I AM SO NORMAL ABOUT HIM

Evil!Sun my beloved (Edit// This Evil!Sun is from TSAMS and is not an AU of mine guys)

Bonus doodle

gray and sharing screentime with himself

in my current brainrot over a singular character, i decided to compile all the distinctions between gray and graham

looking at a very rough approximation of the screen time gray has throughout the show, the weird thing is that he is himself at the beginning and at the end.

graham takes many actions during s1 and s2 that differ from the gray we meet in the train in s1

Name: from found cut content from the original pilot of cs before netflix, it is carmen who suggests gray as graham's nickname. gray takes it without much care. graham, on the other hand, insists on his full name. seen in s2 ep7, both when carmen meets him up at the cafe and after FALLING FROM A PARAGLIDER. when asked his name during s4 ep3, his va emphasizes graham -- though i could be reading into things. guess brainwashing came along with a hatred with nicknames lol (probably to prevent carmen ever triggering gray's memories)

Life goal: we get gray's interview tape that showed his interest in vile, revealing not only was he a criminal before vile but he primarily "[wants] to be successful". (In cut content, during the detention scene where they all discuss code names, gray refuses sheena's suggestion of power failure because he didn't want to be thought of as a failure). gray joined vile because he didn't want to play within the system, believing he's deserving of success more than others due to his own skills so he's better off cheating the system. in contrast, graham in s1 ep6 declines being carmen's guide due to having to go to work early to fix something. He even declines carmen's payment for his work during s2 ep7, only stopped cuz carmen is good at dramatically disappearing. he is so diligent that within eight months, he was able to work up to be a lighting tech from just starting out as an electrician. meanwhile, he gave up being a junior electrican at the Sydney opera house as a teen due to disatisfaction (idk anything abt australia but isnt being a junior electrcian at the sydney opera house a big deal??)

Morality: most blatantly in his line "but we are the good guys" in s2 ep7 (i think he repeats this again during his interrogation with acme in s4), graham has a sense of morality that gray obviously would lack since he joined vile willingly. gray has no issues with stealing and has had a clear arrogance in his abilities ever since he was a teen. killing doesn't seem to be off the table for him, but he only does so if that compromises his mission. (for example, he gives chase a chance to leave during s4 ep 7, so he def isn't taking any excuse to take a life). graham's main act of "goodness" is risking his own life to save a kid in s4 ep3. while im sure gray is heartless enough to watch a kid die, i dont think he would be as ready to risk himself for a stranger. he likely would be more apathetic and would do so if it has some benefit to him or look the other way -- right after saving the kid, "crackle" steals the nameless kid's wallet with a smile. from his confrontation with carmen in the himalyas, he responds to carmen using his old words as him being an "innocent fool", dimissing whatever he believed then as not his own

crackle is another semi identity we get from gray during the fugue state he enters following regaining his memories from acme. it seems to be just due to how drastic the memories are for graham's mind to handle, the split is very direct, with "crackle" - all of gray's training and criminal instincts - being pretty non verbal (he does i think talk on the phone with vile once) and expresionless (he does have an evil little smile after stealing nameless kid's wallet but thats abt it). it honestly is dropped fast once gray is arrested (had to bolt the moment it faced consequences or whatever lol) but it def was entertaining to watch

overall it is just so odd how gray himself is barely in show and if u were to cut out the graham stuff, gray's arc of reconciling his relationship with carmen is largely unchanged. goes to show how wasted the cool amnesia plot stuff was (tho i like brainwashing angst, but i dont blame anyone for not enjoying it. it takes away a lot of the autonomy gray could've had in actually making his morally gray decisions). it honestly feels like they pumped the break of the brainwashing angst we were getting from gray and give it to carmen for the final arc tbh

/1099 spoilers (newest official chapter)

I'm really lost as to what oda's doing with vegapunk because it seems to me the narrative really wants us to think he's a good guy...? like the whole point of egghead right now is the strawhats trying to save his life. but we're just supposed to accept the smartest man in the world is so naive he thought the genocidal government he works for wouldn't use his laser shooting supersoldiers for evil? honestly so far it seems oda's kind of split between presenting vegapunk as this morally gray / flawed scientist and the nice goofy grandpa who's our new friend on this island. idk I'm just puzzled the "you have to bear responsibility for your creations" aspect hasn't really been brought up in regards to him in this arc (when it was once the crux of franky's backstory for example)

anon this has literally happened in real life, scientists wanting to use their inventions for good but the governments and politics that be sweep that technology up to manufacture it into something else.

Just look at an inventor such as Oppenheimer! The movie literally just came out to show his story regarding his regrets making such weaponry he didn't expect to be used for such catastrophic means! There are plenty of smart people out there, inventors and such, who don't understand how vile the government can be towards them and their creations. Oda is a history nerd first and foremost, and this 100% feels like him taking inspiration from real world historical events to show how even the smartest man in the world can be blinded by and suffer under the world government. It's the whole "You are not immune to propaganda" ideology.

We also don't know everything yet, if anything you're supposed to be puzzled at this point BECAUSE we haven't been shown Vegapunk's whole deal. I have no doubt more things will pop up in regards to Vegapunk regretting his creations and Franky possibly having a hand in helping him through it.

Either way, even the smartest man in the world is dumb in other fields. Being book smart doesn't lead anyone to being street smart, or politically smart! So far Vegapunk being naïve towards the world government (as far as we know) feels much more realistic than not to me.

People seem to do anything to make Namor the villain. I think he’s misunderstood and pretty neat.

The sooner people let go of the "Hero or Villain" mentality when it comes to Namor, the better.

Namor isn't good or bad, he's simply Namor. With all the complexities it comes with being Namor. I've seen many people call him a villain, but they're wrong, he's an anti-hero, but he's also a king. Namor knows sometimes he’s a monster to others but all that matters is the protection of his people. Anti-heros have their own moral code.

Are you a Hero, Namor? Or are you a Monster? I’m a King. So I’m both.

Atlantis Attacks (2020) #1

I am King of Atlantis. I must protect my citizens, whatever the risk! You can spend your days being a “Hero” living in a world of moral absolutes, but when you have a civilization to defend, sometimes there is nothing but gray!

Sub-Mariner (2007) #4

Answering this here because it’s basically the same:

Was Namor being too much in the film? Is going after someones parent worse than one of their subjects? Wdyt???

In Avengers Arena (2013) #15 Namor orders and carries out the execution of of two traitors of Atlantis. He speaks to their daughter whom he had just orphaned.

“I did not summon you here to punish you for your parents treachery. These crimes are theirs alone. Nor am I asking you to forgive me their deaths. You’ve earned your contempt. Keep it. But I do hope you will accept one last gift from your King. A lesson to be learned from this mess. Trust in yourself and no one else. You’ll be less often disappointed.”

Namor doesn’t go after people because he’s a murderer, or some psychopath, or evil. He always has a reason for his actions. There were consequences for the actions others took as well.

To Namor, Ramonda threatened the lives of his subjects, one of her Wakandan Agents, Nakia, killed his people on Ramonda’s orders to do whatever it took to find Riri and Shuri and bring them home (Namor didn’t kidnap her, Shuri asked to go). Why is Ramonda’s life worth more than the lives of two of Namor’s people? Where is the scale to measure lives to see which is more just than the other in this case? I see a lot of people say Namor is wrong but it’s just like how people treat Namor in comic fandom. They view Namor’s actions from the perspective of humans, but Namor was never a human hero. Comic and now MCU fandom always disregards the lives of Atlanteans/Talokanil as canon fodder because they are just another subject, but to Namor each one of them is a person he swore to protect.

I was actually very surprised by Coogler going that far because not only does it stay true to Namor’s core character but it also meant Coogler understood that Namor isn’t going to pull his punches, or soften his actions. Namor will do anything, will take on any burden, will bloody his hands, if it means his people are safe and thriving. For Namor to do anything less would be a great disservice to his character. Yes, it’s terrible what he did, but the way Namor views it, it’s justified. Honestly I see people upset that Namor got into Queen Ramonda’s face but isn’t some innocent bystander in this, she is a POWER, she is a Queen, she commands a Nation, and Namor’s every interaction and response to her was because he understands she is the most powerful person on the surface.

This movie forces people to think, and once again alot of people missed the point completely and didn’t see that Wakanda and Talokan both have a common enemy who pulled the strings/set into motion their clashes. I know the “American/French want Vibranium” wasn’t a flashy part of the movie but it’s their actions of seeking to destabilize and then steal resources from the nations that got this whole thing started.

If people want to come and be annoying in my inbox about me “not caring that Ramonda was murdered by Namor” and that I’m “excusing a murderer because he’s hot”, just don’t bother. I look at things very analytically when it comes to character meta and these are fictional characters. If you can’t understand by now that me understanding the viewpoint of fictional characters motivations doesn’t mean I condone murder, then you really shouldn’t be in fandom.

Cartoon characters you think had the biggest fall off in terms of writing?

Well, can think of a few examples

Vlad Masters from Danny Phantom

This one is quite obvious: He was a pretty interesting villain with unique motivations in the first two seasons and had a specific relationship with Danny that moved his character arc forward. He was a really good foil for Danny in the way their morals clashed.

Then Season 3 comes and sends most of that characterization to the trash, leaving a superficial version of him. He acts more as a generic villain, his motivations seem to change every episode he shows up. He is introduced as main antagonist in the season and barely does anything, with D-Stabilized being the closest you get to that, etc.

I would include Valerie Gray in the spot as well, but honestly i feel like she was more mistreated than her writing ¨fell off¨. She still acts like her usual self in D-Stabilized and it is probably her best episode along with Flirting With Disaster.

2- Marco Diaz from Star vs The Forces of Evil

Marco is a character that was having some pretty solid development in the first two seasons. He even forgave and befriended Star ex-boyfriend who only saw him as a rival. He learned to overcome his own insecurities and date a girl he really liked since he was like 10.

...And around Season 3 he like... started to flirt or date with half of the teenager girl cast. He almost started to gain a harem for all the girls that were into him. Not to mention that he kissed Star when she was dating Tom... after he spent a lot of time trying to be in good terms with him and telling him that he wasn't a thing with Star. That's not to say Star didn't mess it up big but at least she was improving in other areas like helping the monsters.

The writers took a character that was overall likable and turned him into harem dude. It was like they didn't know what to do with him after Season 2 and just matched him with every girl they could think off.

3-Mordecai from Regular Show

This case is well known and self explanatory. He was in general a good character in the first seasons. Then he got tangled in all this romance between Margaret and CJ, he messed it up so badly that CJ never spoke to him again and she didn't appear in the series later on.

The irony is that while Mordecai was getting worse, Rigby was improving in some ways by taking classes and finally graduating from school. He grows into someone more mature and responsible.

And this drama romance in the end didn't seem to have importance later on since Mordecai didn't end up with Margaret, instead he ends up with a bat girl he meets in the time skip montage.

4-Morty Smith from Rick and Morty

This is a bit weird because it isn't that his character got ruined but it feels like in some ways he has regressed to the way he was on Season 1 and Season 2.

I feel like the main issues that many have pointed out is that Rick is allowed to get better, while Morty can't. He can't process his own trauma and the way he is treated by his own family (yes, it isn't only Rick the problem). So he is stuck going back and forth with his evolution as character.

My theory is that, because the show has this thing of trying to keep the status quo, changing Morty too much would mean that the writers have to change his dynamic with Rick and... that would mean the show changing its status quo as well.

5-Charmcaster from the original Ben 10 series

I don't recall that much about her but i do remember she was someone who practiced dark magic and was mistreated by her uncle in the original show. Then in the series that followed she became someone a lot worse?? Like she started killing a lot of people for some reason. It was super weird.

6- Nine from Sonic Prime

I wouldn't call it character assassination. However, he feels like he becomes a very different character from who he was in Season 1 and Season 2.

In Season 1 and 2 he was someone who was looking out for himself. He didn't want to cause harm on purpose and just wished to live in a place he could be safe. He is just a kid who hasn't had the best life and wants someone that can be his friend.

Then in Season 3 he starts putting people in danger intentionally? He actually attacks people and threatens others. There isn't exactly a proper build up to this character change. It just happens.

It doesn't help that he doesn't have that many moments he seems to regret his actions. He just keeps going and going. So when his heel turn comes it feels... cheap, again because there wasn't enough build up to that.

I would include Chloe from Miraculous Ladybug but i haven't watched that series so..

These are the ones that come to my mind at the moment. Maybe there are others that i'm not able to recall at the moment.

I know I’m in the minority of people who like Hermes in the original PJO series so I’m staying on anon here because of it. To be honest, I always saw him as morally gray.

My take on the ‘gods can’t change’ statement; isn’t him justifying his mistakes and saying that he’s unwilling to change. If that were true, he wouldn’t give Percy a list of his children and ask him to bring them to camp or even admit he was wrong about how he treated Annabeth and Luke at the end of TLO. I think he feels perpetually trapped. Forced to go through the motions and then dealing with such a difficult situation. That regardless of the actions that he takes; others are bound to get hurt. His family especially. He doesn’t want to risk that. He doesn’t want them harmed and he knows that he’s a bit of a coward for not being able to stand up to Zeus. I think the idea that gods can’t change is more like I am beginning to think that my family will never change. That despite all my best efforts and my own changing; it still won’t make much of a difference. He’s basically nihilistic in this situation and has given up hope. As the god tasked with keeping the peace without Hestia’s help; he may feel helpless. I think he loved Luke but at the time he believed that no one could go against the Fates. Not even him. That by protecting him, it would make his relationship with Luke worse or doom everyone involved to a worse fate. He lost his lover Krokos to a tragic fate. His mother too. Same with May and others. I doubt he wants them to suffer like that. To grieve again. It’s always better for him to be the bad guy to those hurt by Olympus than for people to blame his family or themselves.

tw. racism and mental health

I guess I was the one weird kid who kind of understood where the god was coming from. My home life wasn’t great and I was forced to be my family’s peacekeeper. I had to be what everyone wanted me to be otherwise I lost opportunities. I wouldn’t get a job, have friends etc.. I had to be a model minority being Asian American. I protested and fought. Had quiet rebellions, but no one ever listened. I needed someone to listen. Not necessarily agree but hear me. I see that with Hermes.

I can understand people disagreeing. I respect differences in opinions. I am just tired of seeing Hermes as only pure evil and irredeemable content. He’s an important god and I feel like I’m the only one who likes this character. I think maybe it’s best that I stop engaging with the RR fandom for a bit. I am just too invested in something that should just be fun and easygoing.

...most people don't like Hermes in the original PJO series? I did, quite a bit. Like, he wasn't perfect, but he really DID care about what was going on with Luke, and he seemed self-aware about how shitty the situation was for demigods. His attitude in TLO reminded me of Apollo's in the later TOA books (there's a reason I made him and Artemis allies in my Gods' Eye View series. Well, that and because he and Apollo are besties in mythology).

And yeah I mean, Hermes isn't the only immortal to espouse the view that they can't change, Apollo and Bob claimed the same thing (which was especially laughable in Bob's case). It seems pretty ingrained in immortal thinking, even with how clearly wrong it is.

I ascribe to your view of Hermes' thinking and attitude. He seems bitter and helpless at the end of TLO, honestly believing that things won't change, and just... he seems like he's given up. He cares, but he doesn't expect to be able to change anything.

And yeah, stepping back from the RR fandom may be good for a bit, in this case, since sadly in my experience, fandoms tend to continue happily vilifying characters. I haven't seen a lot of people being all that serious about it with Hermes, but I haven't really seen much Hermes content for PJO more generally, since I'm mostly in the Trials of Apollo sphere and he only gets a cameo there.

Daemon is better off with Mysaria. Both manipulative and evil cause Blood and Cheese can be made only by two cruel cold people and they really are the perfect match made in hell. Rhaenyra thinking Daemon is her soulmate is so delusional, she's his opposite.

B&C was awful and showed just how far they were willing to go, but it did not happen in a vacuum. By that logic Missy Anne is just as evil as them because she never punished them for it(and while they may change things up in the show, she still won’t punish them for it).

They aren't soulmates, but she’s far from a saint herself. Don't forget that she's the same woman who tried to murder a potentially pregnant Nettles in her sleep and felt no guilt about it(and even if the show tries to pull some tricky shell still be ordering Nettles’ death which was never justified).

Irregardless of B&C, Daemon isn’t supposed to be an evil character. I know people find fault in that logic, but if he were truly evil he wouldn’t have cared about anyone but himself. That’s not the case because he obviously loved Laena and Nettles the latter of which he was willing to die for.

Is he a perfect character? No, but people don’t want to see his grayness because he doesn’t behave in the way they want him to. HOTD has very few heroes and unquestionable good guys in this story so it’s not like Daemon stands out from the bunch.

(Seriously, look at Aemond. He murdered a whole house of people(minus Alys and a boy), terrorized the riverlands, and his lover could be considered a war prize, but that routinely gets overlooked by the same people who say Daemon is evil).

To me, it honestly seems that people are more upset by the fact that Missy Anne wasn’t a part of the people who he actually cared about plus they don’t like the people who he actually cared about(Nettles in particular) so they just say he’s evil rather than admit that he's as gray as the rest.

If Daemon put crazy first instead of Nettles I can almost guarantee people would see him as someone who was morally gray, but because he puts the dirty Black Girl first? Well, that's the problem.

As for Mysaria, for all her faults* she is probably more extremely bitter rather than just being straight up evil. Her antics towards the end of her life read like someone who has a personal score she wants to settle versus doing something solely for the sake of being malicious.

*I do not like her before anyone starts anything. She tried to murder Nettles, she’ll always be someone I loathe.

Hello, I hope you're having a wonderful day (or night)!

So, let's get down to business. I complain, a lot. A professional complainer if you will. To the point where it seems I never enjoy anything. And I post terrible dad jokes. If that's not your cup of tea, feel free click off!

Yeah this is just going to be straight up terrible dad jokes

This is a work in progress. Many changes are (hopefully) coming soon. Will probably reblog a lot more than I actually complain.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This list is always growing.

STUFF I WILL RAVE ABOUT

Welkin Weasels by Garry Kilworth

Hunter's Moon (aka Foxes of Firstdark) by Garry Kilworth. Camio my beloved.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

All of Andy Frazer's work (he created the Dragons of Wales series, Dragons of Deep Time, Dragons of the Dark Woods, Novosaurs, and Project: Tepui).

I love good people and I love seeing good people do good things. Favorite trope. Gimme my heroes >:V

The aesthetic of giant walls, abandoned cities, ghost towns, etc.

The aesthetic of knights.

Brutalism (I LOVE POST MODERN BOMB SHELTER ARCHITECTURE, I WANT TO SEE IT EVERYWHERE).

Dragons.

Griffins.

Falconry.

Dinotopia.

Rain World (not the DLC, though I did have fun with it).

WolfQuest.

Saurian (whenever it actually updates :/).

Niche: Genetics Survival Evolved.

TBA

STUFF I WILL COMPLAIN ABOUT

A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones (where are the farms, George?).

Rain World: Downpour (I love butchering the old game's main themes/s).

The Dragon Prince (Justice for Humanity, Death to Avizandum, Glory to Aaravos).

Romance (no hate for romance authors and books, but when I read a fantasy book about defeating evil armies, I expect to see people defeating evil armies, what I don't expect is reading about how our hero(ine) is falling in love with the dark, brooding (abusive) man who killed her entire family).

Vampires (another personal taste thing. I only like them if I'm the one writing them).

Any kind of torture apologism (sorry gals, torture is never justified and it certainly isn't some hot 'morally gray' decision, it's just evil! People in real life will take this shit literally! <3)

I'm pretty critical of Fandom in general.

Fascism (should be self explanatory)

Ableism (same as above)

Amisia (same as above)

Transmisia/Transphobia (same as above)

Misogyny (same as above)

Racism (includes colonialism, cultural appropriation, cultural mockery, you get the idea. Same as above)

Honestly, really just any kind of harmful rhetoric?

TBA

Kay I’m very curious about your opinion on this but I hadn’t read the manga in like quite some time and I’m rereading it, and many in the fandom talk about how kikyo actually wasn’t bad or people just misunderstand her, but now that I’m rereading she tried on multiple occasions to kill Kagome or leave her for dead. I guess I just don’t understand if kikyo is so good why she tried to kill kagome or leave her to die with no real reason other than what seems like petty ones

'Nony, your timing is honestly amazing. I had literally just finished reading the chapter with Kikyo's final death scene, and I was sitting in my thoughts and feelings about her character, and then this popped into my inbox. Synchronicity! Freaky.

Anyway, I've been an on-again, off-again active participant in the InuYasha fandom since 2002 (20 years?!! oh crikey, existential crisis incoming). In that time I've seen the Opinion Pendulum™ swing from absolutely villainizing Kikyo's character to the other extreme of dismissing people who are insufficiently effusive about how much they love Kikyo (the sentiment being, "if you say or imply anything even mildly critical of Kikyo's character then you're a Kikyo hater and it's not a good look, you should really grow up").

Which is to say, the Kikyo discourse has always been annoying. In my opinion, there hasn't been nearly enough nuance brought into discussions about Kikyo's character, or enough honest recognition that she simply is morally ambiguous for a good chunk of the series (and that it's indeed okay to find a fictional character's moral ambiguity off-putting, but we gotta whisper that part apparently).

I mean, I'll be honest off the bat: I've always been pretty apathetic to Kikyo's character. I don't hate her, I don't love her: she's there, and I could take her or leave her. 🤷🏼‍♀️ That said, I've never read her as evil. If pressed, I'd summarize her character this way: she's morally gray until she isn't.

Kikyo certainly starts off as an antagonist (there are few other ways to read a character who tries on several occasions to kill the two main protagonists), so you're not wrong to see her character in that light, especially if you're still in the early series. But as the series progresses, Kikyo slowly becomes more of a gray character, still motivated by self-interest and bitterness over her (unquestionably tragic and shitty) lot in life, but less antagonistic to Kagome and InuYasha. (She actually tries to stay out of their way for a good chunk of the middle series, which bothers InuYasha at some points, but anyway.) She then disappears "off screen" for arcs upon arcs at a time, and when she does pop back in, we often see her helping out random villagers or other side characters; by this point, her motivations are noticeably less self-driven (less resentful, less angry), and her focus is largely on defeating Naraku. By the end of the series, Kikyo has become an ally to our main protagonists, in that she's trying her best to take out their mutual enemy. Regardless of one's opinion on her methods of defeating Naraku, her intention is clearly to take him out with as little collateral damage as possible (e.g., her efforts to spare Koga and Kohaku while still trying to collect their Shikon shards). Now, I personally do think her methods are morally suspect, but what's interesting is that by the end of the series, so does she—Kikyo has second thoughts about her plan to defeat Naraku precisely because it could hurt others. It's a far cry from the Kikyo we see immediately after her resurrection.

And that disparity between intention and results? That's another reason Kikyo feels morally gray. Her ultimate intentions may be "good," but her methods often aren't. And that sort of disparity is both realistic (I think most people have experience with good intentions that went astray, y'know?) and interesting. It gives layers and colors to a character.

I've always thought Kikyo's modus operandi throughout most of the series represented her biggest character flaw: she thinks the ends justify the means. She isn't actively malicious, but she's not afraid to cause harm (specifically to Kagome, and to a lesser degree InuYasha) if it'll get her closer to her goals. Again, that changes at the end of the series when she starts to doubt her plans, but for the majority of the series I think "the ends justify the means" accurately describes her motivations and behaviors.

I.e., Kikyo is morally gray until she isn't.

When it comes down to it, her character development isn't much different from other antagonists in the series, like Sesshomaru, Kagura, Koga, etc. I actually think Kikyo and Sesshomaru's respective character arcs are remarkably similar, in that their progression is essentially: obvious antagonist -> extremely morally gray -> slightly less morally gray -> unlikely ally.

(I also happen to be pretty apathetic to Sesshomaru as a character — I'm sensing a pattern here.)

Anyway, I personally think people who want to classify Kikyo as "evil" have it wrong, and people who want to classify Kikyo as "good but misunderstood" have it wrong too. She's more ambiguous and complex than that. She's selfish. She's tragic. She's a victim who suffers something unimaginable. She herself victimizes innocent people (mostly Kagome). She can't really be pigeonholed.

And I also think it's perfectly fine to dislike her. 🤷🏼‍♀️ She is a fictional character, her feelings will not be hurt if you just don't like her. Her antagonism in the early series makes it hard for a lot of people to like her. If her character leaves a bad taste in your mouth, and her changed behavior in the middle/end of the series feels unearned/poorly developed, then just keep disliking her. Who cares? You can feel however you want to about a fictional character.

My personal feelings about Kikyo are much the same as my feelings for side characters like Sesshomaru: she's there, she's more interesting in the beginning of the series than she is in the middle/the end, I think her character wasn't developed especially well, her presence in the story was dragged out too long and it felt like Rumiko Takahashi didn't really know what to do with her....

And I also try to keep in mind that InuYasha was a weekly, monster-of-the-week shounen series, that Rumiko Takahashi wasn't necessarily concerned with long-term narrative or character development, and then I try to modify my expectations accordingly.

hey besties i’m thinking about c!quackity again, so take this post. which is just me rambling abt him for an extended amount of time to the point where it’s almost concerning but that’s not the point just take the post

- quackity’s character, to me at least, is probably one of the most complex? like, it doesn’t seem that way to most ppl, because in the beginning he was the comedic relief character: back in the manberg era he was just joking around, laughing with the ppl of manberg and never taking anything too seriously? he was the life of the party, he was schlatt’s right vice that was basically just there for the fun of it more than anything, you could say. but. quickly, after the festival, he began to realize that things weren’t all fun & games. that the person he’d run with — the person who was in control of the nation, the person who’d he’d laughed and had fun with and bickered with wasn’t safe to run the nation anymore, wasn’t a good president and furthermore, wasn’t a good person. & you could say c!quackity isn’t the most morally set person, you could say that he isnt the best person & that he’s an antagonist, but he saw that c!schlatt wasn’t a good person, and he stood his ground and left him in the dust and went to go fight with the ppl who was actively mocking — who he was enemies of before, and that’s when his arc really started. take this with a grain of salt, because it’s something ppl believe & it’s something ppl don’t believe; but the fight that schlatt and quackity had? their relationship in general? it wasn’t healthy. during the fight c!schlatt was actively berating him for getting upset with him/berating him in general, talking to him in a mocking tone of voice, saying “oh, are you gonna cry?” and yelling at him in chat even when he was already lone gone from manberg — they weren’t friends. their relationship wasn’t healthy, from any way you look at it, especially considering the way you notice how c!quackity was still subtlety shaken up about the interaction when he was interacting with tommy afterwards. quackity, in that arc, also revealed that he hadn’t ever run for president of l’manberg for some sort of power trip: he revealed that it’s because he’s cared about l’manberg, and simply didn’t see wilbur as a fit ruler/wanted the best for l’manberg, & that’s why he went up against him because he thought he could give l’manberg the best; he’s cared about the country since the beginning, whether you like to believe it or not, and it makes it all the more heartbreaking that the man he’d thought was going to make l’manberg better — the man he entrusted to make l’manberg better just turned out to be worse than the ppl who they kicked out in the first place. in that arc i think c!quackity still cared about tommy and wilbur, to some degree, even though he actively mocked them behind their backs in manberg, and i honestly do think he thought manberg was what was best for what l’manberg once was and only left once those rose tinted glasses where taken from him — or, furthermore, once he saw how awful of a person c!schlatt really was.

- c!quackity is a person who cares deeply for his friends. he’s always quick to jump to their defense if & when he believes they’re being wronged in some way —the way he was outwardly outraged at c!tommy being exiled— and he’s willing to stick by their side, but also, what makes him an interesting character is that when he has a goal in mind, that care sort of takes a back seat and what takes the forefront in his mind is accomplishing his goal. he had a friendly relationship with c!tommy before the election arc, but he saw, in his mind that l’manberg wasn’t fit under wilbur’s reign and ran against them; an example of showing care, but also looking more at the grand scheme of things/caring more about his goal if it’s something he really wants to achieve. c!quackity is a incredibly stubborn & determined character, and if he wants something he’s going to get it, and he’s going to get it no matter what, which is both a strength and a weakness. it’s a strength because it makes him strong; it’s a strength because it makes him a worthy opponent, however. it’s a weakness because he gets sort of,,, tunnel vision,,,? whenever he wants to accomplish that goal? he pushes everything to the side when it comes to that goal, and that includes relationships with others. he was willing to have karl lose a canon life in order for their plan against eret to work. it’s something that could be detrimental to the safety of his friends/his relationship with his friends, and it’s detrimental to the safety of himself. another example is him guilt tripping sam in order for him to let him into the prison. another example is him putting an extreme amount of pressure onto c!tubbo’s shoulders/forcing him around during the butcher army to do what he wanted.

- c!quackity is good with his words. he’s funny, he’s charismatic, but also he’s extremely intelligently smart. he was able to go up against c!dream in a debate and even got him frustrated him enough that he felt the need to private message him with a warning. ppl tend to underestimate quackity because he isn’t that physically strong, he doesn’t have much when it comes to armor, but what he does have his words. he’s a cunning little shit (affectionate). in the butcher army he was able to come up with this plan against techno and was able to get the others to bend to his will petty easily, and during el rapids time against eret he was able to come up with a plan that would’ve worked perfectly fine if his friends weren’t all dumb idiots (affectionate). he’s a natural leader, because he’s got the brains to plan ahead and he’s got the charisma to execute that plan to a pretty good degree, and it’s even better because, once again, he’s willing to go to any length — pull out all the stops in order for his plan to work. he’s a mastermind, and he’s dangerous in a way where he’s unpredictable because you don’t know what he’ll do in order to get what he wants. and, glances at everything he’s doing to c!dream in canon to get what he wants, there’s clearly nothing stopping him in canon at this point in time. also considering the fact that he’s stripped everything that would be attachment/that would stop him from achieving his goal from him. glances down at him tearing down el rapids.

- c!quackity would be a very, very good antagonist to have because he’s always been a sort of cunning person that’s been on the morally gray side since the beginning, but now? now that we’ve seen how far he’s willing to go — now that we’ve seen the sort of,,,, dark path he’s fallen down since everything, the plan he has in mind? the fact that he’s going to revive fucking schlatt of all people once he gets what he wants? casino man by beloved; what fucked up shit r u gonna do. i am so ready for it.

- tldr: c!quackity is a super interesting character and he deserves to be fucked up and evil. as a treat <33

MHA Chapter 315 Discussion-An Almost Great Conclusion, But Misses It’s Mark

Hi guys, Rhapsode here and it’s time for another MHA discussion. I haven’t really done one in a while, but after reading 315, I had a lot of thoughts I was working through. And before I start I want to say, I do not think this chapter is overtly bad. I think there’s a lot of good ideas to it, and overall nothing objectively bad. However, as the climax to this Deku vs Lady Nagant fight, I felt it didn’t quite hit its mark (pun not intended).

If you want my brief opinion of this current arc of “solo Deku”, I actually enjoy it quite a bit. I’m happy Horikoshi refocused on Deku after such a long war arc. As well as Deku FINALLY be proactive in his hero duties. No longer on the rails of the school setting. And I have especially enjoyed his current fight with Lady Nagant.

In terms of sheer action, it’s got a tried and true set up of a sniper battle, but then adds to it by taking the fight into the air. The action is hectic in all the right ways with the unpredictable bullets cutting up Deku as he dodges them with Danger Sense. As well as the introduction to a new quirk of OFA.

But where this fight really shines is Nagant and her origin. Lady Nagant was hero assigned to maintain the illusion of order by getting rid of potential threats and heroes up to no good for the Hero Safety Commission. Until being told to kill in the name of improving society and any of her activities being covered up finally weighed on her and she killed the then president of the Commission and placed in Tartarus. While she’s only hunting down Deku because she’s assigned to, she says that even if AFO wants to rule the world, it’d be more transparent than a return to the status quo.

It’s honestly a great reveal as it finally puts out in the open the actual corruption in the system that’s hinted at, but was never really delved into. But now it also finally has Deku confront the problems of the status quo that he’s grown up in. This isn’t an ideological battle like with Stain on the definition of hero or reaching people who have fallen through the cracks of society like Gentle. This is real flaws with the system that people have had faith in from the mouth of someone who has done their dirty work.

It’s something I think a lot of people have wanted to see. And I’m glad Horikoshi finally did dive into it the structural problems of hero society.

So how does this all get resolved in 315? How does all this end? Well after Lady Nagant targets Overhaul and shoots at him to make the situation harder for Deku to focus, Deku without hesitation goes into trying to save Overhaul (despite knowing Overhaul is a villain), Deku homages All Might and then shatters Nagant’s arm, and finally Deku makes an observation that Nagant wasn’t really going to hit Overhaul and that if she seeing the darkness of society, she knows where to expose it as she still has the heart of a hero. Nagant should join Deku.

But then AFO activates an explosive power right as Nagant is coming around. The blast fries her as Hawks arrives and we’re left on the cliffhanger of “is she going to survive.”

Now after reading this, my feelings have been… mixed. Let me get out this out of the way there is nothing with this chapter I disagree with: I have no problem with Deku making an emotional appeal to Nagant, I have no problem with AFO acting like a heel, and I have no problem with Nagant not being fully evil and never intending to kill. I know that last one has upset some people, but given Nagant’s backstory of killing innocent people for others because they told her so is the reason she fell off her path in the first place. So it makes sense she never intended on killing anyone.

And I know some people have nitpicked how it’s the female villain who isn’t fully evil, but that honestly doesn’t matter to me. As narratively, this arc started with the attack by Muscular and Deku couldn’t reach him. So it’d make sense to potentially end this mini arc on an example of Deku reaching and reforming a villain. It also helps that Nagant has actual layers to her motivation that could actually allow her to be swayed away.

Now my real issue with this chapter is honestly a problem that I was afraid Hori would do after he introduced just how messed up the Commissions back dealings, it’s that Deku doesn’t really take any concrete stance on what should be done about this status quo. Instead, Deku focuses more on telling Nagant she is a real hero and he ultimately wins her over after showing how much a real hero he is.

While Nagant uses the term “fake”, “sham”, and “phony” when discussing heroes and hero society, it doesn’t address the bigger issue. Namely that she feels this way because of the corrupt and unheroic things the Commission has done to maintain faith in it. Deku offers no actual answer to the very real and very hard question she poses.

And his only real response is this:

(I’m being generous as there can be something lost in translation here and it’s a bit on the flowery side )

While Deku did acknowledge this world isn’t Black and white and he’s saying she can expose corruption if she works with them, he dodges actually offering a solution to her concerns about the status quo. Instead more time is devoted to the same kind of “I will save anyone” appeal he always does.

And while one could argue Nagant’s only on the side of AFO because his reign would keep the Commission from having the power they did, even if she doesn’t fully believe in him. She still poses why being ruled by AFO has its appeal to her and Deku doesn’t actually counter that. No pointing out the obvious anarchy that could result from this or how AFO uses even the people he claims to love like Shigaraki. Deku doesn’t rebuff anything and once again passes the tough decisions onto other people. With Hawks appearance here at the end and his baggage about killing Twice, I can very easily see cleaning up the commission as becoming his motivation going forward. Once again resolving Deku of actually needing to make hard calls or form stances.

This is compounded by the fact AFO just blows Nagant up. It really doesn’t matter if you rebuff anything that AFO has said or offered to convince Nagant to join you, there’s no way she’d work with him after he attempts to kill her. Which feels like it undercuts this conversation about morally gray society.

Look we all know that AFO is evil. The audience knows and this is absolutely what he would do, but if you’re trying to give all of the illusion that we’re finally confronting issues with society and bringing this up and why we would get people loyal to AFO or people like the liberators or people like stain. And trying to sway someone away, then just having him nuke them for having a change of opinion. then it undercuts any actual ambiguity of a clash built on addressing moral grayness. Which I feel is always been one of the strengths of MHA.

I was not expecting Deku to have a thesis on how he plans to dismantle the shady parts of society. Or go full Eren Yeager and become his own revolutionary. But when confronted by a villain who isn’t like Shigaraki or Toga or Twice, who fell through the cracks in the system and needed a safety net like Deku wants to be, Nagant was a part of the system. The corruption of society runs deep in her motivation and Deku doesn’t really address it beyond acknowledging its flaws. And yet his actions of “true heroism” are enough to sway her. It just feels incomplete. There is a brief line that you can interpret of him wanting to clean up the system, but it feels way too short for a moment like this. Deku being confronted by all the darkness of a system he admires should cause him to make some kind of stance.

And no, I’m not going to speculate on if Lady Nagant is actually dead and this will finally forced Deku to take a firmer stance or what have you. I do want to keep these discussions at least relative to when they are released and in this moment the thing that wins over Nagant is the same “save everyone”/“inspiration by example” Deku usually does. Which doesn’t feel as satisfying a conclusion as it could be.

Not helped by a good chunk of this chapter being taken up by explaining all the bits and bobs of OFA’s power system and finally explaining what exactly his third quirk does. This feels like padding when I wanted the space could’ve been used for character dialogue or a continuation of their conversation about the status quo.

I do want to repeat though that there is nothing outwardly bad with this chapter. There is no real objective failure in the writing. It’s just a case of, “ this could be stronger.” And that’s the frustrating part.

Tl;dr there’s a lot of things that are good about this chapter from a technical and narrative level. The natural progression of characters and the switching of allegiance makes sense.  however it’s just all shy of really living up to a lot of the stuff it sets up about society and going back to the status quo. As Deku doesn’t seem to have any real concrete stance beyond his usual.

And because a lot of the things around it are very good it makes it a lot more noticeable when it doesn’t quite stick the landing. Not helped by what feels like nothing more than padding with the explanation of quirk ability instead of character introspection about this very legit and difficult revelation. There is nothing outwardly bad, it’s one of those cases of something that could be an 8-9/10 ends up more as a 5-6/10.

That’s my opinion at least. But I am extremely interested in seeing where Hori goes with this. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time.

"Although it was generally agreed that Ares was one of the most hated and least respected gods in Greek mythology, it is notable to mention that Ares has some of the best relationships with women out of all the gods. He never used trickery or force to form a union with a woman – although he never married either. Still, Ares was known for generally showing respect towards his partners. It was, perhaps, his only ‘soft’ side or compassionate attribute. This demeanor extended past his love life. There is a story that tells of one of Ares’ daughters, whose name was Alcippe. One day, a son of Poseidon named Halirrhothius came across Alcippe and deeply desired her. It appears, however, that Alcippe did not reciprocate the same feelings. Instead of moving on, Halirrhothius decided to rape Alcippe (or at least attempted to do so according to legend). When Ares saw what had happened, he was enraged. He immediately came to his daughter’s defense, stopping the attack and brutally killing Halirrhothius. When Poseidon learned of what had happened to Halirrhothius , he was furious and demanded a trial. It was common for many of the gods to take advantage of women or force them into sexual relations, which likely made Ares’ aggression and defense of his daughter unusual. Poseidon called for a trial for the killing of his son – which may be the earliest recorded murder trial in history. The trial was held on a hill in Mount Olympus that is now called Aeropagus (Ares’ Hill). All of the other gods and goddesses came to pass judgment on Ares for his deeds and eventually found him ‘not guilty’ of all charges. He was, however, required to host a sporting event in Halirrhothius ’ honor – an event that would later be associated with Ares as well."

Reading up greek myths, thinking about the representation of Amazonians and Ares of the modern world, I guess. Then I found this.

(I guess this can be another reason for him to hate Percy in PJO. If Athena and Poseidon can have grudges, I don't know why Ares won't hold onto this too. If you find a middle ground between this and his PJO characterization, it makes sense if he's not much of a gentle words kind of guy and more of an 'action speak louder' type.)

Wow, I'm kind of getting depressed at reading his treatment. He's almost always experiencing humiliation, left to fend for his own, despite having done virtually nothing against the others -especially compared to the betrayals they regularly do against each other.... I'm reading up and the only reason I seem to get here is that he's the god of war, specifically the more reckless and bloodlust aspect of it....damn....

After the debacle with the twin giants, baby Ares -yes, literally still a baby- was sent to Priapus by Hera to take care of. Priapus taught Ares pretty much the foundation of his character but get this, refused to teach him anything related to war unless Ares learns to dance.

Also, Ares and Aphrodite were already together before his fellow brother, Hephaestus, who was also disliked by Hera and Zeus, did the thing with the golden throne and demanded the hand of Aphrodite.

"Although most of Ares’ children were born to him by Aphrodite, he did have a few demi-god children as well. As with Aphrodite, he maintained some sort of commitment with the mothers of his children, at least for a time, and seemed to genuinely care for the well being of his offspring. This is clearly demonstrated by his quick defense of Alcippe and Cycnus. Ares had many children and did his best to care for all of them."

And I've never been pleased with PJO implications of Ares being sexist. Honestly, urgh.

Add-on: I don't know if I'd already said this somewhere, but that detail was unnecessary. Rather than saying 'see this evil man being sexist that means sexist is evil', it would've made more sense for it to be 'see even this personification of war and bloodlust and manliness would never stoop so low as to be sexist' is a much better, much more straightforward, much more sensible direction especially when it's all about the gray morality and heavily sanitizing the gods.

what i know abt qifrey from u talking abt him uhh ok so he's genuinely just a nice guy but also he's evil and irredeemable but also he's literally just a pleasant gentleman

I know ur not asking for a rant about this but by god ur gonna get it.

So the thing is, I don't think Qifrey is evil or irredeemable at all. We joke around the fandom (at least i hope its mostly jokes) that he's evil and crazy but he's really not. If id have to pin Qifrey on a morality spectrum I'd say morally gray but leaning towards the good.

Did Qifrey do some messed up stuff? Yes, fo sure. But I've always gotten more of an impression that he's teetering towards the edge and not completely over it. He does do damage but so far he's mostly made sure that damage was extremely localized and not actually harming other people (I talked about before how Qifrey's own memory erasing spell seems weirdly specialized compared to what we were brought to believe memory erasing spell actually does when used by anyone else).

But now comes the question

Do I think Qifrey will get worse?

Yes, 100% I believe this is where we are going towards, I said before that I'm p convinced he will become some kind of obstacle for Coco down the line.

Qifrey is going through a LOT rn. He's already got ptsd from, you know being stripped of his identity, buried alive, almost drowned and then remembering he was experimented on like a lab rat, but now it's getting worse. Before he could at least relay on the fact that even though his past was horrible, his future was bright. He genuinely loves his job, he loves his girls, he loves teaching. This monolog gets me every single time

Now he's losing his future, he's losing not only his eye, but the whole identity he built out of nothing, he's losing his teaching position, he's losing his kids, he's losing Everything he gained after he had already lost Everything.

It leaves him rushing against an uncertain time limit, desperate, stumbling, sloppy. I don't think he's thinking straight anymore, not really. I think he's convinced he is being methodical and calculating but in actuality he's stumbling forward, grasping at straws, unable to hold on to anything but his need for revenge and the empty words that his actions aren't only for his own sake.

It's all very striking, in his relationship with Olruggio in particular. Olruggio is very clearly supposed to be the guiding light for Qifrey, the one who pulls him back when he goes too far, the one who helps him resist the growing darkness. It's very meaningful how as Qifrey continues on his path he makes sure Olruggio doesn't even know about it. He said it himself, if Olruggio knew, he'd try to save him. He'd try to bring Olruggio to light again and Qifrey doesn't WANT to be saved, he has decided on a road he wants to take and he won't allow anyone to change his course. Not even Olruggio.

So do I think Qifrey is evil?

No

Do I think he'll get worse?

Yes

Do I think he'll become evil?

Not really

See here's the thing. Qifrey's desperation, how quickly he's trying to work through this, how determined he is to throw everything else under the bus if he could just achieve his goals? All of that is dictated by the fact he's running out of time, the fact that once he loses his eyesight he can no longer be a witch. Eyesight is VERY important to witches since magic is a very visual art. We've seen with Tartar how something as seemingly miniscule as color blindness can basically doom someone, causing everyone around them to say they can't become a witch without good eyesight. So complete blindness is a death sentence to a witches career. Now, it's funny how a lot of the Coustas and Tartars arc has to do with adjusting the world to disability and not the person to the world. How it's made pointed, over and over again, that people with disabilities shouldn't be written off but given proper tools that will help them function, how the world should adjust to be a more comfortable place for all kinds of people and not just those who are already adjusted to it. Without the threat of his eyesight going out and cutting his whole identity into bits, Qifrey wouldn't have to act like this, he would be able to sit and think and not rush and if he still wants to pursue brimhats he could do it more safely for himself and everyone else because the desperation factor would be gone.

So what I think is going to happen is that Qifrey will lose his eyesight but won't lose his standing as a witch because he, Olruggio and the kids will figure out how to make magic accessible to him.

Now there's of course a bunch more unaccounted for variables which I'll probably have a better grasp on after the current arc is done being translated. Ininia and Lord Restis represent a very interesting development because they are brimhats introduced specifically via healing injuries. The rule of 'medicine magic isn't allowed cuz it's a slippery slope' has been there since the beginning of the series and a big thorn in the 'yeah the witch world rules are good and fair' side cuz of course, everyone thinks healing people should be allowed. Now the brimhats we've had so far were fully ready to attack and experiment on children's bodies in order to further their own goals so of course that immediately leaves you disliking them and not putting much account into their rhetoric even though it does make sense at times, but ur not gonna listen to ppl experimenting on kids. That's why I think Ininia and Lord Restis are interesting, cuz if they aren't literally attacking children they might get a good case in about medicine magic being allowed. I think we are going towards at least some sort of medicine magic becoming acceptable considering Tartar's arc. But then the question is, if some sort of medicine magic is approved, will it be used to heal disabilities cuz like...that would kinda suck. I would much rather have a 'world should be adjusted so disabled people can participate in it equally' narrative rather than the 'just heal the disability with magic lol' narrative. But honestly this whole paragraph is pure speculation because the arc isn't fully translated or even fully out yet but I sure af am LOOKING at it. I think it will be v important in understanding where the story is going to go. I just hope Shirahama does a good job with it, but honestly she never once let me down up until now so I'm feelin positive.

Circling back to Qifrey, I do think he's one of the kindest, most understanding, most lovable characters I've had a joy of reading and studying. But he does have a black hole in him that is pulling apart all that kindness, leaving him a shattering shell. I don't think he's evil, I don't think he'll ever become truly evil and despite what he's done I don't think any of what he did is irredeemable, especially with how careful he tends to be not to take away from people more than he has to to further his own goals. But I do think that hole will eat at him more and more and that before he can get better somebody will have to notice it and help him plug it up. Olruggio noticed and Qifrey refused the help, convinced that he can't be helped, not in the way he needs. He will need proof that he can keep his future before he can ease up on the frantic hunt after his past

GUZMÁN / CHARACTER PARALLELS.

normally, i do not explicitly draw inspiration from popular media characters – it’s more of a vague process, something i notice long after the fact and not at the beginning. however, when i made guzmán, i knew i wanted to write a villain, and since i was writing a superpowered being, i naturally looked at comic books: some iconic villains from the xmen franchise, watchmen – to round it up, i looked at some morally gray characters from film, because while i want guzman to be evil, and cheerfully so, there’s layers to the evil. i want him to be a character you can enjoy reading, even if you consider his actions despicable. or i want him to be a character you can hate, while acknowledging there’s layers to what he does.

MAGNETO [MARVEL COMICS]. obviously i’ll look at the quintessential antagonist from the x men franchise. notice how i say antagonist, and not villain. i honestly think magneto was right had good reasons to do the things he did. like magneto, i want guzmán to be considered at his best a well intentioned extremist. he genuinely believes mutants are superior and humans have caused too much damage upon mutantkind, because they’re afraid they will be left behind as evolution marches on. and like magneto, once he discovered his power, he spent several years of his life studying anything under the sun to help him master it, especially the field of mathematics. he’s crafted himself into a dark messiah, convinced his ends justify his means – a determinator who will stop at nothing until he sees his vision materialized.

APOCALYPSE [MARVEL COMICS] but then there’s the side of guzman that’s… let’s say… a little off his rocker. you may consider his ideas to be rooted in conspiracy given his kind of troubled upbringing. guzman believes mutantkind’s rightful place is above humans, yes, but also has an unquestionable god complex. while he playfully may accept being referred to as evil, truthfully he considers himself above such human terms. what he does really enjoy is conflict, constant and unpredictable, and it’s in such environment that he thrives: where he can manipulate others into doing his bidding and orchestrate mayhem and uncertainty, in order to portray himself as a much better option – a fixed point in an ever-shifting landscape, so to speak.

OZYMANDIAS [WATCHMEN] while apocalypse and magneto are very essential inspirations, i only draw bits and pieces from ozymandias, most notably his affably evil manner of carrying himself, and the prodigious intelligence – which, although not to ozymandias’ level, it’s characterized by his ability for great, extensive analysis of the situations that present themselves to him, since there’s no way for guzman to reliably use his mutation other than to seriously think about each step he takes with it. he’s crazy prepared for most eventualities that may occur, and he has back up plans after back up plans worth of information going on in that brain of his at all times. guzman is a knight templar, and he would kill a few if it meant he would get to save several, and that’s pretty much the basis for his problem-solving processes. like ozymandias, he’s chasing after a better world – but is committing atrocity after atrocity in the name of it.

at his worst, guzman can only be considered someone whose ego and ruthlessness is  detrimental to his surroundings and the people with whom he associates.

ALEJANDRO GILLICK[SICARIO] if you compare alejandro to the other names on this list, he might not seem like much, but he’s vital to how i write guzman, in ways that might not be immediately apparent. but if you’ve watched the films, you just know – it’s the mysterious past, the quiet demeanor, and the subdued delivery, especially when it comes to his anger and his grief, that really do the trick at selling him as a formidable, ruthless killer. when guzman is not trying to be charming, he’s surprisingly mild-mannered, and incredibly hard to read. and at the core, guzman’s story is a story of revenge, a tale of retribution, and being in a relentless search for it, just like alejandro’s case.

I've looked through your "sharing a darling" post and I've been inspired. I'd love to see Tsunade with a darling, who's Orochimaru's little sister. I imagine she and Tsuna probably were friends before she deserted the village with Orochi. And when she's nowhere near as heartless as Orochi, she's a morally-gray type of person. [With romantic yandere!Tsunade + platonic!yandere Orochimaru]

I’m glad you got inspired by my post☺️.

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessiveness, obsessiveness, paranoia, violence

Darling is Orochimaru’s little sister

🐍🐌We’ve often talked about this, but Orochimaru has a weird way of showing his care, especially if it comes to persons he’s obsessed with. If you would be a test object he would most likely show genuine interest in you because you’re very useful. But how does this work when you’re his sister? It’s suspected that a part of why Orochimaru became the way he is like he is because he wanted to leave the painful memories of the past behind, including the death of his parents. So you were the only family he had left.

🐍🐌His way of caring showed himself from a very young age on with wanting you to get stronger. Orochimaru has a dislike for the fragility of life and it’s most likely that you and him shared more or less the same interest in kinjutsu. I can’t say that you had the same obsession as him with it, but you just tagged along with him.

🐍🐌Since Tsunade and Orochimaru were on the same team it was understandable that you were friends with them. Jiraiya was probably the guy who often asked you out on dates and made some less appropriate comments about you, earning a hit on the head from Tsunade and a unnerving look from Orochimaru. Tsunade was most likely friends with you because you were the only other girl from the three.

🐍🐌At the beginning it was just a friendship, a strong one. Tsunade was often a bit worried about you, knowing how twisted Orochimaru could be. You never minded, being used to all of this since you had grown up with him together.

🐍🐌Tsunade started becoming a tad more clingy and overprotective after Nawaki had died. It was somewhat of the beginning of her Yandere tendencies and it stayed that way even after she had got to know Dan. You often visited with her together Nawaki’s grave and showed him respect for his actions. But you were glad that Tsunade had found someone else who made her happy since you had suffered with her after the death of her brother. Because despite being slightly influenced from Orochimaru’s twisted personality you had always been the one who had cared more and showed it more.

🐍🐌Somehow I think after Dan died as well and you were again there to comfort Tsunade you somehow started to see things a bit more from Orochimaru’s side, understanding why he loathed the fragility of life. Because humans were so delicate that you could lose them at any moment. I would even go as far that Tsunade’s devastation over Nawaki and Dan left a huge impact on you and led you to becoming who you were.

🐍🐌Tsunade was at first most likely only a platonic Yandere for you, still seeing you as her best friend. She became incredibly clingy and overprotective and also started greatly disliking your brother. Why? Because Orochimaru gave off the feeling that you didn’t mean anything to him and he wouldn’t even be sad if you would die. He hadn’t looked affected when Nawaki had died and he hadn’t looked really affected when Dan had died. So it was no wonder that Tsunade was terrified of losing you as well and needing to see how not even you as Orochimaru’s sister would lead him to show any sorrow.

🐍🐌It was at the beginning just the genuine desire to keep you safe and alive. But with time it turned into something more intense for Tsunade. The knowledge that she could lose the person who had been always there for you made her go almost crazy. She might not even have realized when exactly it had happened. But one day you just gave her a warm smile...And Tsunade felt her heart speeding up in her chest rapidly and butterflies erupting from the pit of her stomach.

🐍🐌Orochimaru watched all of this with narrowed eyes, the way how Tsunade started clinging onto you tightly and the way she looked at you. It didn’t matter to him that Tsunade deserved happiness after everything that had happened to her. He didn’t want you to become weak by becoming too sentimental which you obviously were. It wasn’t like you had already changed a lot because of him, your view of the world having become slightly distorted because of his influence and the still fresh memory of Tsunade mourning over her brother and her lover. And I bet Orochimaru used that to control you a bit more.

🐍🐌Tsunade on the other hand worried because she noticed clearly how much you had changed in those last years and she knew too well who the culprit was. So she tried to keep you away from Orochimaru by often going out with you and asking you to spend time with him. And this didn’t suit with Orochimaru who would have preferred to continue training and experimenting with you.

🐍🐌It was most likely out of loyalty and own belief that you decided to follow Orochimaru into exile, some of his beliefs having influenced you as well. And Tsunade was once again completely devastated for losing another precious person to her, asking herself what she had done so terribly wrong in life to lose everyone she seemed to love.

🐍🐌Being Orochimaru’s sister and most likely on the same level of strength as him made you very respected and worshipped by his underlings like Kabuto and Kimimaro. And despite searching with him for a way to gain complete immortality You never agreed with his opinions all the time, disliking the way he treated others. You were somewhat of a mother figure for many people under him and were even known to forgive people different than Orochimaru. And Orochimaru didn’t really like this, fearing that your softness would be one day your death sentence. Orochimaru isn’t the type to start a fight over this, at least not in the classic sense. But he would cruelly tease your weak spots to get a reaction out of you and to try to reason with you that being so soft wouldn’t bring you anywhere.

🐍🐌I guess that Tsunade’s heart broke even more after hearing what you were doing, experimenting on people to gain immortality. She blamed herself for this, feeling like she should have ripped you away from your brother’s tight grip sooner since he had been the one who had corrupted you like this.

🐍🐌Tsunade met you most likely again whilst Naruto and Jiraiya were searching for her to convince her to become the fifth Hokage. She was already pissed enough at Orochimaru, never having forgiven him for ruining you like this. But she was also scared when seeing you again, freezing at first. She just really hoped that there was still some part of the old you left and not having become as cruel and heartless as Orochimaru had. You were also shocked to see her again, feeling a bit conflicted about how to face her after all those years again.

🐍🐌During the fight of the three you didn’t really participate, watching more from a distance. Not because you were lazy, but because you and Orochimaru knew that you might switch sides during the battle. Because you still cared. Tsunade was still your friend. So when Orochimaru wanted to kill Naruto and Tsunade kept sacrificing herself you would have lied if you would have said that you didn’t care. Instead you might have even tried to stop Orochimaru from completely killing her, that was at least until she released her jutsu and showed what she was capable off.

🐍🐌Different from Orochimaru you also never disliked Naruto and saw him as a poor excuse. You saw potential and passion in him, reminding you of Nawaki. That’s why you wanted to keep him alive. Because he had helped Tsunade out of her misery. And you were proud of her when she officially became Hokage, sending a anonymous gift and a small letter in which you congratulated her and told her how happy you were for her. And Tsunade knew too well who had sent her this.

🐍🐌I feel like after Sasuke joined Orochimaru you might have even gone as far as sometimes giving the village hints about his development without anyone finding out. And whenever such small notes received in the village, dropping hints about current whereabouts or informations about possible future plans from Orochimaru Tsunade always felt hopeful and encouraged that the old You was still there, that you weren’t completely possessed by evil like your older brother was.

🐍🐌I feel like you traveled back to the village after Sasuke killed Orichimaru. You had no reason to stay after all. And for someone who was known as an S-rated criminal you came over pretty calm when suddenly appearing in front of the gates of your old village. And best belief that when Tsunade Heard- that you were back, she completely lost it and instantly stormed towards you, not knowing whether to yell at you for doing such terrible things to her and other people or cry and suffocate you in a hug out of relief. In the end it became a mix made out of both.

🐍🐌You were taken under custody back into the village, your reputation being a bit saved because of all the small hints you had given them through the years. That and the fact that you answered all questions honestly have some ninjas troubles to judge you rightfully, not knowing whether to think of you as a good or bad person. On the one hand you had experimented on others, you had used the same jutsu as Orochimaru to reach immortality and many other things. But on the other hand there were countless tellings and rumors from many places and people that you had freed them out of Orochimaru’s grip or had even helped villages in need on your journeys. That made it somewhat troublesome whether to decide if you belonged in prison or not.

🐍🐌In the end it was decided to not send you into prison, mainly because Tsunade had insisted on it, but also because many had agreed that you had done many good things after all and had come back on your own free will, not to mention that you had told them everything they had wanted and needed answers for for so long. But you were kept under very tight custody, a few Anbu members always watching you.

🐍🐌Shizune knew from Tsunade’s love for you, having witnessed many times how Tsunade had started becoming very talkative about you after a few or many bottles of sake and knew that Tsunade had still feelings for you. And she advices to not risk anything with you, they still didn’t know whether you were on their side or not. Tsunade didn’t want to hear this, but not because she believed that Shizune was wrong, but because she knew that Shizune might be right.

🐍🐌She often came visiting you, wanting to at least talk to you and know why you had done this. Why you had left her. Why you had decided to tag along with Orochimaru. Why you had done all those terrible things and still so much good stuff at the same time. What were your motives?

🐍🐌I feel like Tsunade would be able to start a normal relationship with you after the war and after Orochimaru was reincarnated. Because the main problem before had been that people had, when looking at you, only been able to see Orochimaru. A cruel and sadistic criminal. But for whatever reason Orochimaru had been forgiven after the shinobi war and Tsunade also retired more or less since Kakashi became the sixth Hokage shortly after the war ended. There will be some tension between her and Orochimaru after that, especially since Tsunade still blames Orochimaru for corrupting you like this. Orochimaru wouldn’t be too happy either, but surprisingly he’s more okay than Tsunade with this since he doesn’t hold that much of a personal grudge against her like she does. He did become better after the war and was more accepting with it. As long as you don’t become a weakling that is, power is still a thing and will always be a thing for him.

Custom Toonami Block Week 74 Rundown

Code Geass: So we’ve got another one of those “wacky bullshit student activities” episodes, though this one seems to ride the hardest on “shit is going down, the world is ending but haha Shirley romance drama” though admittedly it does have a nice character arc for Milly so that’s cool. Lelouch is worried that the Knights of the Round are here to investigate him until he realizes both of them only have one braincell between them so it’s fine. Cornelia’s also murdering her way through religious fanatics so that’s cool. And last but not least we have Shirley and Lelouch finally getting together right before Jeremiah Geass Cancels her amnesia so she knows Lelouch is Zero and killed her dad and presumably the other stuff that Charles put in the whole school’s brain somehow. I’m sure this will end well and their romance will survive in a way that isn’t insanely tragic.

Inuyasha: We’re still in fillertown and it’s another SangoxMiroku episode. Man we get a lot of these in filler huh? I kinda don’t remember which Sango/Miroku moments are canon at this point. I’d kinda laugh if it was just all filler and some manga-only fans were bewildered when they ended up together in the end. Anyway, Feudal Lord has a thing for Sango because he has great taste and Kagome ships Sango/Miroku so she doesn’t want her to go, Miroku’s like “Hey it’s her choice, she’s been through enough, she can choose her own life, I’m not gonna get involved” which is pretty mature but the girls still hate on him for it. Sango’s just like “Dude even if I wanted to stay I still have this Naraku-slaying quest to go on and I’m not about to sit around all day and be royalty while my friends go kick Naraku’s ass for me.” Which is how most love confessions in this series go. Also Sango suplexes a demon bear the size of a building with her bare hands and it’s pretty great. In the end the lord doesn’t give up going after Sango but they finish the bear stuff and are on their way. I like how they don’t go out of their way to demonize this guy in the end to prop Miroku up, he’s still a good guy, Sango’s just got shit to do and is more the type to like a warrior who’s got her back. There’s some really cute shipping shenanigans here and all in all it’s fun filler.

Yu Yu Hakusho: We’ve got a three for one deal here as Yusuke and Kuwabara assblast their way through the Dark Triad in one episode, continuing their power play of beating villains with little effort while the boss man bets that they’ll completely wreck his guards which is still a pretty interesting dynamic. We’ve got cringey 90s trans commentary, an invisible dude that gets blindsided easily and a hostage ogre that gets beaten by Botan taking off her coat. Honestly for these guys being supposedly minibosses they kind of went down easier than some of the grunts. But now Kuwabara’s in contact with Yukina because his bullshit power of love connection actually works for some reason and they’re in on the final fight with the Toguro brothers. With this many people betting the GDP of countries on the fight there’s no way this isn’t rigged. I really like how YYH basically makes shonen fights just part of stupid black market deals for a large part of it, just like in real life everything’s decided by some old rich guy.

Fate Zero: Kayneth’s still fucked up and has Rock Lee syndrome and can’t use jutsu anymore so his wife’s like “Yo buddy you can’t give Lancer the magic cummies anymore anyway, lemme take control of your hunky knight manslave or I swear to god I’ll rip your arm off and jerk him off with it” which since she asked so nicely he just kind of does. With Lancer still kinda being uppity about Kayneth having dibs on his soul and Sola-Ui being weirdly horny and increasingly yandere for him I’m sure this’ll end well. Saber and Kiritsugu are still pissy with each other because Saber wants to go after Caster to stop the child murders which is fair but she’s also injured and shit and she’s mad at Kiritsugu for not teaming up with Kayneth to just take down Caster right there and I mean I don’t think he really had time to suggest a truce while getting attacked with Terminator 2 goo, he’s not really the asshole here. Meanwhile and more importantly, ISKANDAR HAS PANTS! Nothing can stop him now and they crash Caster’s child murder party and are jumped by Assassin’s Forty Thieves (they aren’t named yet but I’mma just assume) and Iskander’s just like “Yeah no I’m not fighting five ninjas knee deep in child guts.” And they just burn the whole place down.

Konosuba: So in a bizarre Interspecies Reviewers/Food Wars crossover, Kazuma goes to a succubus house and instead of just getting sex they do dreams and shit which seems more complicated but I guess it’s less morally gray. Anyway, naked Darkness and contrived hentai plots ensue. They sprinkle in some good character stuff for Kazuma which is nice, it’s always kind of hard to pin down where his principles lie. Like he’s generally a scumbag and will take the easy way out of anything but he’s not evil and will give Darkness an out on their encounter if she wants and will get his ass kicked to protect his local sex worker. The Principled Scumbag approach is kind of neat for him, I wish a few more of these moments didn’t feel the need to immediately undercut themselves with a joke but that’s the nature of the series. I feel like one or two more genuinely sincere moments throughout a couple episodes would do wonders but either way it’s still amusing.

Sailor Moon Crystal: We pick up right where we left off with Tuxedo Mask throwing himself in front of the Kamehameha for Usagi and then she goes Super Saiyan and cries pokemon tears to bring him back to life. But the bad guys are somehow like ‘yoink’ and steal him from her lap through a barrier somehow (that still kinda pisses me off) and for some reason the crystal that booped its way into his chest isn’t there anymore and Usagi still has and and Usagi’s going through a lot of shit right now between processing the trauma of a millennia-old kingdom falling that’s partially her fault, working through her romantic feelings and having a Steven Universe identity crisis about how to process her identity as a reincarnation of someone a lot cooler than she is, so most of this episode is Usagi crying, as most episodes are, but at least she has a good reason.  Then we get a Girl Squad Roll Out montage because fuck it we’re going to the moon somehow.

Durarara!!:  Apparently everyone knows about where Celty’s head is but her because she visits Izaya’s office where the head is just kinda behind some books on his bookshelf and she doesn’t know but Shinra’s dad has enough time to mug Namie after telling Shinra and Celty off for their weird interspecies relationship and tell Izaya to have fun fucking around with the head. Also people have shifted from being worried about the Dollars to being worried about Saika and ALSO being worried about the Dollars maybe being at war with the Yellow Scarves. Celty’s looking into it and Shinra shows some character development in just coming out with it that Saika was the sword that severed her connection with her head… I don’t know how you cut the soul of a head that’s already cut off but okay, at least Shinra’s not hiding shit from here anymore. Also Saika’s about to seriously chop up Anri and Masaomi comes to visit his girl in the hospital finally.