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carbonated-fenwater · 1 month

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Mostly screaming into the void with this one but I'm almost to the end of earning my Bachelor's and I've got something to say.

It is not edgy or subversive to redirect your hatred onto animals that you deem morally impure or to try and yassify misunderstood creatures.

"Sea otters assault their females to death and drown their pups" they are still a cornerstone species worth protecting and whole ecosystems are suffering for the loss of them.

"Sharks are just ocean puppies and big sweeties." No they're not, they are apex predators and you have to treat them with respect. Saying they're not capable of aggression or completely misunderstood is still spreading misinformation, you cannot generalize a group of animals like this.

"Dolphins are super smart and actually capable of understanding that some of their behaviors are evil" I am actually going to break into your house and steal your shoes if you say this to me.

"Charismatic megafauna are useless and overrated and taking away from underappreciated species that Really need our help" wrong again dipshit. Animals like pandas, elephants, whales, and others that I'm sure you're tired of seeing plastered everywhere are important to get the general public involved. It's called PR (and while I wish it wasn't necessary and that people would care regardless I digress) and what conservation work IS done based around them is advantageous to other threatened species that share their habitat.

As someone going into the field of ecological conservation and marine biology, I have met one too many people who think it's okay to say a certain animal doesn't deserve to be protected because it makes them feel yucky or just because they think it doesn't deserve it. I shouldn't have to tell you why that is SO not okay. The underappreciated and overrated can both exist, you don't need to proselytize people into hating dolphins just so sharks can get their dues.

You're also allowed to just dislike an animal! But if you sensationalize their behaviors that are morally incorrect by human standards, then I am begging you to reevaluate yourself, get more educated on the subject, and talk to a real ecologist.

No creature on this planet deserves to be eradicated just because you are personally offended by their natural behaviors or deem them unfit to take up space.

#ecology #marine biology #idk man im tired of seeing busted ass takes like this #esp when they come from my peers who are self proclaimed animal lovers #and then incapable of critically analyzing their narrow minded views of conservation and ecology #this goes for invasive species as well btdubs #those species did not choose to be here and if you take pleasure in their eradication I am judging you severely #managing them is a necessity and there should be no joy taken in the loss of life of these creatures #they deserve your respect regardless #that last one is @ those “wildlife influencers” in florida who think it's fun to torture invasive pythons for views

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kristybluebird · 1 month

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Kozue accession as one of many surprises in an anarchic last year of operation at Ohtori.

In my freshman year of highschool there was a group of kids who spent 8th grade as the last class of students at a middle school that was to be decommissioned. The teachers were all either waiting to jump ship or retiring, a lot of work went undone, alot of student cruelty went unchecked. The upkeep was dismal, the roof leaked, light bulbs that extinguished themselves were not replaced, the students were only allowed in certain parts of the school. There seemed to be a liminality to the experience, spending most of your days within walls that would be torn down that very summer.

That's how I imagine Ohtori without Anthy and her power, a strange dwindling thing still shook by the conclusion of normality and humming with anticipation of the deathblow.

Anyway, Kozue Co-prez!

#not necessarily the path i think she would take but one i think would be interesting and cause tension within a narrative i wont be writeing #kozue kaoru #miki kaoru #touga kiryuu #rgu #post-cannon #kozue i find really interesting in that she oscillates between wanting freedom from the system and power in the system through her brother #so if freedom is her endgame as id like to think it is for the students #than id have her choose the wrong path first but by chooseing to grasp power in her own right it is a step away from co-dependence and #towards self actualisation reguardless #of the position being very bad for her and anyone else given the implied proximity to that bastard Akio #anyway this causes a schizm in the student council leading to two groups meeting separately in a thus unseen basment and the student counci #balcony respectively #like in the schism of 1378 when there where two than three popes in Europe for like 40 years #my art #oh oh final note #was really tempted to give kozue her black rose uniform cause its the best on the show #but i think if she were negotiating she would ask for the boys cut #ended up looking very mcr #revolutionary girl utena

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jessicas-pi · 1 year

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it's actually, genuinely, honestly hilarious that in a fandom where popular ships include characters who are biologically related, characters with a 10+ year age gap who met when one was a teenager or even a child, and characters who have tried to kill each other, people hate on a friends-to-lovers ship with a <2 year age gap where the characters have a deep emotional bond and plenty of romantic subtext, because "they're siblings". my brother in the force they are literally not.

#i'm just saying. out of all the ships in the star war; sabine and ezra have one of the healthiest dynamics #right up there with kanera and bail and breha and obitine and maybe a few others. there are SO few 'problems' with it.#not that those 'problems' make a ship BAD when it's written well or in certain context.#just that out of all the ships to pick on; people choose THIS one?????#the one with character growth and found family and mutual respect??#the one with self-sacrifice and decades-long loyalty and obitine parallels and a jetpack chase scene????#what's there to hate???#and i would add a disclaimer about how if you dont ship them its fine as long as you dont bully but honestly?#i am so so tired of having to qualify my statements.#this is about the targeted hate. this has always been about the targeted hate.#and i don't care if someone loathes something i love as long as they they keep that loathing out of my personal space.#this has been a tag rant. thank you for reading.#btw i'm not being sarcastic about it being hilarious. it genuinely cracks me up to see people get SO hateful over this #for a reason that does not exist #as opposed to several other ships which DO IN FACT HAVE THAT OBJECTION.#like. oh my gosh. are you even listening to yourselves.#if u wanna have the don't-ship-siblings fight then puhLEEZE bring it to someone who ships siblings.#jessica's controversial star wars opinions #sabezra #(don't worry that this post is a vent because i'm getting bullied or anything. im not visible enough for that i guess lol)#it was written in humor not in hurt :)

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ae-cha08 · 1 day

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Its easy to let people cause us to lose our peace and live frustrated. Too often, we think we have to keep everyone happy but we end up only trying to change things that only God can change. You can't change people and make them do what's right. You can pray for them and encourage them, but they have their own free will. Don't let them steal your joy. Don't fall into the trap of codependent relationships.

Be good to others, be kind, be loving, but don't be a doormat.

You have to set some boundaries and let the peace of Christ rule in your heart. 💙

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witchofthesouls · 7 months

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So, uh, this little memory just suddenly popped up out of no where and I figured it would serve as good(?) ‘world-building’ material.

So, when I was in my private all-girls Catholic high school (that’s how you know it’s going to be a good story) girls would soak their tampons with vodka to get drunk. Some where more successful than others, but some where also less fortunate when their near fatal encounter of alcohol poisoning and nasty-ass vaginal infections where known throughout school.

My question is; do cybertronians have a similar method of madness like the vodka tampons?

And my second question; did Cybertronian’s have their own version of an all girls catholic school? And if they do, what kind of crazy shit went on there?

I can tell you so much about the crazy shit that went on there; the illegal gambling ring, the bi-curious and lesbi-curious girls who were convinced that they liked/loved another girl and stalked the poor girl, some of the shady male teachers, the secret LGBTQ+ club (which was actually kind of wholesome and I was apart of), the bullying (sweet Jesus was there a lot of bullying and harassment), some nuns were Grade A+ assholes who would wack our hands with rulers and have affairs with some of the male teachers, and there’s was a…uh,…secret orgy/cunnilingus club too.

It was the nineties, what would you expect?

Oh wow. I heard of things in private, religious schools from a friend, but hot damn that's wild!

I did go to a religious university. They had a weekly chapel where classes were suspended and all students were required to attend. I did start a tiny alcohol ring in the dorms. Nothing nefarious or crazy binging, just enough in plastic bottles to use in cooking or sipping for a secret meat meal in the rooms. I came from a time when weed was still illegal, but damn I never thought it would prepare me for smuggling meats into a strictly vegetarian campus.

So going back to the questions:

Cybertronians do have alcoholic goodies for popular sex play. Unlike humans, their reproductive system is a closed loop circulatory-wise, and they don't need to worry about poisoning themselves. But for an experience similar to humans doing stupid things for that drunk-high is the equivalent of a wine enema into their afts. That's because their "asshole" is actually a medical port that has components connected to their pelvis structures; meaning, they can get off really well with that alcoholic enema. Yeah, you don't need to be an expert in alien biology to understand that pouring drugs into a hole that's connected to your nervous system can be a stupid bad idea.

Get ready for a lot of worldbuilding:

Education on Cybertronian is severely restricted to caste due to edicts based on Functionism where frame dictates function in society. Some city-states like Vos and Tarn get away with public schooling by citing it as a necessity component of their citizenship and to the benefit of Cybertron as a whole. Vos stylizes their system as a military academy since Seekers are typically slotted into such hierarchies and citizens are drafted into the Air Force during wartime; whereas Tarn is famous for its factories and mines. Sparkling armature is too fragile for the unstable environment, so keeps the workforce much more docile that the bits too big for the holds are kept away and provides leverage as a union-busting technique. Accidents happen.

There are the old traditions of apprenticeships and mentorships for mecha that catch the attention of a well-established professional. Each decade, the number dwindles as more fees are added such practices, such as "alt-mode exemption for education" and "Form Ed-98A-3432d: Exemption to mentor a student two castes below."

Higher education typically functions as private entities with very high-stakes testing. If a student fails to pass progress exams to move to the next module, then it's game over. There's no retakes or repeats or any sort of second chance. They're permanently expelled from completing education within the city-state.

Because of this, coercion is a common phenomenon, especially to snap up specific connections or talented individuals under the school's domains or their related patrons. Skill was the means of trade among the faculty and students as well as the ability to cultivate it. Money could be both everything and nothing within these facilities; it was as meaningful as the parties in agreement made it. This was a strange world compared to what was outside the walls as it blended all the castes and frames and cultures and reduced it to what a person could bring to a table via their own hands or their future. Make no mistake, it wasn't a utopia. It was a cutthroat arena with deep tensions that were mitigated by the faculty and student council as they all battle to polish diamonds from the rough, force people into cohorts, and seal alliances. If done right, a low-caste sponsered can be taken care of for the rest of their lives or die back on the streets with nothing.

Ratchet managed to get away with his old clinic doing illegal free services by utilizing this strange culture. The relationships he cultivated with his old mentor's ties into their own university as well as Ratchet’s own ties via teaching will cover his tracks and provide some funding as long as he takes in "chosen" medical apprentices to train in such conditions and documents the long-term effects of poverty at those sunless levels. Ratchet was only able to trace a few of his benefactors in his project, Senator Shockwave and Counciler Alpha Trion.

Because it was a different world with so much on and off the books, the really secretive clubs would be the "heretics" with worship to certain Primes, Titans, or Unicron, sex clubs that cater to xeno-related kinks, and those with dysmorphic frames, either by force or assigned (cold construction, lab-grown sentio metallico, or noncon frame overhaul), trying to find themselves without anything set on legal paperwork.

(Knockout took advantage of that.)

#ask #transformers #transformers prime #tfp #ratchet #cybertronian culture #cybertronian biology #maccadam #my thoughts #my writing #i like to think knock out was a flyer and switched to a car #all based on that comment from starscream about “self-respecting Decepticons” and purposely choosing

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bonefall · 7 months

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naruto as a whole is a fucking mess and i say thisas somebody whos read the entireseries 3 times over. “naruto is going to change the system! haha teehee never mind hes not doing anytning about the child soldiers and slave castes and the genocides.” “sasuke can be upset at his brother for committing a genocide but actually genocide against an oppressed bloodline is good if theyre getting uppity and its sanctioned by the government and also have a genetic predisposition to be evil so he should just get over it and be okay with it” “sakura needs to stop obsessing over a guy whos not even interested and become strong for her own sake. actually shes a housewife now”

kishimoto im going to blow you up with my mind

YOU GET IT

For real though I think what they did with Sasuke's arc was one of the most baffling fucking things I've ever seen. "Actually. Your brother who carried out a genocide loved you :( he only put you in the Torment Nexus for several days because uhhh he wanted you to hate him and not find out about the government who ordered it. Everything he ever did was actually to protect you. And Uchihas are actually kinda rotten anyway so it's good an entire GROUP OF PEOPLE died. Don't think about any babies or children who were also slaughtered btw uhh nope all of them were bad."

Sasuke: "Yes I understand. I will now rule the world through fear. Actually nvm Naruto won our fight so, my philosophy is gone now."

Thank goodness that Evil Sasuke killed the three Bad Government Officials before that point, though. We had this whole theme going about toxic structures, cycles of abuse, and how oppressive regimes can propagate themselves even when a leader is well-meaning... but, like, Naruto REALLY wants to be Hokage, so actually if you just kill these Three Bad Governors it's gonna be fine.

There is no need for systemic change. Slave castes and child soldiers are fine. It's ok as long as the president is blonde :)

#It also bothers me unreasonably. And HAS bothered me since I was like 15. That in the final--#--scene where sasuke finally lets Naruto Into His Heart he goes off about how they were both just Lonely Children Looking for Love #Like... no!! No actually! Sasuke's WHOLE THING was that EVERYONE was praising him as a prodigy #But that he was pushing away everyone around him because his brother put him in the fucjing torment nexus #It would have been more appropriate to talk about how THEYVE BOTH BEEN MADE INTO WEAPONS #For Naruto to realize (now that he is Useful to his war-obsessed society) that Sasuke was also undergoing a sort of dehumanization #It should be through THEIR GROWTH AS PEOPLE that they finally have a deeper understanding of each other #THEY DID NOT HAVE A COMMON ORIGIN #THATS THE POINT. THEY BECAME FRIENDS IN SPITE OF IT #iM FLIPPING TABLES #They had the opposite problem as each other but through self-imposed ostracization and proving one's 'worth' *NOW* THEY GET IT #But we cant do that bc you'd have to admit that Sasuke hada fucking point and wasnt just wrong the whole time #And that this system is ROTTEN and that Naruto shouldn't become Hokage but DESTROY THE POSITION #because dictators choosing dictators IS BAD.#They should have changed the government to democracy and then Sakura wins the first free election #Because she's actually deeply connected with the people of the fire nation especially outside of the capital city #For like her humanitarian work during the timeskip #And for being the disciple of Tsunade who was a respected leader #And then have a cute moment where Naruto and her banter about it. That she fulfilled HIS dream lmaoo #And also let the three of them be friends im beggign OTL #She gets over her crush on him and theyre just friends #Animeposting #I shouldn't have mentioned sakura now im yelling about naruto on the cat blog

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thepoisonroom · 3 days

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What's the most recent thing you've been obsessed with? x

my girlfriend being, like, a cis woman of they/them experience

#i really admire when people who are cis have like #thought about and explored their gender a lot in order to arrive there #i know i was in deep denial about my gender and sexuality for years and like #only properly interrogated them out of necessity because i felt like i didn't have another choice and couldn't go on as i had been #i really admire when people have the courage to ask questions about that kind of thing #knowing that whatever you find out about yourself could require your life to change #i was really scared for a long time about how my life might have to change if i ever admitted that i like #was a lesbian or wasn't cis #i think deliberately seeking out that kind of self-knowledge knowing that it could change your life is like #very brave and self-respecting and intelectually honest in a way i admire a lot #i think something i've had to accept about myself is that as much as people tend to react to me as a bit eccentric or unconventional #i do have a strong reflexive urge to fit in and not stand out in any way #and if i were actually good at acting or passing or whatever i could have lived very comfortably in denial for a long time #like i'm not a particularly brave person when it comes to any kind of nonconformity i just didn't have a second option #i admire people who actively choose to explore their identities the same way i admire my friends who like #grew up really christian and deconstructed even though it must be really frightening to question something that structures your whole like #life and worldview #it takes a moral and intellectual courage and honesty that i just really really admire and draw a lot of inspiration from #sorry for the ramble i bave insomnia #anonymous #ask and receive

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brookheimer · 1 year

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been seeing some weird takes ab the shiv pregnancy. like being ambivalent about how the writers will play it is one thing — it could end up being an incredible exploration into shiv’s internal life and her as a person beyond her relationships with men, but there are also a lot of ways to fuck up a pregnancy narrative and most are exercises in thinly veiled sexism, so it’s only natural to feel uncertain. we just don’t know how it’ll go yet!

…..buuuut. saying that pregnancy playing a role at all in shiv’s life/arc/character inherently reduces her to being The Woman just feels soooo like … rooted in internalized misogyny to me? that’s kinda doing the same thing as everyone always does — thinking less of a woman once she shows signs of, y’know, actually ‘being a woman’ quote unquote. a female character won’t stop being fully-fleshed-out, strong, independent, and interesting the second she get pregnant. pregnancy isn’t, like, just a sexist trope, guys. it’s a real thing with real importance in the lives of many, many people! pregnancy isn’t reductive to women, it’s just a part of life for some women! a lot of the time it feels like ‘good female characters’ are only seen as ‘good’ so long as you can almost forget that they’re female, so long as they act so ‘masculine’ it’s like they’re just a regular complex male character repackaged in a female body. but to be a complex female character, you’re going to have a relationship to your gender! that’s inevitable and necessary in order to actually create a good female character, rather than a good character who just so happens to be female. and this isn’t even touching upon the weird essentialism of being like oh womanhood = pregnancy & vice versa like…. y’all are complaining about the show ‘reducing shiv to womanhood’ but are you sure you’re not doing that? and besides what do you even mean ‘reduced to womanhood’? was she not a woman before? is she only a woman now that she’s pregnant? just some fucking bizarre takes all around.

the rest is under the cut because this got long, sorry !

i mean, why are we acting like the decision to explicitly explore shiv’s relationship with motherhood and femininity is bad writing and rooted in misogyny — like, not even the way it’s done, just the decision to make shiv pregnant? like, making a female character pregnant is not sexist in itself, at all! that is just part and parcel of some women’s lives! the only reason you would think pregnancy as a concept for a woman is sexist is if your internalized misogyny makes you think that pregnancy weakens or devalues a ‘strong woman’ !!! why are y’all acting like pregnancy is this terrible emasculating trope that puts the curse of Woman on characters like you sound like the roy men

and, like, maybe the storyline will suck! maybe it’ll be shitty and weird and not-so-secretly misogynistic. maybe the way they end up writing it will be yet another Career Woman Grows Heart And Has Kids or the equally bad Career Woman Feels Forced To Reject ‘Womanhood’ Entirely And That’s Supposed To Be Empowering narrative. but maybe it won’t. maybe it’ll be fucking great. maybe it’s fucking needed — maybe it will try to unravel to undo this exact centuries-long prejudice against pregnancy, against women who ‘act like’ women, whatever that’s supposed to mean. we just don’t know yet. so, like, while it is so fair to feel ambivalent about this development, maybe try to figure out what the root of that ambivalence is — is it fear that the writers will fuck it up, or is it your own pre-existing biases about pregnancy and stereotypically ‘feminine’ experiences and traits? because, yknow. it just feels kind of weird to act like the mere existence of pregnancy in the arc of a female character is inherently diminishing and reductive to her — after all, what you’re saying between the lines is not only that pregnancy diminishes and reduces independent powerful women to just being women, but youre also literally reducing the entirety of womanhood to pregnancy and the entirety of pregnancy to womanhood, and all of that feels just, like. a strange stance to take, maybe

#this is not about anyone or anything in particular!!!! i’ve just seen a lot of random weird posts and tags that just have these undertones #of internalized misogyny and judgment towards pregnancy and a lot of things that i just like… don’t think people really meant to say #if that makes sense. like it’s not purposeful there’s just some really weird language being thrown around that just feels very like… judgin #a woman for ‘acting like’ a woman #which is inherently a weak bad thing #like womanhood and strength are not diametrically opposed guys. you don’t have to choose between self-respect and femininity #actually this is getting into another arg about the unempowering nature of a lot of abortion plotlines these days but that’s for another #time so i digress #might delete this later i’m not trying to like start drama. i’m just thinking thoughts ab shit i’ve seen on reddit twitter sometimes here #sometimes articles…. idk. just thinking thoughts here fr #succession #succession spoilers #shiv roy #casey shut the fuck up about shiv roy #100

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weregonnabecoolbeans · 3 months

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The way I feel about Anakin Skywalker is very similar to how I feel about Edward Cullen.

#bear with me...#I hate them with a burning passion #I consider them to be two of my all time favourite characters #they are idiots #they are the most disastrous men of all time #I cannot stand them #I love them #I will criticize absolutely everything about them #I will defend them from anyone who criticizes them incorrectly #I think their respective wives are insane for choosing to be with them #I love watching them be dumb #I love watching them be insane #I love watching them be the most melodramatic assholes who ever lived #and i just love making fun of them #idk man I just find characters who in universe are seen as super cool #but in reality are nothing but self loathing losers #to be super entertaining and fun to think about #anakin skywalker #star wars #darth vader #padme amidala #edward cullen #twilight #the twilight saga #bella swan #star wars prequels #attack of the clones #kate's post

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swinging-stars-from-satellites · 7 months

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how the HECK do I explain to my parents that I do not want bass guitar lessons from my dad, I want to teach myself from the books and videos that I have. I will literally throw away every plan I have to learn this instrument if I have to learn this way I'm not even kidding. this is why I quit guitar after two months my freshman year of high school.

#and I live in their house and pay pretty much no bills so it's not like I can make my own decision on this #like lol. I have no agency to choose to do things I want to do because my parents foot all my bills and unfortunately #they're actually really good parents despite the fact that I get frustrated with them so I actually do respect them #this would be much easier if they sucked.#I don't DO WELL with music lessons!!! I'm a self-learner I thought we learned this when I was in HIGH SCHOOL #I'm too much of a perfectionist to do ''proper'' lessons bc I get so stressed out and embarrassed whenever I do stuff wrong #that it completely shuts my brain down!! and it's WORSE with my DAD because I ESPECIALLY want to do well with him #like... this is why learning hobbies from my parents DOESN'T work for me!! I want it to be FUN not a fucking... class #and now I'm ticked off and about to cry when we were supposed to be having a fun family holiday outing. yay

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dutybcrne · 6 months

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Kaveh, Furina and Kaeya absolutely love the idea of being pampered and spoiled. Actually having it happen though is a rather Mortifying Experience for them.

#hc; kaveh #hc; furina #hc; kaeya #//Romantically or in more platonic/familial situation; it’s all the same #//Having pushed themselves to be so self-reliant and their own self-views; it’s honestly a bit jarring #//There are certain people they each respectively have in which is made even Worse #//Bc they feel they don’t deserve it from that person especially; and/or instinctively think it’s obligation talking #//Thus they’d refrain from asking much if at all #//Instead; choose to BE the ones doing the pampering and doting #//THEY spoil their friends and loved ones instead; bc they hold THEM in such high regard. THEY deserve all the love and warmth #//They can and will learn to accept the gestures; but it will still always throw them for a LOOP to be doted on #//Dont be surprised if they act like it’s super disconcerting for them the first few times—bc it genuinely IS

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justatalkingface · 1 year

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I just... feel like there was a better way 1-A could've done to get Izuku back instead of... what the fuck happened in canon.

Like only the ones closest to him could've come to get him back because everyone coming and saying all these things just doesn't work because we don't see Izuku interact with them enough to get a sense of that.

Or just have Izuku be too weak to move and just have them talk to him.

Or, just prove he's right in them not keeping up (since it was proven later in the form of Jiro getting hurt and Bakugou dying) by besting them in battle and call them out on what they were doing. Followed by someone else (Can be the starhead guy, the lizsrd lady, or even one of the villains watching the fight and listening to what he said) takes him in for some much needed rest.

But I have a feeling you would come up with something better.

I mean, let's be honest, at a fundamental level, the 'Dark Deku' arc needed to figure out what the fuck it actually wanted and gone from there.

It presents itself as Izuku going through a dark phase, falling into being an edgelord and a vigilante, by the fact he left and gets an edgy new look, but.... he's actually supervised by a bunch of top level heroes? So he's not? Moreover, UA is a school he chooses to enroll in *flashback to Mamadori almost pulling him out* so... there's nothing actually wrong in him leaving, either.

It also tries to say, 'Hey, Izuku, don't abandon your friends! They aren't a weakness, they're a strength! You can't do it without them!'

*flashback to Bakugou being bodied by SFO casually*

...Only to promptly show that, no, he actually had a really good point.

SFO, at least, could trashed them using only one of his (many) hands. If SFO wanted to fight him, and he was at the school, and he had just waltzed up there, all that work would have done shit; as is, everything is going as well as it has only been because the heroes planned out everything and ambushed SFO, while also with AFO being nerfed and idiot balled into being a non-realistic threat for most of the fight. If basiclly every high level hero in the country wasn't on hand to throw down, with Eraserhead in position to instantly slap SFO with a no-quirk clause, with time to evacuate the general area and prepare the school, in other words, without every possible thing going right, UA would have been destroyed in a matter of minutes. Most of the heroes would have been killed, UA would have been destroyed, and there would have been mass casualties with all the civilians there, who also had a good point in that maybe, just maybe, putting the villains number one target with the helpless civilians hiding from the villain has obvious downsides?

But, that's a little off focus: how would I do that better? Well, there's a lot of ways to play it, for a lot of potential resolutions, but for starters, the obvious choice is not to attack him.

Like, hell. That shouldn't be that hard of an idea, Hori; Izuku at this point is suffering from mental concerns, he's pushing himself too hard, he's trying to martyr himself for the sake of others. The solution to something like is not, 'punch him better', sweet fuck.

For example, if you want to show them making mistakes, maybe as a lead up to people realizing they've treated Izuku badly, then have Bakugou attack him, maybe with some other people from the class (but definitely not the people Izuku is actually friends with) and have them be bitched slapped because Izuku should be far over powering everyone at this point, and then have it pointed out that, obviously, attacking him isn't helping. Have Izuku get noticeably worse, maybe, in response, and leave, as someone has that (incredibly obvious) realization that they made things worse, and let them wallow in the 'what have we done' vibes that mistake has earned for a bit, with some retrospective on their interactions with Izuku before now.

Then someone like Ochako, Shoto, or Iida could step up and get to the obvious method: talking him down. Communicating with him, like he's a person with his own ideas and agency, instead of trying to change him by force, and then they go, and they talk him down, and to conclude it all later the attackers then apologize for attacking him, and you know, don't do it when Izuku's dead on his feet.

That's basiclly the canon route, for the record, but played out with more realistic consequences instead of it magically working out for them.

The thing is, you can 'force' someone into working with you, but it's... not done like that. A way to 'force' Izuku into teamwork, instead of fighting him, something that Hori nodded at for a second before it became instantly irrelevant, is Izuku simply needing help, and his friends rescuing him from danger. And if he protests? Even better; that brings it back to Iida with Stain, way back when, with a nice sort duality to it about how much he's grown that he's doing it save Izuku. In this scenario, Izuku has no way to stop them from helping other than words because of the situation he's in, and if they just ignore his protests (again, like Izuku did for Iida), then there's nothing he can actually do to stop them. There's a mild problem in him needing help when he's so OP now, but something the manga doesn't seem to acknowledge anymore is that Quirk users.... are still human? Sure, Izuku can probably dead-lift the Titanic or something, but he still needs to breath. And eat. And drink. In general, all that fun stuff biological beings need to do regularly. Admittedly, it wouldn't fit well with how the manga was heading at that point, which is just people throwing around pure power with no real strategy (though I hate that, so... I see no problem here), but Izuku could simply be poisoned by someone. Invisible gas, poison skin, whatever: no matter how strong he is, OFA doesn't make him immune to mundane human concerns.

Boom. Instant distress scenario, but everyone involved doesn't get treated like a piece of shit.

Another idea is All Might, you know, that guy Hori hates. There were some scenes there, with All Might trying to connect with Izuku, and maybe dial him back a bit, that didn't go anywhere. Build off that, work with it, have it come up more. Have Izuku come to the end of his rope, somehow, physically, mentally, fall into despair, and then at that moment where he's about to give up?

"I am here."

There's so much potential on the All Might and Izuku dynamic from the start that never got explored after a while, about how similar they are, how they have the same problems, how that experience could have been used to help Izuku with his problems, and All Might coming to Izuku at his worst, like he could have used at his worst (instead of having an abusive mentor who only talks in pain, and a controlling sidekick who can't take no for an answer), to help him move past it in a way All Might never could? That could have been so great, it really could have, I honestly miss All Might as an active character who does things so much, and the mentor and student dynamic of the two of them together.

And that's not if Izuku just... had this character arc without them, and had new perspective from talking to all the villains that he's fighting, and you know, Lady Nagant, who would certainly have had an interesting perspective on things.... you know. If she was allowed to have it.

But let's backtrack a bit. Beyond the shitty way it happened, with turning 1A into Bakugou's goons, the other problem with this whole clustefuck is it just... didn't know what it wanted to say. I pointed it out awhile ago, but Hori suffers this with Izuku, who simultaneously was a disabled everyboy who wasn't actually special in any way, symbolizing the heroic spirit and how You Don't Need To Be Special, and the fact that Izuku at this point can murder god.

Izuku is symbolizing both of the conflicting messages of the story, that are almost but not quite diametrically opposed to each other: that everyone can be a hero, and that some people are more special than others. And these messages are something Hori can't figure out what he wants to do with them.

There are ways to do both of these at once, but the thing is that's actually super hard to consistently invoke both of these concepts and not have them cancel each other out, and it's why most stories tend to double down on one or the other.

So, let's look at Dv1A from that broader kind of context:

In the grand scheme of things, this is set up as 'everyone is a hero' message, with the (theoretically elite) 1A working together to not only beat someone who is just Built Different from them, but also demonstrate teamwork, friendship, and so on... except it's really tainted by how they're hunting him, but let's ignore that for a sec.

At the same time, the next arc swings in and all of that, all of that, is basically invalidated because they are helpless to stop SFO.

So. How do we do this better? (Beyond just not having god knows how many chapters of everyone failing to meaningfully contribute in the final fight.) Well, for one, we could better acknowledge the situation this is in, and how it's not black and white.

1A comes to rescue Izuku, Ra Ra friendship; from that perspective, we're assuming they have an actual conversation with him, and they open with, 'Come back, we miss you, we can do this together'.

Izuku counters with, 'But you can't', which is semi-objectively right, but it's also against the message the story wants, which is they're ultimately right anyways because friendship.

So have them simply respond with 'We don't care'.

Have someone, Shoto, Iida, Ochako, Momo, whoever, agree with him that they are, even when viewed collectively, weaker than him, but it doesn't matter, they're doing this anyways. Like a hero, who acts without thinking.

This is a shonen story, at the end of the day. Are they objectively correct? Nope. Is this maybe a poor decision? Sure. But you know what? Plus Ultra. Lean into the fact this is a story, acknowledge the flaws, and then have them ignore it, only to ultimately overcome it anyways with skill, determination, and pure luck.

Because, all in all, not every hero needs to be 'Deku', memetically overpowered, except for this one single situation with AFO. MHA is a setting that could easily support a Quirkless hero, who does hero things, and just... you know, doesn't fight the Demon King, or the High End Nomu, or whatever because that's suicide and they realize their limits. Izuku is stronger than them all, yes, but that fact doesn't invalidate them as heroes, or as his friends, or them working together, or anything like that. This was a place for the story to (try and, even if they ultimately fail because it's way too late at this point) to pull out of the power up death spiral that's overtaken it and say that, in fact, power isn't everything.

And finally, what should have happened is that Izuku should have finally, finally, only at the end of the actual story goddamn it but at least he actually got there, started to respect himself, as a person.

The 'set up' of this arc, short as it was, focused on Izuku's completely lack of self-respect and self-care, how he didn't (and still doesn't) value himself as anything more than a tool to help others, like All Might did, and how he was destroying himself because of that toxic mentality. This was built up, but... it never happened. They fought, they mentioned it to some extent, though that lost its value with how much they were actively attacking him, but we've never seen that new mindset actually, properly excuted; we have yet to see Izuku respect himself.

Fundamental to this set up is his friends pounding into Izuku's skull that he matters. Farther than they did in the story, without the taint of them attacking, they need to say that he doesn't need to be strong, to be a hero, to matter. That him doing this to himself not only hurts him, but it hurts them, hurts his friends, his mentor, his mother, all of who value him as more than just a set up of superpowers in a meat suit. That he doesn't have to be Deku, that he doesn't have be a hero, to be valued, and that just being Izuku is OK.

#ask #mha critical #bnha critical #izuku deserves better #izuku deserves self respect #hori's inability to choose a message #deku vs 1a critical #pulling out of the power-up death spiral #it is ok for izuku to just be izuku

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