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beercan1145 · 3 years

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Ok, so let me explain Eric’s behavior this season by jumping back in time. Let’s have a quick review of Eric and Adam’s relationship because… yes, shade, some of y’all seem to have forgotten. We don’t have a specific timeline, but it’s understood that Adam has bullied Eric for YEARS at the point that the show starts (Eric says as much in season 2). What’s interesting about this is that, as I mentioned in my last post, we don’t see anybody bother openly-queer Anwar. I’m bringing that up, because while people do make jokes homophobic jokes about Adam in season 3, there’s not a particularly toxic environment of homophobia at Moordale where everyone is violently picking on all the queer kids. So it’s largely Adam’s internal battle compounded by a crush on Eric. Not that acute peer pressure would be a justification, but Adam doesn’t even have THAT to fall back on, though there is emotional neglect/abuse on his father’s part.

Anyway, then Adam sucks Eric’s dick. Adam makes Eric see stars, and for the first time, it’s not because of a punch.

Then Adam goes away to military school and has growth. He comes back, ready to be with Eric, but only in secret. It’s kinda cute, but we have misgivings because of their (YEARS-LONG) history. Oh yeah, plus Eric has other options now (Hey Rahim. You a little pretentious, but you’re cute). Eric’s like “Nah, I can’t be your secret. Plus we haven’t really discussed all the trauma you inflicted on me because you couldn’t accept yourself.” We love it. Respect yourself, boo. Then Adam pulls an UNO reverse. He publicly acknowledges his feelings for Eric. Eric’s like… “Ok, cool. We’re engaged now” (I’m kidding, but they get together). PAUSE.

Here’s the issue, and it’s one I saw even at that time: Them getting together felt premature. Like because of television structure, they were probably going to get together in a season finale. So it was like: Either we do it now, or we wait a whole season. Let’s do it now. Or at least that’s how it felt. Like oral sex and junkyard dates are great, and they may solve a lot of problems, but just magically unpacking years of internalized homophobia that you then externalized all over someone else? No. And yes, Adam was connecting with people, but still, throwing themselves fully into a relationship, especially when Eric was just getting out of a different one? I had my doubts. NOW, I see that the writers are smart. I think Eric and Adam’s relationship this season was inevitable from the season 2 finale. Ok, not EVERY single thing. But a lot of it. Because despite what some character arcs portray, coming out does not equal full self-acceptance. And I just felt like Adam hadn’t necessarily changed enough to convince me of their relationship being the best idea. (Don’t get me wrong, I adore him, but that means wanting what’s best for him. Same for Eric). Progress isn’t always linear, either. Sometimes we have setbacks and loop de loops (that’s true of life in general, not just queer self-acceptance).

So that brings us to season 3. In episode 1, we see that Adam has not come as far as we or Eric may have liked. (KEEP IN MIND, at least 2-3 months passed between the seasons as well). Adam still uses violence to process feelings of discomfort, maintain his sense of masculinity. Eric tries to break up with him. Which sets the tone for the season. If you pay attention, we see Eric has misgivings about their relationship throughout the season and he tries to break up with Adam like every other episode. But Eric stays with Adam because he recognizes Adam’s progress and loves him. He wants to be with him. But that isn’t always enough. Adam still won’t tell his mom that he and Eric are dating, which must hurt, even if Eric does understand. Adam specifically rejects going to a “gay” club. To be clear, Adam didn’t say “Clubs aren’t my scene.” Which is different. He clarifies that Eric means a “gay” club before shooting it down. THIS is where I really disagree with people who have been talking about biphobia, or Eric not thinking Adam is “queer enough” or “queer in the right way.” I think especially within the context of the other signs of Adam’s continued internalized homophobia, even if clubs aren’t his scene, it’s not weird for Eric to see it as connected. Because again, ADAM CONFIRMED IT WAS SPECIFICALLY A “GAY” CLUB BEFORE REJECTING IT. It certainly SOUNDS like internalized homophobia on paper. Before he goes to Nigeria, we get Eric asking Adam for space, which Adam rejects. I’m not mad at Adam for it. We even see it as romantic. But upon reflection, it was kinda telling. Now I’ll admit “space” is very opaque language and doesn’t necessarily equal break up. But if they had actually agreed to space, I think Eric kissing someone else wouldn’t seem SO bad. It’s just Adam was like “No,” so it is cheating, unequivocally. Which I think is why after that point, Eric fully realizes and accepts something that has been on his mind for the whole season: he and Adam have to go their separate ways for Eric to have the experiences he feels ready for. That means no more “space” but an actual breakup, especially because it’s clear Adam won’t accept anything less. This is also why Eric doesn’t seem so broken up about the breakup (hehe puns). He’s been processing it for a long time. Eric’s “I’m ready to fly” speech wasn’t about thinking he’s better, or more mature than Adam or anything like that. It was just him saying that he’s comfortable calling someone his boyfriend. If he’s gonna be with someone, he wants them to be comfortable doing the same thing (that’s just an example, obviously). Not unreasonable of him at all.

To be clear, I do think Eric could have handled certain things better this season overall, I especially didn’t like how he stormed off when he thought that Adam didn’t want to have sex with him. (Like I get it, Otis has accidentally primed him to be insecure about it, and AGAIN, Adam actually WAS still dealing with internalized homophobia which made it seem plausible that’s what was happening, but still. He should have stayed and talked.) That said, I’m sure if Adam had said, “I wanna be with you, I’m just not ready for that yet” or even “I just don’t want to do that” Eric would have been ok with it. Especially because Adam is the one who brings up having anal sex that episode, unprompted by Eric. Eric definitely still has some growth and maturing to do, though.

But yeah, that’s my take on Eric and Adam this season. I’m not an Eric apologist, I just think that almost every single thing he did this season was understandable and valid. Wait, there’s a term for that…ok, I’m an Eric apologist. I admit it. I’m not sorry. Anyone who supports Eric and Adam has had to be an Adam apologist at least once, so it’s about time.

#sex education spoilers #sex education #eric and adam #eric x adam #eric effiong #adam groff

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spaceseinensam · 4 years

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Denki Kaminari is the traitor and I can prove this through his character design

I actually wanted to analyze all of the character designs of class 1-A, but this theory has been burning in the back of my head for weeks, so now I’m doing the shortened version with just looking at Denki’s part. Hey-ho let’s go.

1. Lists

First off, we have to create an analytical basis. In my opinion, the students of class 1-A can be separated into 4 different categories in regard to their overall “importance” to the story (I know that sounds rude and I personally hold all the kids very close and dear to my heart, but from a storytelling perspective you got to admit that there are some characters given less screen time or story beats than others and as a result tend to be less important than characters who have lots of flashbacks etc.). The categorization is based on an objective view of the series and I will try to explain why I put certain characters in certain categories along with naming the categories.

1) prime primary characters (100% not the traitor)

Deku, Bakugou, Shouto

These three are the main focus of the series, the protagonists if you will. They get the most screen time, the most flashbacks, and the most backstory information and are untouchable pillars of the story’s groundwork. All two (or three) of them have their own personal character arcs that span longer than just one story arc (see Bakugou slowly learning not to be an absolute gremlin, Deku’s long journey of becoming the hero he wants to be, Shouto learning to deal with his father’s abuse and family situation). Even if you’d say that i.e. Shouto is not important enough to be counted as one of the protagonists, he is still one of the most recognizable characters of the series and definitely on the forefront when it comes to fleshed out characterization.

2) primary characters (70% not the traitor)

Ochako, Tsuyu, Iida, Kirishima

These four characters are the main group surrounding the protagonists and are fundamental as the supporting cast. These include the first two real friends Deku made at UA, Ochako and Iida, as well as Tsuyu and Kirishima. Ochako is here because of her connection with two characters from the prime primary category: she is one of Deku’s closest friends in addition to being clearly framed as his main love interest, as well as being in one of the more important fights from the Sports Festival against Bakugou. Iida is connected to two characters from prime primary as well: like Ochako he’s close friends with Deku, but also shared a lot of spotlight with Shouto during the Stain storyline. Kirishima seems to be only connected to Bakugou at first (being the first one to try to befriend him, reaching out to him during Kamino, being reminded of his strength through Bakugou during his own backstory flashback), but with the recently finished Overhaul arc in the anime he also had his time to shine alongside Deku during that arc. Tsuyu was a bit of a tough case to categorize as she did not have any flashbacks or bigger story arcs for her own (yet), but she is also one of those closest to Deku and did share an emotional moment with him and Shouto after the Bakugou rescue mission. She is also a very recognizable face for the series (so much that my friends who have never touched a piece of BNHA media named her as one of the characters they think are in the series “there’s the protagonist, then this boy with the split hair colours and...That weird frog girl, right?”). Characters in this category have backstory and flashbacks like those from the prime primary category, though these are dealt with and then accepted as a staple in the story, and not ongoing plot structures. Examples for this are the mention of Ochako’s motive for becoming a hero, Iida’s revenge plot and Kirishima’s backstory during the Overhaul arc. These are important story beats that flesh out their characters, but once the arc reaches its end the character growth for the character in question slows down a lot or comes to a halt entirely. Counter example is Bakugou’s ongoing character growth throughout the series, which will remain as an arc throughout the whole thing because of his status as prime primary character. If one of these characters were to be the traitor it would not be a series destroying move, though in my opinion it’s still very unlikely, since these all have proven themselves to be close friends with the prime primary characters, shared emotional moments with them and gave us all a look into their motivations and backstory to a point, where I just think it’d be highly unlikely for one of them to do a 180 and turn out to be ‘evil’. For those already typing that that’s the point, that we should think the traitor is not this close to the protagonists to then be surprised by the reveal, I have to tell you that that is not how story-telling works. If you put a character in a story, make them best or very good friends with the protagonists, make them save and/or help them during tough situations, make them have flashbacks to their own childhood or develop backstory with the prime primary characters by their side, and then reveal them to have betrayed them the entire time without setting it up beforehand, you are not a good writer. Neither Iida nor Ochako nor Kirishima nor Tsuyu have had a situation in which they did or said questionable things or acted in a way that would make one stop for a moment and think about what just happened. They also all have a very high recognisability for the series and turning one of them ‘bad’ would be way too ground breaking for BNHA. (I know that Hori likes to subvert shounen tropes and such, and I admit that he manages to surprise me a lot, but he still largely follows the main story beats, plot structures and character functions other shounen writers before him did, so I assume that he won’t pull the reverse Uno card and make for example Tsuyu the traitor, because that simply goes too much against the current of shounen and other media of the type).

3) secondary/support characters (very likely to be the traitor)

Mina, Kaminari, Aoyama, Tokoyami, Jirou, Momo, Sero

These characters are sort of there to fill the classroom, but are designed and set up in a way to potentially have backstory and character growth. These are characters that have had small arcs mostly connected to the prime primary and primary characters that weren’t really that in depth or emotional, but are a great set up for more growth. One of them is most likely to be the traitor in my opinion because they kind of stand in the middle: they are recognizable for the series (see for example Mina, Tokoyami, Jirou) and have had short touches with backstory (see Aoyama talking with Deku about him not being compatible with his quirk, Mina having a small part in Kirishima’s backstory), or character development (see Momo showcasing her skills during Joint Training, the current small arc in the anime of Jirou learning to save people through music), but are ultimately kept in the background. To sum it up, they are very clearly meant and designed to be secondary to the main cast of prime and primary characters.

4) full-picture characters (too unimportant to be the traitor)

Hagakure, Koda, Shouji, Ojiro, Sato, Mineta

These are characters which are in my opinion very clearly designed to “just” be background characters, or as I call them “full-picture” characters (in the sense of them filling empty spaces in a class picture). This does not mean they will never get any development, though they are very likely to stay in the background and act as very minor supporting characters to prime and secondary characters. These characters are designed to be very simple and often have a constant joke that goes with them (see Mineta being a pervert, Ojiro being plain) and are meant to create a basis for interactions between prime and secondary characters. They are literally too unimportant to be the traitor, meaning if it was suddenly revealed to be one of them, there’d be no screen time, no real dialogue and no backstory to back it up (up to now). Characters can move from this category to the secondary character category, though this is currently still unlikely.

Possible spoilers from here on out!

2. Look at these characters and tell me their personality

Ok, now that I’ve categorized all my precious hero kids into their story-level importance, I think it’s time to point out something that hit me yesterday at 1 AM: I noticed that the more important a character is for the series, the more ‘human’ their character design is. I’ll try to explain: in the world of BNHA it’s very common to have a sort of ‘mutated’ body, most times to accommodate for a quirk, though sometimes the mutation seems a bit random. However, the series is filled with people who have multiple body parts, highly deformed body parts or otherwise bodies that deviate from the to us normal human form. Now let’s look at our kids and their importance levels: all the prime primary characters have completely ‘normal’ human bodies (btw, single-colour colourful hair will not be counted as deviating from the normal human form, this is still an anime we’re talking about). They are all average heights for boys their age, no extra body parts, no deviation from an average anime boy face. Yes, there’s Shouto with his two-coloured hair and two-coloured eyes, but the split only applying to his hair and eyes makes him still look very much like an average human, as opposed to i.e. if his skin was also two-coloured and split in the middle. I think it’s not that surprising for the three main characters of a shounen to look like normal teenage boys, since it’s still a series meant to appeal to a widespread audience and I don’t think that could have been achieved if Deku and his two prime buddies were all heavily mutated. For now, let’s look at the primary characters: Ochako is very humanly designed, no weird mutations or crazy design elements aside from the pads on her finger tips. Iida is also very human, no deviation from the norm in face or body aside from his engine pipes in his calves. Kirishima also looks like the average anime boy, the only time he looks rather ‘inhuman’ is when he fully activates his quirk and goes into Red Riot Unbreakable. Tsuyu is the only one out of the primary characters whose body and face deviate more heavily from the normal human form (though the deviation is also not that crass or remarkable). And what did I say while categorizing her? She is tough to categorize because she hasn’t played that big of a role in the story yet, that she had a few emotional moments with the prime primary and primary here and there, but ultimately she does not have a backstory or major story elements yet. This stands in contrast to Ochako, Iida and Kirishima, who have all had major story beats, flashbacks and important interactions with the prime primary up to now, and are all very much humanly designed, aside from minor deviations that don’t affect their overall picture. Compare Tsuyu constantly standing a bit hunched over, her big feet and hands, her comically large eyes, her large and uniquely drawn mouth and her tongue sticking out to Ochako, who looks like an average anime girl except for the small pink pads on her finger tips.

Hold on. From the 7 characters in the prime primary and primary category, only one deviates a bit more from the human form and coincidentally that one is also the one character out of the 7 who has not have major character growth, backstory, flashbacks and/or the kind of specific interactions with the other characters from the categories yet? Now I’m intrigued. To me it seems the more important a character is for the series, the more human is his character design.

And now, to ask the question we’re all here for: if Hori did not scrap the traitor plotline, wouldn’t it make sense to make the traitor as human as possible? Since the possibility of a traitor was treated very serious during and after the UJ incident, as it posed a threat to the security and well-being of UA, I figured that whoever the traitor is shouldn’t look too, or be connotated with the words ‘joke’, ‘inhuman’ or ‘silly’. Not only would it make the most sense for an average, human looking student to be the least suspected, but it would also make the story-wise hit and drama from a traitor reveal that much more captivating, both for main characters and audience, since then the traitor is not someone they are completely detached from look wise, but someone who looks very close to them or someone they know. If the traitor were to be a student with blue skin, a trunk and six legs, I think it would just take away from the impact of a reveal and make you wonder why nobody noticed the questionable actions of the literal alien.

Since I think we can all agree that the kids in the prime primary category are 100% not the traitor, and the kids from the primary category are also very much not likely to be the traitor because of their major involvement with the protagonists (and the absolute bullshit it would be to make the characters who were established since page 1 to be nice and helpful turn to the bad side without beforehand character development in that direction), that leaves us with the kids from the secondary category and the kids from the full-picture category. The latter I described as being designed for the background; characters who could potentially rise in category once given character development, but who are without backstory or character growth up to now. Let’s look at them: Mineta, Sato, Ojiro, Shouji and Koda all deviate heavily from the standard human form set by the prime primary characters, either by their body size, mutated body parts or facial deviation. As much as it pains me to say this, they are all designed either too far from being ‘normal human’ to be the traitor, and/or have a joke attached to them and their character that would make a possible reveal come off as too comedic or inappropriate. Hagakure is a special case. She has deviations from the human form (having no visible body) but this is a minor deviation compared to the other five in the category. Still she has a joke attached to her (not being visible) and is also kept in the background of the series without having major story beats on her own and, like the other five, acts more as a supporting character to the secondary characters. Overall, the 6 kids in this category all have heavy deviations from the standard human form and a joke attached to their character, which makes them very unlikely traitor material.

Let’s look at the secondary characters in more detail: without revealing too much, the characters in this category are design-wise on the same level as those of the primary characters with very minor bodily deviations from the human form and only some of them have a joke attached to their character. Mina and Tokoyami have the most prominent bodily deviations with having pink skin/horns and a bird head, but let’s take a look at their role in the overall story: Mina is very much a Genki Girl, an enthusiastic bouncy girl, and acts as a support especially to Ochako and Tsuyu. She also played a semi-important role in Kirishima’s backstory, which let us have a look at her childhood/middle school self. That, plus her deviating human form makes it clear: a character like her is very unlikely to be the traitor. Tokoyami has a more severe deviation from the human form, plus he has a semi-joke attached to his character (constantly being serious or dramatic, holding speeches about darkness in archaic language). He also got captured during the Training Camp incident and is friends with Deku since the Sports Festival. Deviating human form, constant joke connotated with character, taken advantage of by the villains: in my opinion, very unlikely to be the traitor. Two characters in this category with very little deviation from the human norm are Jirou and Sero. Jirou has her earphone earlobes as the only deviation, while Sero has his elbows and almost constant big-toothed smile as his bodily and facial deviations. Jirou is one of the counterparts to Mina’s Genki Girl type and also acts as a supporting character for the rest of the girls. While Ochako, Mina and Hagakure can be characterized as enthusiastic, bouncy and happy, Momo and Tsuyu are more of the intellectual and tactical types, with slight tendencies to get bouncy when excited. Jirou is a middle part among the girls, being cool and reserved and not as bouncy as Mina, but also being slightly more brash and offensive than Momo or Tsuyu. She has no real joke attached to her character, but the fact that we have seen her parents and the recent arc in the anime is all about her realizing she can save people through her music (overall being a more light-hearted arc) add to my opinion that she is very unlikely to be the traitor. Sero has his elbows and smile as his deviations from the standard human form and as a member of the unofficial ‘Bakusquad’ he serves as a supporting character to Bakugou, Kirishima and Kaminari. There is no joke attached to his character, but sadly there is also not much more to his character up to now. He’s had minor roles in the Sports Festival and Training Camp Arcs, and often acts with Kaminari as a duo, but compared to him, Sero has had very little overall screen time, very little meaningful dialogue and almost slides off into the full-picture category. The only reason I did not put him in that category is because of his only minor human deviations, but overall he just is not prominent enough in the story to be considered for the role of the traitor. That leaves us with two characters with absolutely no deviations from the human form and one with slight facial deviations, the latter of which is Aoyama who has a very unique facial design among the class. He also has constant jokes attached to his character, one being always looking into the “camera” and breaking the fourth wall, the other being often talking about his fabulous self and acting out in bizarre ways. Another point that paints him very unlikely traitor material is his recent small arc in the anime: starting out with ominous signs towards Deku and acting more weird than usual brought many to the conclusion of Aoyama being the traitor, but as it turns out he was used as bait. The real background for his weird behaviour was him telling Deku about his own quirk, Navel Laser, not being compatible with his body, which is why he needs his support belt. Him and Deku form an emotional bond after this and Deku considers Aoyama his friend from that point forward, and after this incident, Aoyama returns to his usual (though still bizarre) behaviour. If Aoyama would be the traitor character, all the character clues, small flashbacks and emotional development that led up to his scene with Deku would have to be repeated and changed to form the basis for the traitor characteristic. As this is very unlikely to be the case, and Aoyama has had his small brush with character growth, also not forgetting the jokes attached to his character, I think it’s overall given that he will not turn out to be the traitor. That leaves us with Momo and Kaminari.

Momo has no human derivation to herself, as well as no joke attached to her character. She has had small encounters with character growth during all the exam arcs as well as in Kamino, which also sort of is the breaking point for traitor theorists with her: During the attack on the training camp she created a small signal device and got Awase from 1-B to attach it to the villains. This signalling device would later help the Bakugou Rescue Team she was also a part of help to succeed on their mission. There was no need for her to create that device and/or join the rescue team if she was the traitor. I mentioned that there are no jokes attached to her character, though that is not entirely true. There is actually one joke that is sometimes applied to Momo, though it is not constant or particularly deprecating: it is her upbringing as a rich girl, which sometimes makes her detached from the monetary struggles her classmates go through, though this is more treated as a quirky characteristic than a joke. In regard to her being rich, she also invited some of her classmates to her house to study in Season 2, which gave us a look into her home. All the above mentioned facts speak against her having traitorous tendencies, despite being the only complete standard human girl.

3. The Case for Denki Kaminari

That leaves us with Kaminari Denki, the only boy in 1-A other than some of those from the prime primary and primary categories who 1) has absolutely no deviation from the standard human form, 2) has no constant joke to his character (we’ll talk about his whey in a second) and 3) has enough interaction with characters from both prime primary and primary to almost be considered a primary character. He really looks just like the standard human boy looks in BNHA; the only thing making him stand out look-wise is his hair, which is styled slightly spiky and has the black lightning bolt on his bangs (which is btw not dyed but there since his birth). His trait of ‘being flirty’ is as minor as Momo’s rich girl tendencies and also treated more as a characteristic and not as a joke. Now, I know you’re all pointing to his whey right now. Whenever Denki overuses his quirk and releases too much electricity it fries his brain and he goes dumb for about an hour, sticking up his thumbs, making a dunce face and only being able to talk very slurred. But is this really a joke? Is it not more a supposed additional characteristic of his quirk? Because if you think his whey-phase is a joke, then Tsuyu hibernating when it gets cold is also meant to be laughed at and Momo going tired after creating big things as well. Not to mention that, as many have mentioned before, his whey is something very easily fake able. But let’s jump back to his hair for a second. I know, it’s the most minor thing one can talk about, but isn’t it strange that Jirou and Denki are the only ones out of 1-A other than Shouto who have two-coloured hair? And people have been brushing this off, but the two-coloured hair is like, a major character trait for Shouto and not only represents his two sides and his two quirks, but is also symbolic for the split he feels inside of himself and the colours are representative not only of his parents’ hair, but also of the quirk each side can handle. So why can’t it be symbolic for the other two? Putting Jirou aside, what does the black lightning bolt-like strand in Denki’s hair represent? His quirk? Very plausible, since his quirk is based on electricity. But why is it black? You see, Jirou has a small ECG line in her hair, which is also representative of her quirk (and maybe of her hidden emotional and passionate side), but its colour does not deviate much from her original hair colour (her normal hair is dark purple, the line is light purple). Denki could have had a lightning bolt-like shape in any colour in his hair; he could have even had his hair completely black and the shape in yellow to emphasize it, but he doesn’t. He could have had a completely different hair style, with his hair being styled wildly in all directions away from his head to be symbolic of having an electric shock for example, or his hair having multiple small lightning bolts in it, but he doesn’t. Why is his hair completely blonde, except for the small shape symbolic of his powers in pitch black, almost lying like a dark shadow on the bangs slightly obstructing his face?

Moving away from the hair: if he is really meant to be a rather jokey secondary character with no important backstory, character development or role in the series, why is he designed so humanly and close to the protagonists? He could have had the constant whey-look on his face, be very tall and lanky to resemble a lightning rod, have the before mentioned ‘shocked’ hair-style, have lightning shaped markings on his skin, have antennas on his head that act like TV antennas; he could have had a very wild and from the norm deviating design and it would have fit perfectly for a minor full-picture character. But Denki looks the way he looks and I can’t help but point out that there has to be a reason he looks like that, because character designs have meaning in a story. Why did Hori make Denki such a pretty boy, without any bodily or facial oddities, and have it not matter up to this point? Because let’s face it: out of all the boys without any immediately noticeable deviations from the human norm (Bakugou, Deku, Shouto, Kirishima, Aoyama, Iida, Ojiro, Sero, Denki), Denki is the only one that

1) doesn’t turn out to have major deviations and/or several constant jokes attached to his character (leaving Bakugou, Deku, Shouto, Kirishima, Iida, Sero, Denki)

2) wasn’t pushed into complete irrelevancy due to his role in the class (leaving Bakugou, Deku, Shouto, Kirishima, Iida, Denki)

3) isn’t considered the main protagonists (leaving Kirishima, Iida, Denki)

4) hasn’t contributed majorly to the storyline already plus clearly showing his antipathy for anything villainous and/or helping the main characters in a major situation against said villains

If you take all the above mentioned into consideration and add it to the major points of the Denki-Traitor-Theorists, it all comes together. His ‘initial’ character design for example? Too villainous, too obvious, he needed to look more human to take on the role of someone infiltrating a school and leaking its secrets. Why is Denki designed the way he is? Why is he prominently featured in a lot of promotional art despite seemingly being such a minor secondary support character? Because the groundwork for the revelation of his character is already rooted in his design and his actions.

I’m too tired to talk about all the Traitor!Kaminari points, you gotta look those up yourself if you’re interested.

This is my take on it for now, if y’all want I’ll talk about his hero costume and brand of character some more (which only adds to him being the traitor), but now I just want to get this theory out.

#bnha #bnha shitpost #bnha theory #traitor kaminari #bnha traitor theory #shut up amy #character design #i did it #boku no hero academia #i did research for this #now i'm tired #i dare someone to prove me wrong #just kidding #pls tell me if i'm going crazy or not

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aelaer · 3 years

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☕ The extended Avengers. Aka Rhodey, Wanda, Vision, Bucky, NOT PETER (already done), Captain Marvel and Ant Man. I think that's it? The others are outsiders that occasionally come into the fight and will be asked about later. 👀

Bucky you can find here.

So there’s a fun history to this post. The first draft I wrote when I was in a ranty mood, and in a rare moment of wisdom, I held off posting until I was calm and ready to revisit it. So that happened this summer, and the original draft was heavily edited. … and then Tumblr saved *none* of my edits. None of them. Ohhh, I was fuming. So I left it be, and then I had another break in the fall. Now as I play catch-up, I revisit this post once more withhh draft #3.

Rhodey: Not given nearly enough credit by most. First point: Tony wouldn’t be alive for y’all to ship (with literally everyone) without Rhodey being a motherfucking boss and saving him from everything. What I really like about Rhodey is his independence and agency. They make it a huge point in the films to show how independent Rhodey is from Tony Stark while still being his best friend. The best fan fiction with Rhodey is when the writer remembers Rhodey’s agency and keep him his own independent person rather than a Tony yes-man. The wonderful thing about Rhodey is that he supports his best friend when he agrees with him, and he lets his own opinion be known when he doesn’t, and on occasion, he sets Tony back in his place when it’s needed. He has a strong, strong character and strong personality which is why I love him so much.

With Tony’s strong personality, it would have been easy to have Tony walk all over him, but that doesn’t happen. He stands his ground when it matters, and he has his own strong opinions for his own reasons, and best of all, none of his opinions have anything to do with his friendship with Tony Stark. He’s his own man. He’s such an amazing character on his own, so why wouldn’t a writer explore the interesting dynamics between these two and make Rhodey stand on his own? I Don’t Get It.

Wanda: Not fleshed out nearly enough compared to other side Avengers in the MCU, and done outright dirty by a large segment of the MCU fandom (which was the start of my enormous distaste of anti-culture). I do think that she has a lot of potential for an expansion of character in canon, and I really hope we see more of her personality and what makes her her in her TV show. I hope we get some sort of flashbacks from her difficult childhood after she was made an orphan in a civil war, some sort of acknowledgement of her grief and healing from her brother’s death, and Vision’s as well. That is what I am looking for most in her show - more growth as a character and further acknowledgements of the grief and tragedy that shaped the woman she became. She’s never been near my favorite Avenger, but a large reason she hasn’t is because she hasn’t had the chance on the screen to really become a fully fleshed character. And that’s a crime.

Vision: Ah yeah, this was a large part as to why I didn’t post the first draft of this. A small segment of the fanbase upset me with their hypocrisy in mocking Vision’s and Wanda’s love as not real because of his android-ness, while understanding Tony’s care for his robots and his true grief for JARVIS’s loss. The inability to understand Wanda’s grief for Vision’s loss, while claiming to understand Tony’s loss for JARVIS, is simply willful ignorance. I remember I got especially angry about this at the time because some person somewhere was mocking Wanda for loving “a toaster”. The type of folks who make such comments just seem really… ignorant. Unless they’re mocking Tony in the same way for loving JARVIS. If they are, then it’s like– you’re just being more ignorant. I have stronger words, but– not worth the effort.

I don’t remember being so angry at fandom as often when I was active in the Tolkien fandom. Annoyed, but actively angry? Nah, but no one ever treated the characters so poorly and actively made fun of people for liking other characters. It might be part of why I pulled away so fully for the exhausting year 2020 was. (The ‘reset’ time did help.)

Anyway, Vision himself is absolutely fascinating. He definitely had a very interesting birth process, and I adore how the presence of the Mind Stone helps “evolve” him into something alive, which really makes sense: the mind and the evolved ability to reason and “think” is what has really separated humanity from the rest of all living creatures. While we’ve seen evidence of other animals using tools and higher emotion, and some recognizing their own form in a mirror, there’s no species that does it with a complexity and consistency that humanity does (and in the MCU, other creatures that are distinguished between “animals” and “people”). With the mind evolving, he becomes as complex as a human or another alien form. And that’s really amazing. I’ve really, really enjoyed writing him as well and people don’t understand what they’re missing by dismissing him.

Carol: I was wondering when this would come up, but no one’s asked before now. This is my least favorite Avenger. I found her movie really underwhelming and out of all the characters in it, the side characters were 10 times more compelling than her. And I really liked Brie Larson in Community, so it’s not the actress herself. I think it may be just that I don’t think she really connected with me as a person, at least with what we saw with her in her intro movie. She just felt flat, humor, emotions, everything. I also really dislike overpowered characters with no obvious weaknesses. Stephen can run out of magic, for instance, or certain tech can take him out. Carol feels too much like Superman, and I really don’t like Superman either. That’s one reason I have to write her in any fighting role or in any “heroes are in trouble” role because she just seems to be able to get out of every hero-in-trouble situation fairly easily. I’m open for future films to change my mind, but at the moment she has nothing substantial for me as a character, especially with the other Avengers competing for “most interesting” and her powers make her too OP. But I’m rooting for her (and Goose). I could try writing her with Stephen in something involving demons, so that might prove more of a challenge and help me explore her character further. I’m certainly open to metas that dig further into what makes her tick, too.

Scott: Not given nearly enough credit for his own heroics in Endgame, for one thing. Tony wouldn’t have been able to do his Famous Uno Reverse Card without Scott’s optimism and hope. I love his sense of humor, I love that he’s both smart and funny, I LOVE how good of a dad he is, I adore adore adore that he’s on good standing with his ex and her fiance by the end of the first Ant Man, and I love how he so clearly has a clear, individual personality. Kudos to Paul Rudd and the writers/directors of the first two films for helping convey that so clearly. I’d love him to meet Doctor Strange so much, properly. Yeah, he’s not appreciated as much as he should be by fandom.

And this post is finally done.

#mdcbd #james rhodes #vision #wanda maximoff #carol danvers #scott lang #mcu #another my opinions post #ask #answered #meta

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dracosaurusrex · 3 years

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Accio, Confundo and Flagrate from the HP themed ask ❤️

JOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I love these questions! Imma do a reverse uno on you, so you can answer them also!

Accio : If you could summon anything in the world right now what would it be?

ACCIO elotes! esquites! chipotle! pad see ew! hargow! and Draco Malfoy!!!

Confundo : What confuses you most about the world?

Cancel culture. We all make mistakes, but cancel culture prevents growth and the ability to learn from them. Like...what point are you trying to prove? Chile.

Flagrate: If you could write one thing in the sky, what would it be?

KINDNESS DOESN’T COST A CENT. <3

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sometimesrosy · 4 years

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1/3 I’m unsure how deep you got into Arrow but after LL died, each subsequent reference to her was treated by her fans as a reset button for their fave and a comic book-compliant L*auriver to return, a chance to kinda get the story they wanted. Oliver engaged to Dream!LL via the Dominators? Endgame. New Dinah/Black C*nary? New chance for GA/BC. LL’s Earth-2 doppelgänger on E-1, post-Olicity breakup? He’ll redeem her. We’ll get our comic book endgame and finally wash Olicity away. It’s obviously

2/3 the only reason she’s on the show. Oliver’s Spectre powers will resurrect LL as he did Tommy and Moira. She’ll be back. You’ll see. It’ll all be fixed. Be what it was always supposed to be, after the writers massively fucked up by killing the most popular character and ruining the show. With the Anomaly and L/CL fans, it’s a different fandom, but same old hogwash. The story’s evolution is nonexistent. The idea of character growth is nonsensical. Bellarke who? It’s irrelevant L died 130 years

3/3 ago on a scorched Earth across the universe. Once the mind drives immortalized the Primes and saved Clarke’s consciousness, once the Anomaly came into play, anything’s fair game. No more rules. No limitations. All their hopes and confidence pinned on this reverse Uno card. She returns and Clarke drops every one to be with her. Of course she would. Clarke having moved on from L is unfathomable when she’s still sad over her. It’s lunacy. Heresy. To believe so is to invalidate and hate us.

I think i stopped watching Arrow 2 years ago? But I never got into fandom. I shipped Olicity before I shipped Bellarke and when I was still just reading fanfiction. I didn’t join tumblr until I had gone deep into Bellarke obsession. But I did see some of the shipwars on Arrow... therefore I stayed away. I was already too involved in the bellarke/CL shipwars. I also stayed away from TWD fandoms, GOT fandoms and Star Wars fandoms for the same reason.

I am very divided on shipping. On one hand I think it’s great. I think it’s wonderful the way fans can transform a story to be what they need, the way they really FEEL the stories. It often doesnt’ have much to do with canon and it doesn’t need to.

And then there’s the entitlement that shippers feel (not just shippers probably, fandom in general, but since we’re talking about shippers...) that their OTP is the only valid one. That anyone who doesn’t ship it is an enemy, or anyone on in or loving an opposing ship is also the enemy.

And then there’s the paradox of the ownership of fandom, fanon and fanworks, but based on a story that the fans do NOT own. The canon.

And how fandom can get confused between the fanon that they own and the canon that is outside of them and their headcanons.

Comic book Arrow had Laurel as his OTP. CW Arrow is essentially a fanfiction of the comicbook, but an official one. I feel like all productions of source material are like fanfictions. So like GOT is a fanfic of ASOIAF. Every Hamlet production EVER is a fanfic of Shakespeare’s original play. Dante’s Inferno? Fanfic.

But I suppose for fandom and original content purposes, We’ll call the show that we’re basing our work on canon. It’s canon for THAT story, right?

ugh. all I’m trying to say is that we have to recognize that the story WE want isn’t necessarily the story that someone else is telling. And recognizing and enjoying OTHER people’s stories is actually FUN.

Forcing our stories onto the canon or onto other fans who don’t agree with is not cool.

Not cool man.

#fandom

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unifiedsocialblog · 6 years

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How to Get Instagram Likes: 13 Tips that Actually Work

Want to be ‘liked’ by a billion people on their mobile devices (mostly)?

What a self-esteem booster that would be.

Of course, only the greatest ad ever known to man-or-woman-kind could do that.

But, that’s how big Instagram has gotten, with 85.5 million of those 1B users in the U.S. Only Facebook is bigger. Being #2 ain’t so bad, eh? Yet, Instagram is numero uno in growth per quarter, at 5%.

Watch out FB, Instagram is coming.

Instagram is the photo-and-video-sharing network behemoth for consumers and brands. With users sharing 95 million photos and videos per day.

And for your biz?

eMarketer estimates Instagram ad revenues will balloon to $10.87 billion by 2019. A 37.7% increase since 2017. Snapchat is for slightly more mature markets, using broadband and high-end mobile devices, mostly for millennials. Instagram however, is attracting even younger people in mobile-centric, emerging markets. Most users are between 18-29 years old.

With this humongous community, how are you going to get after it?

To get your brand in front of new fans?

Read on… we’ll show you how. Let’s get straight to it.

Oh wait, silly me… forgot one thing first…

What are Instagram likes?

“And why does it matter?”

Good questions.

Like with the other platforms, just click an icon to ‘like’ what you see and hear. Though unlike the others, you don’t have to be a follower.

‘Likes’ matter because they’re often the first contact between your business and a new follower. This makes it easy for anyone to appreciate your post.

On Instagram, the ‘like’ icon takes the form of a heart.

More likes = more cred for your brand.

Think of it as a long-term, stay-top-of-mind, marketing strategy.

Onward to the tips, for reals this time.

Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps an adventure photographer used to grow from 0 to 110,000 followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.

13 real ways to get more Instagram likes

1. Share high-quality photos and videos

Of course, great content requires thought and planning. That is if you want people to actually click that heart. Three tips to help:

Show your face. Or someone else’s. To increase your odds by 38%.

Know your colors. Primarily blue pictures get 24% more ‘likes’ than red ones. Single versus multi-colored also increases ‘likes’ likelihood by 17%.

Choose your filters. Thoughtfully. Filters that increase contrast, correct exposure, with a warmer tone get the best results. Just ask Yahoo and Georgia Tech. Use Instagram’s editing tools over their pre-programmed filters.

Keep things unique and varied, too. Instagram has tools for this. Here’s just 3 of them:

Boomerang to create video loops, frontwards and backwards

Focus to blur the background while keeping the face in focus

Superzoom to automatically zoom in while playing a dramatic sound

Here are some more tips on how to edit Instagram photos for maximum likeability.

2. Use hashtags wisely

Otherwise, you’ll make users angry. And Instagram, too.

You did your best to create great content, right? Keep up the pace with hashtags. These help others find you, even non-followers.

Finding you is the first step to liking you.

Best practices for appropriate hashtagging include:

Use relevant tags. Otherwise users will select the ‘Don’t show for this hashtag’ option.

Place them just right. Say, 2 or 3 of your most important tags in the photo caption.

Need more than a few? Fine, Instagram allows 30 per post. But post them as a comment, more out of the way than your main hashtags. Find out how to do this in our Instagram Hacks post.

Vary them up. Don’t use the same list for every post.

Which hashtags should you use?

Not the ones everyone else is using. Sure, #like4like is popular. But it’s pretty obvious to your followers that you’re fishing for ‘likes’ rather than connecting with like-minded peeps. Bots love these, too. Your stats will be meaningless, just like those tags.

Lebron James got in on the act with a vintage photo using #tbt (short for #throwbackthursday). That netted him 265,000 likes. Nice one, King James. Swish again.

View this post on Instagram

Wanna be one of the first to Congratulate you on this accomplishment/achievement tonight that you’ll reach! Only a handful has reach/seen it too and while I know it’s never been a goal of yours from the beginning try(please try) to take a moment for yourself on how you’ve done it! The House you’re about to be apart of has only 6 seats in it(as of now) but 1 more will be added and you should be very proud and honored to be invited inside. There’s so many people to thank who has help this even become possible(so thank them all) and when u finally get your moment(alone) to yourself smile, look up to the higher skies and say THANK YOU! So with that said, Congrats again Young King ????????! 1 Love! #striveforgreatness???? #thekidfromakron????

A post shared by LeBron James (@kingjames) on Jan 23, 2018 at 7:29am PST

One could write an entire article, just about hashtags. And we did.

3. Tag relevant users

Why tag someone? To encourage them to engage with your post and share it with their followers.

Or to credit them, if they took the picture/video.

Tag other Instagram users featured in your photos with an @-mention in your caption. Or, use Instagram’s tagging functionality. Either way, they’ll receive a notification.

4. Write darn-good captions

I was gonna say ‘damn-good’, but thought not to.

Anyway…

A nice visual plus text is like peanut-butter and chocolate. Readers will go ‘ahhhh’ (and tap the heart).

Write your captions with some TLC.

Tell your story, using words and pictures. Unlike Twitter, there’s no character limit. Make it long, or not. You get to decide. But make it count.

Some ideas:

Ask a question. It can make the reader lean in, with interest. Sounds less promotional, too.

Let your hair down. A little humor never hurt nobody. That ‘suit and tie’ approach… sucks. Especially for this crowd.

Show some love. Got followers praising you? Cool. Mention them in your caption.

That ‘less is more’ thing. True that. Sometimes a minimalist caption will highlight a striking image. Also, it can be a stylistic way to impress followers. One-liners, quotes, song lyrics… you’ve got options.

Short on caption ideas for your photos or videos? Get inspired.

5. Tag your location

Tagging your location puts your business on the map.

And, makes it dead simple for people to discover your photos and videos.

Plus, users view posts more that are tagged with a location.

Here’s how simple it is:

Tap ‘Add Location’

Search for your location

Select it and post the photo or video

This becomes a clickable field for the user. Clicking on the location shows all photos and videos for that place. Your brand is now associated with this location, like a shop, hotel, or head office. Or, make it more general, for a city or town.

We good? Moving right along…

6. Get on the Explore tab

Also known as the Explore page.

What is it?

Curated topics and personalized content you will adore. At least that’s what Instagram believes, based on your previous actions and engagement patterns. Wired calls it, “the most honest place on the internet.” Ah, how nice. Click on the magnifying glass to see for yourself.

Why use it?

For your brand to become more recognized. Placing high on the Explore tab can get you new followers and a steady flow of traffic.

How to get on it

It’s not completely known, but most likely, Instagram uses these criteria to place content in the Explore tab:

Content similar to what users engaged with

Content with high engagement

Content from accounts similar to accounts the user already follows

How to improve your chances

Know your audience. Like: your target customer, their interests, and who they follow. Create a persona to target your content.

Listen closely. Tailor your content based on how your audience is engaging with theirs.

Use hashtags. We talked about this above. Don’t skip it.

That’s the abbreviated version. Learn more in our post on how to get on the Explore page.

7. Post consistently

Why?

People will know what to expect. This keeps followers engaged with a consistent, versus overwhelming, flow in their feeds.

Establishes authority and credibility. You’ll be considered a thought leader in your industry.

Your brand will be recognized. By consistently sharing content with your target audience. 93% of organizations depend on this.

Engage with your audience. Which makes them come back for more. Loyal customers generate more revenue. Cheaper than acquiring new ones.

Generate leads. Give people useful, interesting content, they’ll knock on your e-door to learn more.

8. Post at the right time, too

Which is 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. Monday to Friday.

That’s what we do. Because our audience scrolls through Instagram during their lunch hour. Since we’re B2B, our strategy is weekday focused.

Instagram moved away from the reverse-chronological feed, but timing still matters. They explain on their blog, posts are ordered based on:

Likelihood of their interest in your content

One’s relationship with your brand

Timeliness of posts (an emphasis for us)

Timing is everything. What’s yours?

Find out by:

Knowing your audience

Testing different times

Measure what works, what doesn’t. Do more of what does.

9. Run a “like-to-win” contest

Say I offered you a free flight to your next holiday destination. You only needed to post a cool photo of yourself on vacation.

Would you do it?

Of course.

That’s the seductive play of an Instagram contest.

There’s a few types of these contests. We like the like-to-win one best.

It’s simple to do. Just ask users to like an Instagram photo of your brand, so they can win a prize. It’s a great way to connect with your audience and get people excited about your brand.

Set goals and metrics to see how it’s working.

For building brand awareness, measure follower count, engagement, and website traffic

For an annual sale, measure purchases, year-over-year engagement, and landing page traffic

You get the idea.

Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps an adventure photographer used to grow from 0 to 110,000 followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.

Get the free checklist right now!

10. Ask your followers to tag their friends

You can also encourage your followers to tag their friends in the comments. For example: “Tag someone you know who needs a vacation!” This can help expose your Instagram account to a larger network of people.

11. Comment and ‘like’ posts of others

Do this and Instagram will reward you, because they care most about engagement.

When a post receives a bunch of likes and comments, Instagram sees this as quality, engaging content that more people will want to see. So then…

Get on and scroll your feed

Like what you like

Write useful comments (not patronizing ones)

Participate in a social community that actually cares about each other’s posts. Not much more to say than that.

12. Share your Instagram posts on other channels

No need to keep things to yourself.

Increase your reach by sharing your posts on other social sites. But, alter them a bit versus just posting as is. So it works best for that platform and audience. For instance…

Address your Facebook friends differently than your LinkedIn connections

Edit your message to fit Twitter’s 280 character count limit

For Pinterest, post just the picture

Use formats wisely, too.

Multiple hashtags work well for Twitter and Instagram. But on Facebook or LinkedIn, you might not get the same results.

13. Use Instagram ads

Remember that $10.87 billion in revenue by 2019?

You want some of that, right? Just like 2 million other companies.

Here’s some ads to help you get more likes on Instagram:

Photo ads

Use these to tell your story and showcase your products using compelling images.

Parachute Home used these to promote a 60-night trial of their bedding, using a Shop Now call-to-action.

Their beautiful stuff aimed at 18-54 year-olds, for their core customer profile. The result? A 3.7 times return on spend. With a click-through rate 2 times that of ads on other platforms.

Video ads

As we now know, Instagram users are crazeeee about videos.

Videos were posted 4 times more than photos in 2017, compared to 2016.

Seems you should do the same.

OGX, a global hair care brand, created a video campaign around ‘Rock What You’ve Got”. This featured women celebrating their diverse hair textures and styles, targeted to millennial women.

This reached an impressive 61 percent of the target audience in the US. The same in Canada, UK, Germany, and Australia combined.

Video ads can be up to 60 seconds, but OGX shows a solid video doesn’t need to be long, as theirs was only 15 seconds.

Carousel ads

These let users swipe through a series of images or videos, with a call-to-action button connecting them directly to your website. Use more creative freedom to tell a longer story.

That’s what Kayla Itsines, founder of fitness empire Bikini Body Guide did.

She created and published a series of carousel ads for her workout app, Sweat: Kayla Itsines Fitness.

This showcased short fitness sequences demonstrating how users could exercise anywhere, anytime with the app. She targeted women aged 18 to 42, reaching 6.4 million people. With an incredible 21-point increase in brand awareness.

Woohoo! Gonna work on my bod right after completing this post. I’m inspired.

Sight, sound, and motion to inspire people around your brand and products.

Stories ads

These are full-screen ads appearing to users between Stories they’re already viewing from people they follow. 400 million Instagram users view Stories every day.

Choose how often people see your Stories ad. Stories expire after 24 hours, ideal for sharing limited-time offers and promotions.

Stories ads look like a regular post. The call-to-action works like a swipe-up feature, taking users directly to your website.

Good stuff for getting more Instagram likes using ads. Read even more about how to advertise on Instagram.

And that’s the story of how to get more Instagram likes

Now you know how to get more likes, which will get you more followers.

Nice.

But that’s not the only way to get more followers. Here’s 21 more ways.

A marketer’s job is never done.

And we can help…

Save time managing your Instagram presence using Hootsuite. From a single dashboard you can schedule and publish photos directly to Instagram, engage the audience, measure performance, and run all your other social media profiles. Try it free today.

Get Started

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