her to live with and not making any pursuits to undo the shrinking ray effects. Instead of handling her infidelity with communication, he fears the ramifications of anyone finding out he has two shrunken people in his house and kills his co-worker.

In “The Infamous Bengal Ming”, this theme is present all throughout the story. The tiger approaches humans with good will, but almost everyone recoils away in fear and is killed from the tiger’s advances (understandably). The tiger's position as an apex predator puts him at the forefront of their defensiveness and rather than embrace him, they seek to restrain and control him based on their preconceived notion of tigers being a threat. Fear moves along the plot. The tiger runs away in fear of the consequences for killing the zookeeper, leading him to the house where the woman and her child live in, and because the woman is terrified of the tiger's presence in the room she drops the baby, causing the tiger to catch it with his jaw and eventually kill it. It leads the reader to wonder, what would have happened if the people in this story were not as terrified as the tiger as they were? Would that have changed the way the story spiraled out of control, or would the tiger have given into his animalistic instincts earlier?

CONNECT THE DOTS—GET A JOB AND GONZALES:

The narrator’s world revolves around his job. The way he handles the situation, his relationship with his wife prior to shrinking her and how it ends is all because his job is his life. Due to the way he got caught up in his work, he was never a very attentive husband and always left his dishes in the sink and didn’t clean up even after his wife reprimanded him several times. Because of his constant pursuit of knowledge, instead of doing the reasonable thing and trying to grow his wife, he instead observes her as if she was an experiment rather than his partner. Because of the narrator’s occupation, he has been portrayed as a very cold, obsessive, and negligent man, or maybe that was the kind of person he was to be suited to the job to begin with.

ON COMMONNESS:

I think it’s a matter of the ego? The author summarized why the describing the full scope of your genuine feelings can be seen as something to rag on at pretty well. Adding “This is not uncommon” is a self-aware statement that tells you they’re aware it’s not that big of a deal. I really liked the examination of this concept because being sincere is a scary thing to do when you write, or even in your everyday life. Your works are somehow a bit of an extension of yourself, and by shoving that into the forefront of everyone’s judgement you are exposing your expressed thoughts and feelings. You don’t want to be completely genuine because you’re usually not. There’s not much I can add onto that because I think the essay put feelings into words that I wasn’t able to do myself.

ONE THING:

The fake grandmas was something that I felt was done in a way that could really make us suspend our belief. When they mentioned how when visits from kids became more of a chore than something they enjoyed was the correct time to kill the grandparents off, it made so much sense to me. That was such a calculated strategy on their part because most children’s memories change with the passage of time. They won’t remember every feature on their grandparent’s face, so using their naivety to the business’s advantage works perfectly in the context of the story to me.

Also, the way the stand-ins are required to memorize the entire family tree as well as their parent’s vacations, photoshopping photos to put them in it. It all seems like a huge elaborate gaslighting project. The moment the grandparent is killed off is the moment when the person they’re tricking decides it of their own accord without even realizing it. It made me realize the inevitability of family relationships eventually growing apart. A lot of people aren’t close to their grandparents at all so it was pretty easy for me to accept that them eventually being phased out of their grandchildren’s life is pretty believable.

WILSON:

The narrator’s way of seeing the world definitely bends around her work. Her ability to disconnect from relationships at her job translates into her everyday life, where we see that she doesn’t bother with building her own attachments. She isn’t married, doesn’t have any kids and she refuses to enter committed relationships with other men. Whether or not this is due to the nature of her job or because of her past we don’t know, but we can glean that someone who treats familial relationships as a transaction isn’t very authentic or sentimental.

We especially see this when the narrator converses with her co-workers, who all seem to have a bitter, snarky approach to their jobs. They make death into a lighthearted subject manner or something with a double meaning. When Martha says “I was so good, fams were going to keep me until I outlived all of them. They were going to be leaving me money in their wills” (14) and the narrator reminds her that they all have due dates at one point. it’s not really just about the completion of their agreement as a stand-in. It can serve as a foreshadowing to when being a stand-in truly takes a toll and the narrator is no longer competent to their job.

ORDINARY PEOPLE:

Perrotta’s ideas of ordinary details come in the form of people’s mannerisms: The breakfast they eat in the morning, how someone might put up their hair, etc. The “Grand Stand-in” makes all of those ordinary details into it’s own concept. It’s the grandparent’s job to embody those details and form themselves into a believable person. The narrator is transfixed on the lullaby because she feels the need to prove herself as a professional. Every part of their job is calculated, all those little details that make up their identity is the bizarreness of being a stand-in. The ordinary things about these grandparents are what makes them fascinating because it’s not them at all.

CONNECT THE DOTS:

The “Grand Stand-in” follows Boyle’s advice in “How Stories Say Goodbye” and has a closure where we are more or less satisfied with the ending. The narrator goes through an epiphany where she realizes that she doesn’t want to continue with her job due to wanting something real. The loss she experiences by cutting herself off from all the families is a hallmark of these change because although all the families she involved herself in was nothing but a fabricated lie, quitting unexpectedly gave her “deaths” meaning. She states herself that the sadness she feels is more rewarding and genuine.

#week 5 #weeks 5 through 7

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doublehex · 7 years

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Thoughts on 7x01 “Dragonstone”

Spoilers abound. Like seriously, if you are one of the 4 people that have not watched the episode yet, do not read before the cut.

The Second Red Wedding:

This scene suffered from a bit of a pacing problem. The dialogue was fine, and David Bradley was chewing the hell out of that scene. But the issue was, as soon as it started, we knew exactly what was going to happen because we saw Walder get killed off at the end of season 6! We knew it was Arya, and we all suspected just what was going to happen.

Exactly what we thought would happen did happen, and that is just boring. The scene had catharsis for the Freys finally getting their dues, but the way it all happened was just anticlimactic at best. We spent four seasons hoping for the Freys to get their due, and when they did get it, it was over with almost as soon as it started.

Still, “Winter came for House Frey” is a nice line.

Also, Maisie was totally on heels.

Main Title:

The horns got a budget increased. Still sounds synthy as hell, though. Like can’t HBO afford an orchestra for their genre defining show?

Bran at the Wall:

The lingering shot of the White Walkers was very creepy. Typical creepy electronics aside, the dark wind hiding most of the zombies did an effective job of creating tone and atmosphere. And when it finally culminates in the shot of the giant, showing the sheer mass of the approaching army, the message is loud and clear and terrifying.

I did find it weird that the Lord Commander would be at inspection of those passing through the Wall. We had long since passed the point of thinking the Wall is meant to stave off the Wildlings.

Also, Bran being all ominous and broody as his way of identifying as a Stark is Fucking A.

Jon Rules:

So we finally get to see Jon ruling in the North. This has been something we have been waiting years to see. Jon’s kingship has been foreshadowed constantly through the books. From Robert Baratheon’s remarks that the Northern kings are buried in snow, to Mormont’s raven frequent squawking’s of “king” and “crown” in Jon’s presence, and with Robb’s will on top of that, there is little argument that Jon becoming the next King in the North after Robb. The how of it is the question that GRRM will need to answer.

But we have it in the show (as awkward the coronation was). And Jon shows he has more of a handle on how to politically merge the wants of his Northern lords with the coming threat of the White Walkers than Sansa does. Probably because Jon knows that the White Walkers are coming, while Sansa just understands it. There’s a keen difference, and it is shown in our first scene in the North.

Sansa pushes for the Karstarks and Umbers to have their lands stripped from them, but a ruthless hand in victory will do the Starks no favors. Jon understands that the North needs to stand united against the coming threat, and he needs to give a forgiving hand to the Karstarks and the Umbers. If he followed Sansa’s advice, Jon would foster animosity in the families, and they would fight to get their lands back.

But now they have reasons to stay loyal and true to the Starks, especially since Alys Karstark and Ned Umber were not the ones to rise up against the Starks.

Ned Umber being a young boy is a double blessing for Jon. Not only is he young and easily influenced, but Jon can install regents that are loyal to House Stark to foster him. Jon can, from the root up, rebuild Umber loyalty to House Stark. On top of this, he shows that Jon Snow is a King worth following. He is not the Boltons under a more familiar coat.

Stay loyal and be rewarded, turn traitor and be killed.

I really am not liking how DnD are trying to imply that Sansa will be a villain. Everyone who knows these characters – and that should be everyone at this point – knows she will not turn against her family. It makes no sense for her to do so. DnD are just gonna make us all feel like “Oooo, will she do it?” and then “Nope, she didn’t. Like we all fucking knew”. It’s an annoying piece of direction from them, and I’d wish that they would just focus on Littlefinger as the antagonist in the North.

I also found Lyanna Mormont’s quip of rather holding a spear than knitting by a fire annoying. Who is going to keep the Northmen warm during the winter if they have no coats or cloaks? Northern nationalism warms the heart, but not the skin on your back. It would have been nice if the writers also had Jon say that the men will need to help with supplies, and learn how to forage in the winters. Have the Wildlings teach them a thing or two.

Also, it seems like the Northern lords jumped pretty quick on the “White Walkers are coming!” bandwagon. For all their lives, they were raised with the fairytale of the White Walkers, and all of a sudden they all believe in it? It feels like there was a cut scene of some Northmen asking themselves just what kind of crazy loon they had made as their king.

Jon and Sansa:

Again, DnD is trying to imply that Sansa will turn cloak, when everyone and their mothers know otherwise. Sansa says that she learned a great deal from Cersei – giving the implication that she learned how to be ruthless and cynical. But I think what Sansa is saying is Cersei will not stop at whatever it takes to come North.

Sure, Jon used the “Russia” defense theory, and it makes sense. But Cersei will find a way regardless. Sansa knows this, and she is trying to teach Jon that.

I appreciated what Sansa is trying to do with Jon here. She is insisting that he can’t think like Robb and Eddard, that he needs to be his own man. They were good men who made foolish mistakes – Ned didn’t realize the full scope of his powers as Hand, and Robb didn’t want to create a bastard by Jeyne Westerling after seeing what Jon went through. Jon can’t be like them.

However, this is all shit that should have gone down BEFORE they met with the lords. Sansa should have known better than to undermine Jon in front of his lords. She knows how important saving face is. Nobody understands social politics better than her. It was out of character for her to do what she did.

DnD were just creating conflict in an awkward way, and it showed.

Cersei’s Big Map:

Aegon the Conqueror had a painted table. Cersei is going to have a fucking floor. Says a lot about the differences between the two rulers. Aegon knew how to rule, but Cersei thinks walking over the realm is what makes one a ruler.

Jaime is beginning to understand the sheer depths of Cersei’s paranoia, and I liked how Jaime was asked if he should be afraid of her. Cersei should be afraid of the Volanqar standing right in front of her. Jaime also understands that the Lannisters have no legs to stand on. They have no allies, and no legitimacy to sit upon the Iron Throne. Cersei was the mother to the king, but that does not mean she gets to be queen.

Cersei is a usurper, and Jaime understands that completely.

Two Good Hands:

At this point we understand just what type of character Show!Euron is going to be, and he is nothing like Book!Euron. This Euron is just a crazy pirate with a flair for the dramatic. He is not a monster in the flesh of man. No sorceries, no Valyrian armor, no dragon binding horns, no Eldritch sense of horror.

And despite all that, I don’t hate the Euron we saw today. I loved how he chewed the scenery, his banter was great, and he has this absurd sense of entitlement. Jaime needs to get some oilment for the burns he got.

This Euron has no depth, but I’ll be damned if he is not fun as hell to watch.

I did appreciate how Team Lannister did not buy any of Euron’s shit. They didn’t just skip right into welcoming Euron with open arms – they wanted a reason to trust him. Euron admitted outright that he killed his brother and liege. Cersei has no reason to truth Euron.

The problem is, Euron is going to give her reason to trust him. With a gift.

Sam in Oldtown:

Hello montage. You overstayed your welcome.

On paper, Sam’s montage was fine. It was a decent amount of comic relief that overstayed its welcome, but what it did do was show how much time had passed since the finale of season six. Without this scene, one would think the new season began just as soon as season six ended.

However, the montage went on for a little bit too long, repeated the same notes one too many times. They earned one chuckle from us, and wanted two more. They didn’t get two more.

Sam’s scene with Archmaester Marwyn (or he should be) was nice. Having a maester that knows the Long Night is coming is a good indicator that an age of magic is coming, and the era of logic is coming to a close.

It was also important the message that the Archmaester said: humanity has survived. Humanity has always survived every calamity that has been thrown at it. The showrunners are telling us what the ending of the series will be – humanity will prevail, no matter what else happens. Game of Thrones isn’t a bitter narrative.

It is an affirming one. Good will always prevail over evil, but being good is hard. That’s why our heroes suffered for so long.

I just hope that Sam doesn’t find out that Rhaeger annulled his marriage to Elia Martell. Beyond the timeline problems, it makes no sense for Rhaegar to do that. Why would he make his son and daughter a bastard so Jon could be a prince? It pretty much makes Rhaegar a 100% douche with no redeeming qualities. That would add nothing to the narrative.

Sansa, Queen of Shade:

If we spent the entire season having people throw shade on Littlefinger, I would consider it well spent.

The issue I have with Littlefinger is I don’t understand why he is in the North, why he is doing anything. If he lusted after Sansa, why did he arrange her marriage to the Boltons? Even if he thought Ramsay was a fruitcake, you don’t want some other man screwing the woman you love. That makes no bloody sense.

So Littlefinger…why are you here? The writers wrote themselves into a corner with him. His wants are complete wishy-washy.

Arya and the Westerlander Soldiers:

I swear to God, I was the only one that didn’t recognize Ed Sheeran in this scene. Everyone says he pulled them out of the scene, but I don’t even know what the guy looks like. This is what I get for having 700 GB of soundtracks and classical music on my computer. (No regrets)

So since that was everyone’s singular criticism with that scene, I feel it was perfect. I loved how Arya is learning that not everyone associated with the Lannisters are bad people, and it does a double whammie of showing us (the viewers) that the Lannisters have no leg to stand upon. They have no legitimacy, everyone knows it, a stray wind will push them down.

The scene reminded me a lot of a narrative technique employed by many immersive shooters (System Shock, Thief, Deus Ex, Dishonored, Prey 2017), where the player can overhear the enemy talk to each other. You get the “enemy” earn a face, talk about their fears and doubts, joke around, be actual people.

This is what this scene does. It gives us a face for the normal Westerlanders that are dragged into Cersei’s bullshit.

They were very clean and pretty, for a bunch of normal soldiers, though. Smear some mud on their cloaks. I also felt they were just a wee bit too chummy with Arya, but overall the scene was stellar.

Clegane with the Brotherhood:

Probably the best collection of scenes in the entire episode. Yes Clegane, you are a terrible person, and you need to see just how terrible first hand. The great thing here is that, in such a fast-paced episode where everything is setting up something, this scene takes it’s time. They don’t rush through it, don’t force the lines along. It’s a pure character building moment.

Some people have issue with how Sandor saw things in the fire, but I think it makes sense. The Age of Magic is coming, and the Lord of Light wants everyone to know it. If you know how to speak to him, he will answer back. And Sandor actually seeing things in the fire…I think it shows how much closer he is facing his brother. In season two, he couldn’t even look at the fires on Blackwater Bay, and he was nowhere close to filling Gregor’s heart with a sword. But season six, and Cleganebowl is FUCKING CONFIRMED.

The gravedigging scene was a nice nod to his role as the Gravedigger from the books.

Sam and Gilly and Jorah:

Hey, Little Sam got bigger! Only took him like four years.

The scene was pretty much just an exposition scene with decent dialogue. My biggest complaint is that there really isn’t much more to it besides that. We don’t get much character building, just a setup for Jon meeting up with Dany in the next few episodes.

Also, can we just have the Perv from Bear Island die from greyscale already? Most worthless character in the book. He drags everything down with him.

Daenerys Comes Home:

I WAITED NINE YEARS FOR THIS MOMENT AND IT WAS EVERYTHING I WANTED AND MORE.

Okay, let’s be rational now. DnD made the absolute best decision to make scene without dialogue. Having Dany or Tyrion or anybody else speak would have had just TOLD us what she was feeling. But this was the moment that Dany has been working, struggling, bleeding towards, since we first meet here in Game of Thrones.

We needed to see the complex emotions on her. And Emilia sold the hell out of it.

Dragonstone was the ending of the Targaryen family, and it was where Daenerys began. She was born on Dragonstone while her family’s armada was torn apart by the most fierce storm Westeros had ever seen.

And when Daenerys finally sets her eyes on the throne that her family had sat on for centuries before Aegon the Conqueror and his sister-wives conquered Westeros, a seat she has bled for, dreamed of, been told stories about…she walks right past it and gets to work.

She is ready to rule, but Daenerys Targaryen has no delusions. She has a war to win,

Stellar scene.

#game of thrones #dragonstone #jon snow #sansa stark #cersei lannister #Jaime Lannister #daenerys targaryen #samwell tarly #sandor clegane #season 7

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secret-diary-of-an-fa · 7 years

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‘Get Out’ Review (Spoiler Warning: I Fucking Loved It)

WOOT WOOT, SPOILERS AHEAD, WOOT

Guess what, you lucky-fuckies. No, there’ll be no clues: just guess. Go on. Ha! I knew you wouldn’t get it! Well, I’ll tell you what it is you failed to guess: you’re getting two blogs tonight. The second one will discuss why I’m on Tumblr so little lately. This one (as the title suggests) is a review of the excellent cinematic treat that is Get Out.

For the 0.1% of you who have somehow missed the buzz around this film, I’ll fill you in on the details (I hope you can pay attention- your recent return to Earth’s gravity might leave you a bit disoriented). Basically, it’s a raciallly aware horror film. The set-up is simple: an easy-going and all-round likeable black fella named Chris goes to visit his white girlfriend’s parents. Unfortunately, said parents (and all their douchebag friends) turn out to be a little... off. They keep saying subtly racist, creepy things. What’s more, the few black folk in the neibourhood act as though they’ve been brainwashed or are under extreme duress. More and more red flags go up until Chris finally decides that enough is enough and tries to escape... at which point the full scope of the communities twisted plans and warped psyches comes into play and plunges our hero into the obligatory desperate struggle for survival. I won’t tell you what’s actually going on with the creepy racist community or what they’re up to, because you deserve to witness the surprise for yourself in your nearest cinema.

Get Out is a brilliant piece of film-making, in part because it successfully marries the horror and survival genres in a way that many self-described ‘survival horror’ narratives don’t. The first half of the film is spent spent cultivating a sense of dread and impending doom. Everything that happens serves to unsettle the audience further and force them (and protagonist Chris) closer to the certainty that somethng is really, really wrong. The film also takes a lot of time to make you really loathe the cringe-worthy, self-satisfied upper-middle class tossers who are its central villains. The fact that their racism is the low-key, non-explicit kind makes them even more hateable than if they were just a bunch of cartoonish, confederate-flaf waving nutbars. Having set up the explosives, the second half of the film is all about lighting the fuse and watching the fireworks. In short: it delivers that all-important ingredient, catharsis. Once these people are revealed to be evil and not just arseholes, Chris has survive them. A less original, less daring horror film would have him struggle to escape them, but that’s not what Get Out does. I don’t wish to spoil anything, but Chris’s survival method is a lot more conflict-oriented than escape-oriented, which is exactly what you want to see by that point in the film.

Get Out is fantastic in another way, too: it’s one of the most effective reminders in years that middle-class, suburban racism is still a thing that exists and is still a problem. More importantly, it jolts you in such a way that you find yourself just as outraged by the issue as when you first encountered or heard of it. You see, the audience realise waaaaay before Chris does that there’s something very badly wrong with the creepy community he finds himself. Which means that if you’re sitting in the audience to this film means that, sooner or later, you’re going to ask yourself why Chris doesn’t just make a run for it while he can. Then the answer hits you: because all this unsettling, cringe-y, not-quite-hostile behaviour that we-the-audience read as horror movie red flags is completely indistiguishable from ordinary, day-to-day racism. Chris puts up with this shit so often that there’s no reason why he’d assign it special signifance until its too late. He knows something’s up, but he’s so used to this bullshit that it doesn’t occur to him that ‘something’ might mean actual horror-film depravity.

It’s a shocking moment that will happen for everyone in the cinema at different points in the film. It’s shocking because it doesn’t just hammer home how appalling racism is, but how depressingly fucking prevelant it is.

There are a million hashtags, blogs posts and patreon accounts that want you to feel ways about race relations in modern America. A few are really important and worthy of support, but many are well-meaning yet ultimately toothless. Many others are actively counter-productive. If you want to be reminded (forcibly) why this stuff matters, go see this movie. If you want to make somebody you know start giving a shit about this stuff, drag them to see this movie.

This one gets the Secret-Diary Golden Narwhal of Approval (because who needs seals when you’ve got Narwhals- am I right or am I right?) Go watch it, then send me a chat-message thanking me.

Oh, and the guy who plays Chris’s best friend is a comedic genius who lights up every scene he’s in. Somebody get that man a sitcom.

#secret diary of a fat admirer #Get Out #film review #Get Out review #good films #films to see

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andytgerm · 7 years

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Oscar Picks! Get Your Fresh Unique Oscar Picks Here!

TI did good this year! In terms of preparation, I mean. These picks are probably godawful, a losing combination of switching between going with my gut or my heart or my head. But, I have seen all but THREE of the nominated films (2 animated, 1 foreign language), which is, I think, very good for someone with no connections for screener access. Also, I thought it was, on the whole, a good group of nominees, in that I only wanted to die while watching, like, 3 of the movies.

So, without further ado, my mostly informed picks for tonight!

Best picture: “Arrival” “Fences” “Hacksaw Ridge” “Hell or High Water” “Hidden Figures” “La La Land” “Lion” “Manchester by the Sea” “Moonlight”

La La Land has been “controversial” since more than festival-goers saw it because it’s been the front runner for so long. But it will surprise few to learn that I think it’s great! Deeply considered and moving, and with thematic depth, plus the kind of razzmatazz I’m a complete sucker for. Frankly, I don’t see a ton of differences between it and, say, Mad Max: Fury Road in terms of craft and skill displayed, but it’s been dinged because the perception is that it is light and unserious and a rip-off or what-have-you. Or too jazzy, or maybe the wrong kind of jazzy? Anyway, it’s definitely winning, and in a line-up with only 2.5 movies I didn’t as least think were “mostly good” (Hacksaw is pretty bad, Lion is meh-nipulative, and Hidden Figures is a little obvious, but otherwise I like ‘em all!), I’m not really mad about it and probably would vote for it because it appeals to my taste so specifically.

Will Win: La La Land Should Win: La La Land Dark Horse: Moonlight

Lead actor: Casey Affleck, “Manchester by the Sea” Andrew Garfield, “Hacksaw Ridge” Ryan Gosling, “La La Land,” Viggo Mortensen, “Captain Fantastic” Denzel Washington, “Fences”

The most high profile competitive race, despite it being one of the weaker categories this year. The battle of the narratives is strong here, and I wonder if it’s been overblown a little bit. BUT, the competitor is who I would pick, so I’m going to lean into hope and go in that direction. Garfield is nominated for the wrong movie (you didn’t see Silence, but he was great), and he’s kind of a cartoon in Hacksaw with his VERY broad accent. Gosling’s charming, but the center of the so-called “backlash” against LLL with his jazz love. Captain Fantastic is a bad movie that buys into Viggo’s characters world-view too much to be anything but self-indulgent claptrap and also has no support anywhere else. Affleck’s got the momentum and a great performance, but Washington’s got the monologues. Both playing frustrating characters, one for talking so much without doing enough listening, the other for not communicating at all. My vote goes to the excellent August Wilson interpretation, again, due to personal taste leanings.

Will Win: Denzel Washington Should Win: Denzel Washington Dark Horse Smart Pick: Casey Affleck

Lead actress: Isabelle Huppert, “Elle” Ruth Negga, “Loving” Natalie Portman, “Jackie” Emma Stone, “La La Land” Meryl Streep, “Florence Foster Jenkins”

GREAT category. God, so many great female lead performances this year. My personal pick is probably the sadly un-nominated Annette Benning in 20th Century Woman, who is so subtle and great and does some of the best “watching and listening” acting you’ll ever see. But Ruth Negga probably takes the subtle and unshowy slot, and she’s terrific too, so I can’t complain too much. Given this choice selection, I’d go for the probable winner, because, seriously, Emma Stone is charming and funny and deep and complicated in La La Land, plus she gets to do a big 11 o’clock number. Huppert’s probably the potential upset, she’s got momentum and gets to do a LOT of different unusual things in Elle. Portman never seemed to reach full potential, but she’s a strong center in Jackie once you get used to the big choices and latch on to the movie’s wavelength. Streep Streeps it up and does all the things you love.

Will Win: Emma Stone Should Win: Annette Benning Emma Stone Dark Horse: Isabelle Huppert

Supporting actor: Mahershala Ali, “Moonlight” Jeff Bridges, “Hell or High Water” Lucas Hedges, “Manchester by the Sea” Dev Patel, “Lion” Michael Shannon, “Nocturnal Animals”

Another strong category, though the Shannon nomination for that nothingburger of a movie is regrettable (he’s at least the CORRECT supporting actor to go with). Bridges is great, turning on a dime when The Big Dramatic Thing happens at the end of that terrific movie, having kept you laughing the whole way to that moment. Patel’s fine, but his section of the movie does not fulfill the potential suggested by in the first part. Mahershala Ali is another great watching and listening performance, and his raw and simple connection with Little, especially in the scene where he explains what “faggot” means to him, is so delicately beautiful. Hedges, though, is unexpected and confounding in the best way. His character is trying his best to make the best of a bad situation, giving his all, even though he’s not grown up enough to have that be enough all the time. It’s a terrific honest and unexpected portrait of grief in a movie full of contrasting pictures, and I’m really excited to see what he does next.

Will Win: Mahershala Ali Should Win: Lucas Hedges Dark Horse: Jeff Bridges

Supporting actress: Viola Davis, “Fences” Naomie Harris, “Moonlight” Nicole Kidman, “Lion” Octavia Spencer, “Hidden Figures” Michelle Williams, “Manchester by the Sea”

Octavia would not be my Hidden Figures pick (how about that Janelle Monae, huh?) but she does have that killer line in that great scene with Kirsten Dunst. Kidman I sadly found forgettable (but check out Big Little Lies on HBO, you guys). Naomie Harris gets the most recognizable/predictable arc in Moonlight, but she sells the hell out of it. And doing it in three days!? That’s incredible. Michelle has the big scene that’s the closest we get to catharsis in Manchester, and is maybe doing the best job of “Supporting” in a way that many of these other performances aren’t. But holy hell does Viola deliver everything you would want her to in that part. I have no beef with her placement here, and she gives great watching/listening, great monologuing, and has the best scene of the movie (that night time phone call) centered on her. Gosh it’ll be great to see her win.

Will Win: Viola Davis Should Win: Viola Davis Dark Horse: Michelle Williams, I guess, but c’mon.

Best director: “La La Land,” Damien Chazelle “Hacksaw Ridge,” Mel Gibson “Moonlight,” Barry Jenkins “Manchester by the Sea,” Kenneth Lonergan “Arrival,” Denis Villeneuve

Oh, hey, I haven’t had the chance to say anything about it yet, but Arrival is really great and full of ideas and feelings, and to see it nominated here is great! But this is a Jenkins/Chazelle race, and La La Land fever is definitely strong within the Academy.

Will Win: Damien Chazelle Should Win: Really, I’d be glad do see anyone but Gibson, but I guess I’d go with Denis Villeneuve in the interest of spreading the wealth? Dark Horse: Barry Jenkins

Animated feature: “Kubo and the Two Strings,” Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner “Moana,” John Musker, Ron Clements and Osnat Shurer “My Life as a Zucchini,” Claude Barras and Max Karli “The Red Turtle,” Michael Dudok de Wit and Toshio Suzuki “Zootopia,” Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Clark Spencer

This is one of my “I haven’t seen them all categories” which is too bad because I like seeing animated films a bunch, but Zucchini and Red Turtle have not made it to my neck of the woods yet. I liked Zootopia a lot, though I found its second half less engaging on second viewing, and I think the villain is telegraphed a bit too heavily. But that beginning, and getting to know the world, plus its thematic depth will make it a worthy winner. Kubo is GREAT and fun and moving, perhaps a bit let down by its vocal cast, but otherwise gives you everything you could want in an animated film. But Moana is a Disney musical, and if you haven’t figured it out already, I’m a sucker for those (they make me cry just by, like, structure? Like, opening establishing musical numbers emotionally move me to tears just because they exist?). And it’s one that doesn’t forget it’s a musical halfway through.

Will Win: Zootopia Should Win: Moana Dark Horse: Kubo and the Two Strings

Animated short: “Blind Vaysha,” Theodore Ushev “Borrowed Time,” Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj “Pear Cider and Cigarettes,” Robert Valley and Cara Speller “Pearl,” Patrick Osborne “Piper,” Alan Barillaro and Marc Sondheimer

This crop was just ok this year, I thought, though seeking out the shorts is always one of my favorite parts of Oscar season. Borrowed Time was my surprise favorite, and is heftier than you think it’s going to be. Pear Cider is... a lot, and not always in a good way, but the style is good. Blind Vaysha’s a bit much, but has got a great Caroline Dhavernas voice-over. Piper’s level of detail is jaw-dropping. And Pearl’s got tech innovations and well-calibrated sentimentality, so that gives it the edge for me.

Will Win: Pearl Should Win: Borrowed Time Dark Horse: Piper

Adapted screenplay: “Arrival,” Eric Heisserer “Fences,” August Wilson “Hidden Figures,” Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi “Lion,” Luke Davies “Moonlight,” Barry Jenkins; Story by Tarell Alvin McCraney

I mean, am I gonna not give a theoretical award to August Wilson? Well, predictions-wise, yes, but god that script is so deep and fascinating. This is an easy area for them to recognize the great achievement of Moonlight, and it is certainly a win I can get behind, three well-told connected stories is no easy feat.

Will Win: Moonlight Should Win: Fences Dark Horse: Arrival

Original screenplay: “20th Century Women,” Mike Mills “Hell or High Water,” Taylor Sheridan “La La Land,” Damien Chazelle “The Lobster,” Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthimis Filippou “Manchester by the Sea,” Kenneth Lonergan

20th Century Women! That’s a hell of a script, and it moves so beautifully and delicately. What a wonder of a miracle that movie is! The Lobster is prickly and the dialogue is very mannered, but the conceptual originality is undeniable. Hell or High Water has a lot more on its mind than you go in expecting, and was a huge surprise favorite for me, with some terrific duet scenes (Pine and his kid! Pine and Bridges!) and wonderful cameo sized characters (Texans with guns! Waitresses!). In hopes of a “spread the wealth” mentality, I’m predicting Manchester, though, as it’s not favored much elsewhere, and it certainly is written with depth and insight.

Will Win: Manchester by the Sea Should Win: 20th Century Women Dark Horse Smart Pick: La La Land

Cinematography: “Arrival,” Bradford Young “La La Land,” Linus Sandgren “Lion,” Greig Fraser “Moonlight,” James Laxton “Silence,” Rodrigo Prieto

These are all great!

Will Win: La La Land Should Win: Moonlight Dark Horse: Moonlight

Best documentary feature: “13th,” Ava DuVernay, Spencer Averick and Howard Barish “Fire at Sea,” Gianfranco Rosi and Donatella Palermo “I Am Not Your Negro,” Raoul Peck, Remi Grellety and Hebert Peck “Life, Animated,” Roger Ross Williams and Julie Goldman “O.J.: Made in America,” Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow

Many of these are also great! And the three that are centered on the African American experience are a nice trilogy together. But, c’mon, OJ is a TV miniseries.

Will Win: O.J.: Made in America Should Win: I Am Not Your Negro Dark Horse: 13th

Best documentary short subject: “4.1 Miles,” Daphne Matziaraki “Extremis,” Dan Krauss “Joe’s Violin,” Kahane Cooperman and Raphaela Neihausen “Watani: My Homeland,” Marcel Mettelsiefen and Stephen Ellis “The White Helmets,” Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara

Boy, this is an emotional killer of a category. After seeing all 5 in one night on the big screen, I tweeted “Saw all the Oscar doc shorts tonight, and they were crushing, but if seeing all of any 1 category would make one a better person, that's it.“ and I stand by that. Illuminating and tough, a great group of shorts.

Will Win: The White Helmets Should Win: Watani: My Homeland Dark Horse: Extremis

Best live action short film: “Ennemis Interieurs,” Selim Azzazi “La Femme et le TGV,” Timo von Gunten and Giacun Caduff “Silent Nights,” Aske Bang and Kim Magnusson “Sing,” Kristof Deak and Anna Udvardy “Timecode,” Juanjo Gimenez

This was definitely the weakest shorts category. I enthusiastically liked one of them (Sing) and thought another one was fun (Timecode), but the rest I found inaccessible (Ennemis Interieurs) or verging on sappy (La Femme/Silent Nights). My cynical self thought Silent Nights (sentimental, but deals with Important Social Issues) would win the moment I saw it, though I have heard of no one who is a fan. Still gonna guess it, so I can be pleasantly surprised when it loses.

Will Win: Silent Nights Should Win: Sing Dark Horse: Ennemis Interiurs

Best foreign language film: “A Man Called Ove,” Sweden “Land of Mine,” Denmark “Tanna,” Australia “The Salesman,” Iran “Toni Erdmann,” Germany

I was blown away and cannot stop thinking about The Salesman. That movies got staying power, plus it received extra attention with the awful Travel Ban, so that makes it an easy prediction. I haven’t seen Land of Mine. Tanna was pretty and simple and unique, but didn’t really hold together upon reflection. Ove is pitched right to the older sentimental voter, and I guess it’s a pretty ok version of that story. Toni Erdmann’s got the cool film fan vote, and it had like 3 of my deepest, most gut-busting laughs of the crop, but it took a long time for me to get on board with it.

Will Win: The Salesman Should Win: The Salesman Dark Horse: Toni Erdmann

Film editing: “Arrival,” Joe Walker “Hacksaw Ridge,” John Gilbert “Hell or High Water,” Jake Roberts “La La Land,” Tom Cross “Moonlight,” Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon

Another easy area for La La Land to rack up a sweep, and it’s certainly got rhythm and pizzazz going for it. Moonlight’s got some terrific wordless sequences though, and can hold a long shot with the best of them.

Will Win: La La Land Should Win: Moonlight Dark Horse: Moonlight

Sound editing: “Arrival,” Sylvain Bellemare “Deep Water Horizon,” Wylie Stateman and Renee Tondelli “Hacksaw Ridge,” Robert Mackenzie and Andy Wright “La La Land,” Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan “Sully,” Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman

Arrival made up all those alien noises, which were really essential to you buying into the movie. Deepwater Horizon was a better watch than I expected, and it certainly explores all the different ways an oil rig can blow up with sound. Sully’s got those birds. Don’t forget the birds. But this is a big war movie category, and the most high profile one of the night will *sigh* probably win here.

Will Win: Hacksaw Ridge Should Win: Arrival Dark Horse: La La Land (sweeps can be powerful, you guys)

Sound mixing: “Arrival,” Bernard Gariepy Strobl and Claude La Haye “Hacksaw Ridge,” Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace “La La Land,” Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee and Steve A. Morrow “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” David Parker, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,” Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Mac Ruth

I watched Michael Bay’s Benghazi movie and all I got was vague credibility when predicting this lousy Oscars category (it was bad). Musicals do well here, though I think La La Land is weaker than many think here because a lot of folks complain that they couldn’t understand the lyrics (I thought the mixing was fine, but they maybe should have chosen singers with more powerful voices?).

Will Win: La La Land Should Win: Arrival Dark Horse: Hacksaw Ridge

Production design: “Arrival,” Patrice Vermette, Paul Hotte “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” Stuart Craig, Anna Pinnock “Hail, Caesar!,” Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh “La La Land,” David Wasco, Sandy Reynolds-Wasco “Passengers,” Guy Hendrix Dyas, Gene Serdena

Sweepin’ gonna sweep. How bout Hail, Caesar!, tho?

Will Win: La La Land Should Win: Hail, Caesar! Dark Horse: Arrival

Original score: “Jackie,” Mica Levi “La La Land,” Justin Hurwitz “Lion,” Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka “Moonlight,” Nicholas Britell “Passengers,” Thomas Newman

Original musical! I’ve been humming and feeling the great instrumental themes form La La Land since I saw it.

Will Win: La La Land Should Win: La La Land Dark Horse: Jackie

Original song: “Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” “La La Land” — Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” “Trolls” — Music and Lyric by Justin Timberlake, Max Martin and Karl Johan Schuster “City of Stars,” “La La Land” — Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul “The Empty Chair,” “Jim: The James Foley Story” — Music and Lyric by J. Ralph and Sting “How Far I’ll Go,” “Moana” — Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda

This is a heartbreaker category, where is Popstar? Where is Swiss Army Man? Where is Sing Street? Why those La La Land songs? I’ve gotta go with my sort-of Twitter buddy Lin Manuel Miranda (he followed me for a little while, OK? Get off my back!), even if he’s many not who most are predicting. Plus, if Pasek and Paul lap him and EGOT in a year, I’ll be pissed at how rude that is.

Will Win: “How Far I’ll Go” Should Win: “How Far I’ll Go” (really for the second reprise, but it’s good at first too!) Dark Horse: “City of Stars” (though Audition is better, and Someone in the Crowd’s the best song in the movie)

Makeup and hair: “A Man Called Ove,” Eva von Bahr and Love Larson “Star Trek Beyond,” Joel Harlow and Richard Alonzo “Suicide Squad,” Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelson

Realistic old person makeup is hard to bet against, and I really don’t want to live in the Oscar Winner Suicide Squad world. Star Trek’s got really good work in this category, too, though.

Will Win: A Man Called Ove Should Win: Star Trek Beyond Dark Horse: Star Trek Beyond

Costume design: “Allied,” Joanna Johnston “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” Colleen Atwood “Florence Foster Jenkins,” Consolata Boyle “Jackie,” Madeline Fontaine “La La Land,” Mary Zophres

This is far from my best/most knowledgable category, but I’ll be happy if contemporary memorable designs from La La Land get it as expected.

Will Win: La La Land Should Win: La La Land Dark Horse: Jackie

Visual effects: “Deepwater Horizon,” Craig Hammack, Jason Snell, Jason Billington and Burt Dalton “Doctor Strange,” Stephane Ceretti, Richard Bluff, Vincent Cirelli and Paul Corbould “The Jungle Book,” Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Dan Lemmon “Kubo and the Two Strings,” Steve Emerson, Oliver Jones, Brian McLean and Brad Schiff “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel and Neil Corbould

Did you see all those animals in the Jungle Book? And the note at the end about how it was filmed in California? That was really cool. Doctor Strange was great fun in this area too. But Kubo had a special features real showcasing this work during the credits, so it moves up in the running for me.

Will Win: The Jungle Book Should Win: The Jungle Book Dark Horse: Kubo and the Two Strings

#Oscars #Predictions #Oscar Nominations #Academy Awards

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