#is enough to disprove this foolishness
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A zionist on twt is trying (and failing) to spread the lie that Hamas managed to bake an Israeli baby alive in an oven. Honestly?? I laughed and I’d consider it camp if they weren’t lying like this to justify war crimes and genocide
#to clarify I don’t find cooking babies alive funny#everything about this is so fucking sad like I gotta laugh when shit gets ridiculous#also#the mere fact that most israeli deaths on oct 7th were due to the IOF completely shitting the bed and firing on hostages themselves#is enough to disprove this foolishness#every accusation is a confession#bc there are accounts from the 1948 nakba where a baker and his son where burned alive by the IOF#very sick and twisted#free palestine#zionists could be comedians but they’re too committed to the whole ethnic cleansing thing how strange
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The King's Bargain (VIII)
Pairing: King!Ushijima x Princess!Reader
Genre: Royalty AU, fluff, angst
Summary: As a princess, you were always expected to eventually marry royalty, but never did you think that you would be engaged to the very king who declared war on your kingdom.
WC: 3.5k
TW: pregnancy
notes: the long-awaited chapter 8! i know a lot of people dont like the pregnancy trope so apologies to those who don't but i hope it doesnt prevent anyone from continuing to enjoy this story. also if i missed anyone on the taglist please let me know!
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When you woke the next morning, you were surprised to find yourself with an arm wrapped securely around your waist and your back flush against a surface that couldn't be anything but Wakatoshi’s chest. Heat immediately rushed to your face as you recalled the events of last night. You brought a hand up to cover your face and groaned, embarrassment flooding through you.
“Oh, you are awake,” observed Wakatoshi from behind you, his voice still husky with sleep. You felt him raise himself on the arm that wasn’t around you and lean over you to see your face. A soft smile grew on his face, your bashfulness nothing short of adorable in the eyes of the king. The arm that had previously been draped across your waist was lifted to try and pull your hands away from your face. “My wife wouldn’t deny me the pleasure of looking at her beautiful face, would she?”
You slowly uncovered your face and were met with the loving eyes of your new husband. He really was nothing like you’d expected him to be. You couldn’t believe you used to think he was the tyrant the stories made him out to be.
“Good morning,” you greeted.
“Tell me, what do you think about spending a week in the mountains? I am told it is customary for newlyweds to vacation together.”
“It’s called a honeymoon. But you’ve already been away for some time, do you think it’s okay to leave again so soon?”
“Reon is more than capable of leading in my stead.”
“I don’t know…” you said apprehensively. “If you’re really certain that it’s okay, then I would love to go to the mountains with you.” If you hadn’t already been hot in the face, then you definitely were now. You were convinced that the broad smile on his face could bring the angels from the sky. The pure happiness radiating from your husband was enough for you to stop second guessing his decision to leave the palace again. Satisfied with your agreement, he settled back in behind you, once again draping his arm over your waist and pulling you into his chest as he drifted back to sleep, as content as could be with you held in his embrace.
The next time you woke, Wakatoshi was no longer with you. You dressed quickly and went out to look for him, only to be met with Semi standing guard at the bedroom as soon as you opened it, his back to you. Hearing the door open, he turned to you, bowing deeply, and greeted, “Your majesty.”
The new title was still so foreign to you that had he not been bowing directly in front of you you would not have even realized it was you he was addressing.
“Good morning, Sir Semi. Do you know where I might find my husband?”
“He’s in the council room speaking with Tendou, Reon, and the higher ups of the military. I’d be happy to escort you there, if you wish.”
“The military? Is it something serious?”
“Nothing you should concern yourself with, My Queen.”
You frowned slightly at his response. Your husband may have disproved the rumors about his personality, but none could deny that Shiratorizawa was a country forged from bloodshed.
You knew without a shadow of a doubt that he’d follow you regardless of where you went, and you’d look foolish if you tried to navigate the massive castle without the aid of someone who was familiar with its halls. With no alternatives, you graciously accepted his offer and, without wasting a second, Semi was leading the way.
Every now and then Semi would have to look behind him to make sure you were still there since you kept getting distracted by the art lining the walls. After countless twists and turns, and several occasions of Semi nearly leaving you behind, he finally stopped in front of a pair of doors. The council room, you presumed. “We’re here, Your Majesty.”
“Thank you, Sir Semi. Am I permitted to walk in?” You were unsure if it would be acceptable for you to enter, or if you had to knock and wait for admission.
Semi had to suppress a slight grin at your question. You were the queen, afterall. Who could possibly tell you no? It definitely wouldn’t be the king, if the way he looks at you was any indicator. And if not Ushijima, then certainly no one else would be foolish enough to criticize his wife.
You knocked anyway, just to give the room’s occupants notice that someone was walking in. You poked your head in first, and Tendou’s bright hair was the first thing you saw before your eyes inevitably sought out those of Wakatoshi amidst the semi-crowded room. “Do you need something, Yn?” he asked, his full attention on you.
You faltered, truly not having a reason to have gone out of your way to find him. “Um, no, I guess not. Was just curious where you were is all. You were gone before I woke.”
Ushijima’s eyes melted at your innocent admission, and it appeared as if he was going to say something before one of the generals decided that interrupting a conversation between the king and queen was a good idea. “Who do you think you are to interrupt an official military meeting? Know your place, maid.”
“Get out,” came Ushijima’s instant response, his voice cold and steely. “From this moment on you are no longer welcome on palace grounds, and you are to be removed from your post effective immediately.
The now former general blanched, not expecting such harsh treatment for berating what he believed to be a maid. The shock on face became even more comical when Ushijima spoke again, “Before anyone else mistakes my wife for a maid, I’d like to formally introduce Queen Ushijima Yn.”
“Perhaps he could be forgiven?” you asked. Firing a general just for insulting you was flattering, but unnecessary. “Only monarchs and aristocrats attended the wedding. He couldn’t have known what I looked like.”
“Even so, such blatant disrespect will not be tolerated, whether it be towards you or an actual maid. Now, if there is nothing you needed me for, please wait in the dining room. I will be there shortly to have breakfast with you.” He addressed Semi next, “ Semi, please escort Yn to the dining room and have Hayato monitor Mr. Watanabe as he packs his things.”
Recognizing your cue to leave, you curtsied and left. The man who got dismissed was escorted out with you. When the doors were once again firmly shut, the former general shot a glare at you, “This is your fault!” he hissed through gritted teeth, positively seething. You wouldn’t be surprised if he started foaming. Lost in his rage, he raised a hand, only for his wrist to be caught in Semi’s deathgrip. The red drained from the man’s face, anger being replaced by fear. “You don’t learn, do you? You would dare to lay your filthy hands on the queen? A mere insult cost you all but your life, and even that may be in jeopardy now that you made to strike her.”
If you were being perfectly honest with yourself, you got a sick joy from watching the man go from intimidating general to shaking chihuahua under the calculating eyes of your knight. Semi had known what the man was going to do and stopped it before you even processed what was happening. Wakatoshi had assigned him to be your protector for a reason.
“If you don't mind, Your Majesty, I’d like to bring Mr. Watanabe to Sir Hayato to be taken care of first.”
You agreed quickly, wanting to see the hateful man being taken away with your own eyes. The entire walk to the West Gate, where Hayato was stationed, Semi maintained a strong hold on the other man’s arm to be sure that he didn’t try to escape or make another attempt to harm you. As Semi was handing Watanabe over to Hayato, he told Hayato of what had transpired both in and out of the council room. Hayato didn’t even bother to hide his shock at the audacity of the former general. “Does King Ushijima know?” he asked.
Semi shook his head, “Not yet. But rest assured, he will before the hour is up.”
With the transfer complete, Semi asked if you were ready to meet Wakatoshi in the dining room, which of course you were more than ready to. When you arrived, Semi held the door for you and followed you in. The room he brought you to was the informal dining room, the one for everyday use rather than the grand one used when entertaining guests. You remembered Tendou telling you that despite Wakatoshi’s exorbitant wealth, he preferred a simpler lifestyle. Unfortunately, that wasn’t entirely possible when you had the title of king on your shoulders and the weight of a crown on your head.
You sat across from Ushijima and he waved a hand to dismiss Semi, wanting a little privacy with his new wife. Semi obliged, but not before telling the king that there was something he should know. This sparked Wakatoshi’s attention, and he told Semi to continue.
“After we left the council, Gen- Mr. Watanabe made to strike the queen. I stopped him before any harm was done, but-”
“I’ve heard enough,” said Wakatoshi curtly. He looked to you, his expression murderous, “Is this true?”
You nodded.
“Find Hayato. Watanabe is no longer permitted to leave. He is to be imprisoned for treason. Go.”
Semi bowed and rushed out to make sure he was able to inform Hayato in time.
Wakatoshi slumped in his chair. He looked so worn out and it was yet early in the day. He sighed before speaking, “There has been word of Karasuno rallying troops, many of them being stationed near the Shiratorizawa-Karasuno border. It’s quite concerning.”
Despite not having much military knowledge, you did know that Shiratorizawa didn’t have many allies, so any kingdom getting too close to the border felt like an attack in the making. He continued, “In the meantime, we’ve decided to instruct our own forces to stay on high alert and have sent word to King Daichi that his troops need to be farther from the border or Karasuno will be regarded as a threat.”
He didn’t miss the uneasy look on your face. Afterall, Seijoh had only recently come to good terms with Karasuno after a long and bitter rivalry between the two kingdoms. “Do not fret, my love. You are safe here. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
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The honeymoon phase was pleasant, and mostly spent in the bedroom, but like all things it had to end. The rising military concerns were increasingly taking more and more of Wakatoshi’s time and your duties as queen were taking more and more of yours. Weeks went by like this, but it wasn’t all bad. You both made it a point to have meals together since your schedules kept you apart for the majority of the day. During those meals, he would update you on the activities of Karasuno and you would tell him about what you had been doing.
Weeks like this went by, until during one lunch he told you that there was a high possibility of Karasuno preparing to attack, as they had been observed to be recruiting more and more soldiers, and King Daichi was importing large amounts of iron from Dateko. The iron could potentially be for infrastructure reasons, but the possibility of it being used to forge weapons could not be dismissed.
You furrowed your brows, and Wakatoshi could practically see the wheels turning in your head. “Don’t worry, Darling. They will be dealt with.” His words did little to soothe your anxieties, but you mustered up a smile anyhow. Though you had only been there for mere months, you had come to love the country. At some point within the first month you decided that it truly was a lovely country, it just had some image problems.
Over the course of the next few weeks, numerous developments were made. The Karasuno troops had retreated from the border and King Daichi claimed that it was a communication error on his part. Supposedly he’d meant to send them elsewhere to squash a small rebellion. In turn, Ushijima instructed his own forces not to engage with Karasuno, but remained unconvinced of the other king’s explanation. The second development was your abdomen, which had taken on the slightest bulge. Frankly, you weren’t sure if it was the lavish meals or the extra time you and Wakatoshi had spent together at the beginning of the marriage. You had yet to bring anything up to Wakatoshi, who hadn't noticed any changes, but Tendou definitely had. He was absolutely positive you and Wakatoshi had an heir, but frankly you were in denial.
You knew from the beginning that children are expected from marriages, especially royal ones. But it was still so early. You and Wakatoshi were finally comfortable as a couple and were still learning each other's little quirks. Throwing a baby in the mix would definitely alter the routine you and Wakatoshi had settled into. How could you have been so foolish? You and Wakatoshi hadn’t even talked about producing an heir yet, so you had no clue how he would react.
According to Tendou, Wakatoshi had long dreamed of having a family of his own. You were still hesitant to say anything, but had promised Tendou that if you didn’t bleed within the month, then you would tell Wakatoshi. Confirming what Tendou had already known, the end of the months came and went and still no blood.
Naturally, as soon as you were working up the nerve to tell your husband the news, his schedule became so hectic that there was simply no time in the day. He was always gone by the time you awoke and, no matter how you tried to stay awake, you were always asleep by the time he retired for the night.
At this rate, he would notice by himself that your stomach was slowly beginning to accommodate the life inside you. Tendou had finally had enough and told Wakatoshi to spare a lunch with you, making up the excuse that neglecting one’s wife is frowned upon and it was Wakatoshi’s duty as a husband to tend to his wife. He even had Goshiki oversee the arrangements himself.
When the day came you were beyond nervous, but it had to be done. Lunch was to be had on a terrace overlooking the garden today, since the weather had significantly warmed with the changing of the seasons. You were already there when Wakatoshi arrived. He apologized for his tardiness and sat across from you.
Before he could say anything, you blurted out, “I need to tell you something!”
He was surprised at your sudden outburst, but nodded for you to continue.
You wrung your hands together in your lap. “I-” you stopped, the words getting stuck in your throat. “I think I-” you tried again. Wakatoshi nodded at you encouragingly, his full attention on you. “I think I’m pregnant.”
Wakatoshi’s face lost all emotion. “You think? Or you know?”
Startled at his change in demeanor, you wanted to take it back, say it was a joke, but he knew you had meant it. All you could do was tell the truth. “I know.”
Without another word, he stood from his chair and left you sitting on the terrace alone. You felt your world crumbling around you, tears already blurring your vision. The maids stood awkwardly off to the side, not knowing if it was their place to comfort you or not. Goshiki, however, had no such qualms. He was by your side as soon as Ushijima was out of sight. You practically threw yourself into his arms, sobbing. He ushered you up from your seat and began to guide you to you and Ushijima’s bedroom. As soon as you realized this you stopped in your tracks. “No, not there. I don’t want to be around him right now.” Goshiki looked unsure of your request but fulfilled it anyway and led you to one of the many unused guest rooms.
“Would you like anything, Your Majesty?” he asked.
“No, thank you,” you smiled at him sadly, “you’ve already helped me enough. Thank you. I would like to be alone for now.”
Goshiki nodded and left the room quietly. You spent the rest of the crying into a pillow, refusing to come out for dinner. Of course, walls have ears and the maids love to gossip, so it didn’t take long for word to reach Ushijima that you had been holed up in one of the spare rooms since lunch. He figured you just needed time and made no attempt to reconcile with you. Not that he was aware there was any reconciling to do. He just assumed pregnancy hormones. But he wasn’t going to allow you to just skip dinner. So he had Semi bring you a tray of food and instructed him that it was of the utmost importance that you were not to go anywhere alone and should be monitored at all times.
Semi sighed, wanting to criticize the king’s behavior, but feared losing his job. He did as ordered and brought you your food, knocking on the door softly. “Who is it?” you asked, voice raspy and weak from all the crying.
“It’s Semi, Your Majesty. I brought your dinner. May I come in?”
You granted him permission and he wheeled the cart in, the tray on top laden with more food than you could possibly finish.
One look at you and Semi could see that you were in bad shape. Your eyes were red and puffy and there were dried tear tracts on your face; in other words, you looked absolutely miserable.
He pitied you, he didn’t want to, but he did, and you could see it in his eyes. “Don’t look at me like that. I should’ve kept my mouth shut.”
“You wouldn’t have been able to hide it forever. He would have found out eventually. It’s better that he heard it from you rather than wondering why his wife didn't talk to him about it.”
You knew he meant well, but there was no combination of words he could string together to console you. Not wishing to talk more, you dismissed Semi to wallow in your own self-pity. You nibbled the food at best, your appetite not having returned since the cold response you'd gotten from Ushijima earlier. It was supposed to be good news, not the wedge that drove you apart.
Leaving your dinner mostly untouched, you fell into a fitful sleep. The next morning, you woke to the sounds of two maids conversing in your room as they prepared your dress for the day. “I heard King Ushijima is going to send her away,” giggled one of them conspiratorially. Clearly, they believed you to still be sound asleep. Oh how wrong they were. “I know! Can you believe she told him she’s pregnant? It’s probably not even his. As if someone like King Ushijima would bed a girl like that, princess or not. Besides, if he sends her away, maybe I’ll finally have my chance at royalty” said the other one smugly.
“If it’s not the king’s then whose do you think it could be?” asked Maid #1, not truly expecting an answer. Afterall, the walls weren't exactly soundproof. That alone was enough for her to know the baby was indeed the king’s and that this arrogant new maid didn’t stand a chance with him.
“My money is on Sir Semi.”
Maid #1 gasped. “Don’t say such things!” she scolded.
“I’m just saying, I wouldn’t be surprised if the brat comes out looking like a certain knight.”
When they finally “woke” you, you acted as if you hadn’t heard anything, but inside you were absolutely seething. Deciding to ignore the hurt you still felt from yesterday, you had every intention of telling him how those maids had spoken about you and him. Except, you didn’t get the chance. You had barely sat down when Ushijima spoke first, “I think it would be best if you left the palace for a while.”
Your jaw dropped, disbelief and denial coursing through your veins. Wakatoshi continued, “You will be staying in the family manor in the Miyagi Mountains. A carriage is already being prepared.”
“Toshi, I-” he held a hand up, stopping you from protesting.
“The decision has already been made. You will leave this afternoon. Now, please excuse me, I have urgent matters that require my attention.” Once again, he left you just sitting there by yourself, hurt and angry. From the corner of your eyes you saw Maid #2 failing to suppress a smug smirk.
Next ->
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king's bargain taglist: @chixkadee @wilby0-0 @animeworshipper5112 @clairethereader @ushisrever @feiwelinchen @coldlamaspersonspy @uwukris @ushiwaka-11 @ihavewhiplashbecauseofnct @spinalhoney @ebiharachan @cinnamonlattae @buttercupp-baby @sabrinakishi @hannas16 @tuhros @indaybella99 @pan-cakez @kiyoomimybeloved @daichisno1girl @lordmypantsaresocool @castor0il
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"Side Two" Theory: The Web and "Protocol"
These are my admittedly rudimentary thoughts on what to expect of The Magnus Protocol. I'll note for starters that I have only just joined the online fandom so I have NO idea what kind of speculation has already happened and someone may have already said this somewhere. Not intentionally copying anyone though.
So it seems like the primary speculation starts with how the world of TMP is connected to the world of TMA...
One thing my friend Roxy @the-sound-and-the-furry had brought up with me on call following us listening to the TMA finale was the distinction between the titles of the two series', and how telling it could be. We know the Eye to be an entity not inclined towards any sort of direct action or interference - the dissonance between this and Jon's behaviors during the series being one of the main tells that he's not strictly in association with the Eye - and the title of Archives lends itself to this as well. What has happened has already happened, and you're a mere observer of it.
The title of Protocol, on the other hand, is a very proactive title, as Roxy pointed out. 'Protocol' is based around a simple question:
"What do we do if X happens?"
Within a week of this conversation, Roxy shared the following with me.
So I think this is a really sexy theory, and positing the idea of "is this the universe we came from, the next universe, or perhaps the PREVIOUS one" I think is key to answering the questions we all have about TMP.
But later on, in a similar conversation, something entirely different occurred to me.
In this instance, we were discussing the specifics of the TMA finale. Specifically, the Web's (alleged) plan and what about it did or didn't make sense. Here were my messages:
(I am very aware the Spider chose the Eye specifically for its foolish nature this is just talking about hypothetically while it was initially forming its plan).
Roxy's notions about this:
It was in the process of replying to this idea that I was struck by the larger theory.
"The Magnus Protocol".
"What do we do if there's another Magnus?"
We know the Institute at least exists in the world of TMP, so ostensibly Magnus would've been planning the same things here.
And speaking of...
I think that with the tone of Gwendolyn Bouchard in the trailer, we sort of naturally pegged her as a sinister counterpart to Elias as we knew him in the series. But it makes far more sense that she'd be a pissed-off relative to me.
(The Smirke Line doc is a separate theory doc I had created earlier in my listening to the series. Perhaps someday I'll get into it or discuss the specifics of the Web's overarching nature in other Powers' business. This is not that post, however. For the time being I think it's self-explanatory enough.)
There's also the fact that in this universe, modern technology is used to make the recordings, which given the Web's history with technology, and the incompatibility of the stories with it which created the necessity for the tapes, would suggest to me an entirely different type of plan for this universe.
I finally got the chance to go over the ARG results with some friends, and I won't say anything there particularly jumped out at me in terms of supporting or disproving this idea. But no loss is a win where I'm concerned, at least in the short term. I'm fully ready for this to be thrown out in episode one.
There was one other thought which did occur to me, though I'm not entirely sure I have the evidence necessary to support it, and it pretty much makes for just messy speculation right now. I'd be remiss if there's even a chance it's true and I didn't put it out there, though.
Throwing everything I just said about which universe we're in out the window, let's assume we ARE in the universe which follows the initial one from TMA - the one the entities were sent to.
Given that there are aspects to the Web's theoretical plan that seem confusing on paper, as well as one particular web-based episode I think didn't actually get explored further later in the show and its clues were never explained (hint: it's in season four), can we be so certain we know the ORIGINAL finale plan in its entirety?
This merits further investigation. But I do wonder if it's in any way possible that, should my idea about the Web's possible 'alternate route' be accurate, the original series was in some way meant to carry out this plan all along. That gets a bit red-string, I know. But for the moment, I'm not sure it's necessarily proven wrong. Feel free to comment or ask me about it if there are things that you think do, though. I'm very interested in unpacking this further and that's hard to do in a bubble.
Probably several other spider-based posts to come in the near future. I promise to occasionally talk about other things as well, maybe. There's several things I still haven't unpacked here that square interestingly with these ideas but I think it's too much for one post, and I don't want to go any further off the rails than I already have.
This post is already too much. If you did read it then cheers. Please come talk to me about stuff I've been waiting nearly a YEAR to talk to this fandom.
#the magnus archives#tma#the magnus protocol#side two theory#i'll see you guys on thursday when this all gets hardcore debunked in the first episode#statement of res regarding#magpod#tmagp
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we cannot disprove that mickey darling was thinking specifically about cb and beethoven dsg when writing im just a buzzkill and frankly i think theres enough evidence thatd itd be simply foolish not to believe.
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Taylor Swift Songs That Mention Cars That Are Totally About Phoebe and Silas - Fifteen
try and stay out of everybody's way
Especially in TPATS, Silas really felt like he didn't belong anywhere and that his presence was an imposition. To the extent that he feels bad about his chopsticks clinking against the side of his bowl while he eats in case the sound bothers anyone.
'cause when you're fifteen and somebody tells you they love you / you're gonna believe them
Obviously Phoebe and Silas were much younger than fifteen during TPATS, but this makes me think that Silas could potentially feel really foolish for still believing the promises that he and Phoebe made when they were younger. Assuming that Silas still remembers the "do well together" scene from TPATS, but in my mind he does until I am proven otherwise so. He does remember.
this is life before you know who you're gonna be at fifteen
During TPATS, Silas is really concerned with what he's going to do once he leaves London. He's trying to find his place in this world (sorry sorry sorry) and feels incredibly inadequate. Which is interesting because the only Silas snippet from FHH (that I've seen at least) shows him reverting back to this feeling but stating that he hasn't felt like this since he was much younger. Phoebe also seemed to feel this way during TPATS, but I think she had less anxiety around it.
you sit in class next to a redhead named Abigail / and soon enough, you're best friends
The London trio origin story. But obviously different.
laughin' at the other girls who think they're so cool
cue Orion leaning on a column with an unlit cigarette in his mouth asking Silas to sneak into a bar with him
and then you're on your very first date and he's got a car
Obligatory car line
in your life you'll do things greater than dating the boy on the football team
I think a bit of Silas's arc is going to revolve around him realizing that he needs to stop idolizing people and see them as humans with faults if that makes sense. Because I think him finding out that Phoebe is Priest is going to really hurt him because it's going to be irreconcilable with this perfect, untouchable version of Phoebe that I think he has in his mind.
when all you wanted was to be wanted / wish you could go back and tell yourself what you know now
While this line does potentially work for Silas, I think it works a bit better for Phoebe. She constantly changes vital parts of herself in order to be liked, but at the same time is still clearly an outcast. She's making a completely unsustainable effort to live a double life, knowing that it can't possibly work long term, likely because she's absolutely terrified of the potential disproval of the people closest to her.
back then, i swore i was gonna marry him someday / but i realized some bigger dreams of mine
Based on reviews from arc readers, this isn't going to happen. But in an alternate reality this would fit.
and abigail gave everything she had to a boy who changed his mind
I think Silas is going to think that Phoebe betrayed him when she actually wants both him and to be Priest. So he's going to think he's Abigail when he isn't actually Abigail.
#the phoebe changing her personality but still being outcasted thing sounds a lot like the experiences of a lot of autistic women#and i'm going to write a longer post on that at some point i think because i have a lot of thoughts in my brain but i also need to sleep#chloe gong#secret shanghai#foul lady fortune#foul heart huntsman#flf#orion hong#phoebe hong#fhh#silas wu#phoebe x silas#philas#taylor swift songs that mention cars that are totally about phoebe and silas
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okay so I’ve seen enough in this tag that I’m just gonna say this and just start blocking people because atp it’s getting annoying.
to all the people who dislike huntlow and keeps putting it in the shippers tags for some reason, we don’t care and you look foolish. it’s one thing to not care for a ship but to take time and hate on it and then tag the ship where people just want to look at fanart and theories is very much loser behavior. ship what you want but all your complaining will not change peoples minds and it certainly won’t change danas, like get real.
also! y’all really just gotta mind your business, huntlow shippers GET IT. we get that Willow would act like that in COTH with any of her friends but if y’all don’t just let these people have fun with their shipping moments like my goodness y’all suck the fun out of everything! all arguments against the ship are dumb and easy to disprove, just don’t interact with the shippers if it’s not your cup of tea.
It’s just getting so tiring coming into this tag wanting to see cute fanart and instead seeing bullshit like please get a grip it’s a kids show about gay witches. also just for future reference the majority of huntlow fans are also Willow stans so everyone saying “you guys didn’t care about Willow before this ship” can honestly stfu because y’all barely care about her character if we being honest y’all really say that to spite the shippers but I digress.
hopefully if any huntlow moments happen in the finale this tag won’t be filled up with hate like it usually is but that’s just wishful thinking, so I’m just going to block everyone on sight because it’s sad that the fandom has come to this.
hunter stans, willow stans, huntlow stans and people who don’t ship but are still respectful and let shippers have their fun you are valid! everyone else is not <3
#hunter (toh)#willow park#the owl house#huntlow#really tired tbh#you guys fill this tag with nonsense all the time#just mind your own business lmfao#this ship is not problematic and is surviving off crumbs like#get real
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A Peculiar Woman
(Sherlock Holmes/Female Reader)
POV Sherlock (probably OOC)
"What a peculiar woman, at least more puzzling than any open cases."
NOTE: Decided to post my AO3 stuff (account has the same username as my tumblr), I have a second part to this but I honestly like how vague this is. However, I also totally get the frustration when you love the concept of a oneshot that isn’t continued so I’m not opposed to writing more of this, lmk what y’all think :D
FUN FACTS (about me and this fic): Henry Cavill is like my original celebrity crush so even before he was in Enola Holmes I was picturing him as Sherlock, but this fic is set in modern times cause I overthink stuff. It was going to be in the Enola Holmes universe cause I just love the romance/courting aspect (diehard Jane Austen fan), but I realized that to do this fic justice I would need to study the 1800s and I simply don’t have that much time. Anyways… I hope you enjoy!!!
A woman dressed in business attire strode into the room, quite boldly stating, “My client didn’t do it.”
Interesting, I did not think this man, more adolescent, could afford a lawyer. Alas, she was right; her client hadn’t committed the robbery.
“Are you Mister Stonnes’s lawyer?” Lestrade did always have a knack for questioning the obvious.
If not purely by her announcement of him being her client, she was also clad in a seemingly unworn business skirt and matching blazer, typical of a lawyer. Her eyes were piercing, even with cheeks flushed from exertion, her skin appeared soft. Oddly enough, the only makeup she wore was lipstick. While nice looking in a sense, one would not expect her to be a lawyer. Yet, something in her eyes was akin to a predator circling its prey.
Regardless, how would she possibly know Stonnes was not the perpetrator? Scotland Yard had yet to unravel the not-so-intriguing mystery. By the coffee stain on his shirt and the ill-set photo of him and his girlfriend on his lock screen, Robert Stonnes was on a late-night coffee run with his mistress when the robbery occurred. It always is quite funny watching others try to catch on.
Instead of wasting her breath on his foolish question, she remarked, “Even a blind idiot would be able to see that Mister Stonnes was in Addington during the robbery.”
Sure enough, she presented a receipt from Cranesbury Cafe at the time of the robbery and a USB. Her pitiful client looked comically hopeful; how could Lestrade think Robert Stonnes, so daft he would be unable to think his way out of a paper bag, had committed the robbery? The lawyer ignored the distasteful glare from Donovan as she told Lestrade the contents of the USB, security footage from the very same cafe. I must admit I like her technique of insulting the police while also doing their job for them. A clever one she was, or perhaps comparatively less idiotic. Even so, how did she get the footage? Lestrade at least had enough of a brain to look embarrassed as she dropped the exonerating evidence on the table and directed her client to stand. The almost giddy look she sent Stonnes was strange, very unlike one an experienced lawyer would make. What a peculiar woman, at least more puzzling than any open cases.
“What did you say your name was again?” Perhaps John had heard of her; he was more genial than I. He would know of this exchange immediately; I am sure this is far more interesting than his lunch date anyways.
“I didn’t. Good day, Mr. Holmes.” What an outlandish answer! She is indeed strange. She quickly began walking away as her client signed the necessary paperwork. While my intrigue was increasing, my chance of solving her was decreasing.
Following her, I prodded, "Your lack of answer shows one of two things: you are either rude, which I do not take you to be; or, you have no interest in networking. In which case you are a successful lawyer, your mannerisms and unworn clothes disprove that theory, stupid and inexperienced, possible yet improbable, or, not who you say you are, evidenced by the haste at which you are leaving. So what are you hiding, Madam?"
Now outside the building, she stopped midstep and turned with a sickly-sweet smile plastered on her face, "The name is Y/N, it has been lovely meeting you. If you would like to contact me with any legal questions, here is my card." Her words were laced with venom as she handed the card over. With that, she began walking again.
The grey card was blank except for her name and number, written in small golden font.
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Skin & Scale (Part 25)
She could be doing something productive. At the very least, she could be doing something that isn’t completely ridiculous. Mother and father are taking too long to pack. Evidently she doesn’t know why they are taking so long and she isn’t; they don’t usually pack so heavily. They typically don’t pack at all! Perhaps it is that they now have things to pack or that they want to fit in.
Either which way, they have left her, fully packed and fully transformed to wait in the throne room. The builders in charge of making repairs to the palace walls have left her a sizable dragon door, this alleviates some nerves. But not enough of them for her to kick her dragon instincts to the side.
She feels quite foolish but clamping her dragon jaws onto the throne room pillars alleviates some of the tension in her mind and body while simultaneously driving Zuzu completely bonkers. His frantic gestures and exaggerated expressions of outrage coax her to keep up the chewing.
“Can you guys, do something about this!?” She hears him shout.
By the time, mother and father coax her away from the pillar, it has a very impressive collection of bite marks. It is as respectable as it is embarrassing. She can inflict some rather serious damage, a commendable amount really. But at the same time she has inflicted some rather serious damage to her own ego.
She knows that Sokka will keep bringing this up. As if he needs anymore leverage against her.
Without the pillars to chew on, she finds herself pacing. This is more like her, with each step, a bit of those dragon impulses withdraw. Clarity and the unobstructed feelings of embarrassment come fill in that gap.
“You’re nervous about seeing your other mom again, aren’t you?” Katara asks and she gently holds her palm against Azula’s cheek.
That woman isn’t her mother and she will never be. Even still she is, indeed, nervous all the same. Now that the prospect of finding the woman is a tangible, plausible thing, she finds herself twitchy and unsettled.
She shouldn’t be nervous, not when the woman’s opinions of her matter so little. But she can’t shake the instinct. That agitating longing for approval from a person who couldn’t disprove of her any deeper if she tried. That one instinct that is almost as intrinsic as her need to claw and scratch and bite at those pillars.
“We’re all still getting ready, why don’t you transform back into a human and…?”
She shakes her head. It would be a waste of chi to do so. And right now she would rather feel big, would rather have an impenetrable armor of scales and an excuse to not have to talk to anyone.
She doesn’t like herself when she gets nervous. She doesn’t like how biting and sarcastic she gets. It is when most of the fighting happens. When everyone begins calling her cruel and evil again. When they accuse her of not changing at all only to apologize later when she grows distant enough.
Sometimes she wonders if they only do that to ensure that she doesn’t make some sort of dramatic revert.
“If you can make amends with all of us, I’m sure that you’ll be able to get your other mom to warm up to you.” Katara assures her. They are pretty words, well meaning ones. But the girl doesn’t understand that she doesn’t want that. She doesn’t want amends and acceptance. She wants closure and a chance to tell the woman that she had no right to call her a monster after what she had done.
“Okay, so who is riding with who?” Sokka asks. “We’ve got Appa and three dragons.”
Of course Aang sticks with Appa. Toph sees fit to once again vocalize her mistrust for anything that flies.
“I’ve always wanted to try riding a dragon!” TyLee exclaims and Azula knows that she will be carrying her.
“I think that I’ll also take a dragon.” Sokka looks in her direction. A bold move considering all of the quips he has been giving her lately.
“You want to fly with Azula?” Zuko asks.
Sokka shrugs. “Azula and I can keep eachother entertained.”
She supposes that she isn’t opposed to letting the oaf come along with her. His ridiculous commentary and jokes do give her something else to think about. Things that don’t leave her longing to use trees as scratching and biting posts.
.oOo.
“Does your back ever get sore from flying?” Sokka asks as they are arranging sticks for a fire.
Azula seems to think for a moment. She arranges a final log and sets it ablaze “A little bit, yes. Father says that I will get used to it and that it won’t throb as much after my wings get stronger.” She replies.
She had been flying for quite a while today. Long enough for him to imagine that she might be uncomfortable. “Maybe a shoulder massage would do the trick?” He suggests.
He might be imagining it but he thinks that her eyes light up. “That’s actually not a horrible idea. I will go ask TyLee!”
Sokka sighs. “I was thinking that…” he trails off. That, what? He could do it? Of course TyLee is the optimal choice. “We should try setting up the tents next, it’ll be easier before the sun goes down.”
Azula rolls her eyes. “Of course it will be.”
“Sorry, I just…I can’t imagine you as a camping sort of person.”
“Because I am not.” She nudges a stick back into the fire with her foot. “But we did a lot of camping on our spirit mission, do you recall?”
“Right.” He replies. “I actually try not to think much about that.”
Azula nods. “I also would rather not.” She stuffs her hands into her pockets.
“Camping in the Earth Kingdom is going to be a lot different you know, it gets a whole lot colder there.”
“I can manage just fine, Sokka. If Zuzu can do it, so can I.” She shrugs. “I’d just like to know why Ursa decided to go to the Earth Kingdom.” She pauses. “I suppose that it probably has to do with being as far away from the dragons as possible. But then the best option would be the Water Tribes…”
“Father made it sound like she enjoys travel.” Zuko interrupts. “She always wanted to see Ba Sing Se.”
“Then what are we doing in the middle of a forest?” Mai frowns, twirling a golden-brown marshmallow on a stick. She holds it out to TyLee.
“Giving my wings a break.” Azula replies. “It was difficult enough making it all the way from the capital to Earth Kingdom territory. Speaking of…” she turns her attention to TyLee.
“Your shoulders are a little more than sore, aren’t they?” Sokka asks.
“No.” She denies. “But I am thoroughly tired.” She admits.
He can see it on her. She is quieter today, her voice slower. He wonders if they have once again pushed her too far. But she hadn’t protested. Hadn’t mentioned wanting to stop.
She never protested in the past either. Mostly she just toughed it out.
They should probably make a point of asking her next time.
She is such a strong person; sometimes he forgets that even she has her limits, whether she like to admit that or not. He supposes that he won’t tease her from gnawing on the palace pillars tonight.
.oOo.
Back and shoulder pain is a good excuse.
Truly, it is more of a mental exhaustion. TyLee can’t massage that out of her but she does make good work of the knots in her shoulder blades.
Each wing beat, each step takes her closer to the woman who had once called herself her mother. She stares at the dragons teeth stone glittering under the moon. Were she in dragon from, there would probably be several trees with bite or claw marks. The ground below her would certainly be gouged. She is toying with blades of grass as it is.
Across the clearing, mother and father are making themselves comfortable. They have decided to retain their dragon forms for the night. Admittedly, that is the more practical decision, she is starting to wonder if even making one transformation daily is too draining. Perhaps some of this lethargy is due in part to shifting so often.
“You alright, Azula?” TyLee asks.
“Just fine.” She replies. Perhaps she will just remain in her human body and let her chi settle once they get to Ba Sing Se. “Thank you for the massage.” A dull ache still remains but it is nothing that she can’t sleep through.
She gets to her feet and wanders over to her parents. She curls herself up between them just as she does in dragon form. Mother carefully scoops her into her palm and cradles her there.
“You forgot your blanket!” Sokka shouts waving the thing around frantically. She doesn’t feel like getting up so she pretends like she is already asleep. Besides, she is already quite comfortable. “And your pillow.” He adds.
She hadn’t expected him to actually bring them to her.
Father observes Sokka with a cautious eye as he drapes the blanket around her. That watchful eye doesn’t seem to dissuade him. “Good night, Azula.”
“Yes, Sokka…” she murmurs. “Good night.”
She doesn’t understand why he is fussing over her comfort. Mother and father are usually the only ones who bother with that. It is just one more thing for her to mull over as she tries to get to sleep. As cozy as she is swaddled in blankets and cradled by mother, she finds that she still can’t get any sleep. She ought to…she needs to. But for the better part of the night she listens to her the crickets, the scamper of nocturnal animals, and her own train of thought.
They will be in Ba Sing Se tomorrow.
She might not see mother so soon. But she will see uncle.
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Nana Episode 47 - Fireworks Display, Hachi and NANA
So... this is it... the end of Nana... let’s see what awaits us... in our final chapter...
We start with the Pooch Nanarrator stealing her job back from the Pinkish Nanarrator. That’s pretty finale-ish, I suppose.
A baby looks at a butterfly. Is this a baby Pinkish Nana? Or is the mysterious adult in this scene actually one of the Nanas, which would disprove that?
The baby is Satsuki, and the adult is... hmm... both Pooch Nana, but also Satsuki’s mother? So it seems this is a flash-forward... but... that can’t be it. Pooch Nana’s child very explicitly wasn’t going to be named Satsuki if it was a girl, so this must be a parallel universe.
Get out of my sight, foolish cup! I care naught for the symbolism you’re desperately attempting to invoke! Wretched cup! Leave!
Oh, I like this cup though. This cup can stay. If Pinkish Nana had broken THIS cup maybe I would have felt emotions about that.
TALL Shin... incredible! Oh and Yasu was already here, in this room, already.
Pooch Nanarrates that every year when there’s fireworks, everyone shows up to the old Nana Apartment and feels pain. Well that’s bleak
Nobu shows up too. He brought a doll for Satsuki. That’s probably a better gift than a cup. It seems Satsuki already has the world’s best cup.
Hmm... is Pinkish Nana actually dead after all? I remember when I had that theory. But then I forgot to keep having it, because I got distracted by something else.
Meanwhile, in the past, everyone including Pinkish Nana is watching the fireworks from a secluded location. They comment that their disguises are kind of stupid with no one looking at them. Pooch Nana isn’t here because she’s been sitting on a bench and crying this entire time. You know, ever since right after last episode where she told Shoji women shouldn’t have jobs.
Pooch Nana doesn’t want to meet up with Blast because she’s developed a phobia of ex-boyfriends, so Pinkish Nana lies on her telephone and says there aren’t any ex-boyfriends nearby. Yasu and Shin think that’s true.
Nobu doesn’t want to ruin Pooch Nana’s day, so he wants to leave. Pinkish Nana doesn’t like that, so she says some biting words to him:
shin would know what it’s like to get provoked by pinkish nana haha (remember when that happened?)
OMG Undertale reference!!!! Or, rather, timeline-wise, I guess Undertale was making a Nana reference. ...Hm, Undertale should have referenced something better. Like uh. Well, not Homestuck
Wait, how did we get into a situation where Nobu was literally the ONLY person in the apartment when Pooch Nana showed up? Who wanted this???
man pinkish nana is annoying, i can’t believe i used to think she was cool... let shin learn the skills he wants at the pace he wants, geez louise!!!! good thing she’s dead
Pooch Nana falls for everyone’s elaborate ruse where Nobu doesn’t exist within the world of their imagination. Nobu locking her out of the apartment ensured that this ruse would succeed!!! Okay
Wait yeah why not
Oh it’s because she didn’t think she would come
That’s stupid. That’s why it’s called an invitation and not a demand. Next time Pooch Nana, try not being stupid
After the fireworks, everyone from Blast is sad.
Pooch Nanarrates that she’ll wait for the rest of time to see Pinkish Nana, as we jump back to the flash-forward and the credits roll. Well that’s a bit of an inconclusive ending. We didn’t even see anyone from Trapnest. Not even the blonde Trapnest member! Literally no character arcs got concluded. Just... “and then later Pooch Nana was still alive and had a daughter, Yasu was still alive, Shin was still alive, Nobu was still alive, Ren was implied to be still alive, Pinkish Nana was implied to be ‘gone’ but not necessarily dead but not necessarily alive”. I guess it’s good that Shin’s still alive. If the show killed him on top of all the other garbage, that would definitely suck. And I mean, eh, Yasu and Nobu are nice enough fellows. It’s good that they’re still alive.
This anime feels like it’s screaming out for more content. But then I guess the manga “went on hiatus since 2009″ so...
I wonder what kind of ending the manga author had in mind. This can’t have been it, and whatever state the manga is left in probably isn’t it, so... I guess at this point the series is just sort of a collection of characters whose ultimate fates are largely indeterminate. Neato?
Well, to summarize my feelings on this show, I’ll bring everyone’s attention to a cool thing I said in my very first post about it: What a miserable show so far. 0/10.
As for what series I’m going to go through next... it was going to be Monster, but from what I’ve heard, the legal method of watching Monster is going to change from “nothing” to “Netflix” next month, and taking screenshots of Netflix is something I can indeed do, so maybe I’ll save Monster for later. I don’t want the next series to be Arakawa Under the Bridge or Spice & Wolf as much as I want it to be Higurashi, so I’m doing Higurashi next.
Goodbye fans of “Nana”. Hello fans of “Higurashi”. Although you probably aren’t reading this.
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(decided to fine tune one of my analysises i made on reddit, warning this is very long)
[Bad and Skeppy are wrongly victimized by majority of the fandom.]
/rp
A common theme I've seen with these two regarding the fandom is that they are often treated like completely innocent people who selflessly sacrificed themselves for eachother in the Egg arc.
News Flash: They're not. Bad and Skeppy are anything but selfless.
Despite the fact that it's been made clear multiple times that Bad and Skeppy are selfish and not great individuals, the fandom still clings onto this ideal that they can do no wrong.
The reason for this is a mix of certain factors, but before we delve into those, I would find it a good idea to actually disprove the "c!Bad and c!Skeppy can do no wrong" mentality.
Pre-Egg Arc
This analysis starts with something that happened within Skeppy's first few days of joining; his tour around the server with Dream. (https://youtu.be/PJEE9O7a9pU)
This tour isn't too important, but it's still tied to when Skeppy gets the Cat disc, as events from that stream are mentioned in the stream where Skeppy gets the Cat disc.
Essentially what happens in the server tour is that Skeppy kills one of Dream's dogs and forces him to name the other or else he'd kill it. Dream decides to name the dog Charles so Skeppy doesn't kill it. (This whole scene has tonal whiplash in the fact that right after, Skeppy starts calling Charles a good boy as if he didn't just murder a dog infront of him-)
Other than that, Skeppy and Dream have some very interesting interactions in this stream. I have transcripted one, shown below.
"Skeppy all I ask of you is please don't start any wars. That is all I don't want- If you start a war or something, it'll be- It'll be upsetting."
"Yknow, there was something I was tryna do earlier, but... I just didn't have that piece of iron and that flint." [Skeppy, changing the subject.]
"Oh my God. Well-"
"Would you happen to have that... Material on you in your inventory?"
"I- If I did, I wouldn't give it to you, Skeppy!"
"But do you have it on you?" [Skeppy walks forward and Dream moves backwards]
"Yknow what- I will give you one thing."
"Okay."
[Dream gives Skeppy one block of TNT]
"That is all- You can do what you please-"
"Wait how much of that do you have?" [Skeppy interrupting Dream]
"I have a lot. But I- But I-"
"Can I have some more please?" [Skeppy is walking towards him again, this time with a sword.]
"No- No No No... No."
"Dream, I'm asking you as a friend."
"Skeppy- One TNT-"
"We bonded with eachother and the dog. We bonded with your dog."
"One TNT- You also killed one of my dogs-"
"No, I was helping him and I put him in a better place."
Eventually, Dream and Skeppy go on to talk about L'Manburg.
Interestingly enough, their whole conversation feels very similar to Skeppy's conversation with Foolish about L'Sandburg.
Skeppy ends up calling Dream a psycho but ends up agreeing with his view on L'Manburg because of Dream using a metaphor concerning a table in a house.
This leads us to when Skeppy gets the Cat disc via Spirit's leather. (https://youtu.be/IE_zB-xQTC4)
"Well, today I killed Charles infront of everybody." [Dream]
"You killed Charles?" [Skeppy]
"Yeah."
"Why?" [Just a note that Skeppy doesn't sound shocked or repulsed in the slightest.]
"Because the dogs don't do anything for me but negative."
[Tommy and Tubbo get kicked from the call and get back in]
"-That question doesn't really matter. The second question I had was; I'll give you the leather cause it's rightfully yours, but why do you care if you give me two discs? I don't understand-"
"Yes but listen, but I- There's been wars on this server over these discs, okay? Multiple wars."
"Oh, so you want control over them." [I don't know if anyone else has ever seen through Dreams intentions this easily]
"I want control over them, yes."
"Huh."
"But, I am willing to trade you one."
"Well, how many discs are there?"
"There's two."
"Oh, there's two?"
"So you'd have 50% of the discs."
"Huhhhmmm... I'd really want all of it-" [Skeppy literally just proved the concept that he wants control over the server with his own words in the span of a few seconds.]
"But the thing is, there's no point in burning it, because if you burn them you lose everything. Like, you lose all power."
*"Yeah."
"Like if you have the discs, you can- Even if you just trade them to Tommy you have tons of power to trade with."
Skeppy continues to be stubborn for a while, as he wants both discs instead of just one, and ends up settling for just the Cat disc. In the midst of this, he also has an interesting quote;
"Hmm... The thing is, I've been trying to get rich, cause it's my first day on this server where I'm actually actively trying to go about it, get rich and I- I just can't find anything. And I don't want to go mining. So, if you could like offer me some goods with the disc, instead of the second one, uh... That would be great. Does that sound fair?"
So then we get into the more solid evidence with Skeppy giving Bad the Cat disc. This scene paints them in a very obviously negative light. (https://youtu.be/Wp7bHA3LDcc)
I think the most notably concerning part of this scene is the fact that it shows that Bad and Skeppy are pretty deattached from having a decent morality. They both literally start laughing over the idea of being able to manipulate Tommy with the Cat disc.
Later in the clip, they go and mine for quartz for what would become the Quartz Mansion.
This is actually when the Badlands was conceptualized. Ant and Sam came later when it was actually formed, but Bad and Skeppy, from the start, wanted to make the Badlands for the sole purpose of chaos.
This is a premise that wasn't immediately shared to Ant and Sam upon them joining/forming the Badlands with Bad, which marks another difference in morality between c!Happyduo and others, which gets explored more in depth later on.
"So here's the thing, Skeppy. Have you- Do you know about the war that's going on- On here?"
"I do. But fill me in on the details."
"So, there was a rebellion and an election and JSchlatt and his faction have conquered L'Manberg and they renamed it to Manberg."
"What does that mean for us?"
[Dono interrupts them]
"...So, they conquered and now JSchlatt's the president of L'Manberg. But here's the thing, right? They called it Manberg which is dumb in my opinion, but, I'm a bigger fan of the name L'Manberg- But here's the thing, we have a choice. We can either... Join the Manberg faction- There's a ton of netherrack in here- Did you put that there?-"
"Uh... No."
"Okay, someone else was doing mining... Uh... We can either join that faction and join- And fight against Tommy. Tommy and his squadron, which is Wilbur and Technoblade, they fled the capital, alright? And they have gone off and formed their new land called Pogtopia, okay? Now, we can either join them- or we can join the memers who currently hold Manberg which is a dumb name, I'm still gonna call it L'Manberg- Or we can form our own faction! And we can rebel against both of them! What do you think?"
"Hmmm...." [Skeppy sounds amused]
"We can fan the flames of war and discord... And chaos."
"Bad, I'm down to make our own, but we're really gonna have to try hard."
"Well, so here's the idea, Skeppy. We currently hold the disc of power, alright?"
"We do. We do. This is our leverage."
"This is our leverage against Tommy. We're basically untouchable from them, right? They do anything to us, we can roasty toasty the disc."
"Mhmmmm..."
"Right?"
"Aww, I like what you're thinking Bad!"
Then their conversation goes to this;
"So, what I'm thinking is, we play the factions against eachother. And we just- We just meme our own faction- What if we just betray both sides." [Bad]
"Oh my god." [Happy tone]
"Cause Tommy can't do anything to us. We can just betray everybody."
"Yeah we could do that."
[They're giggling]
"Or play everybody, I should say." [Bad laughs] "Cause Skeppy, I think the most fun we can have is... The chaos fun. Let's just cause chaos and wreak havoc. What do you think, Skeppy?"
"Well the thing is, no one knows that you have the disc. So..."
"Yeah, no one knows right now."
"Just give me some time. I need to get stacked up a little bit first."
"I do too- We need to get you good loot- I'm going to work on getting us Sharpness V after our axes, so that's my priority."
"I'll work on the house side of things."
"Okay."
"We're gonna do it Skeppy! We're gonna conquer this server! By pitting the two factions against eachother! And then we will come out on top. That is our duck faction-"
[Skeppy chuckles]
"-The chaos duck faction- That's our aim of the game, Skeppy."
"Are we sure we wanna call it that though?"
"I mean I don't know I kinda like it, quack."
So then we get into the Battle of the Lake/Burning Of The Eiffel Tower conflict.(https://youtu.be/zh_H1dKdfMM)
Despite this conflict being centered around Sapnap and Tommy, it has quite a few moments of Bad and Skeppy being well... Bad and Skeppy.
For example, Bad states that "an eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind," only for him to later hypocritically ask Sapnap to join the Badlands so that they can *kill* Tommy. All Tommy did was accuse Bad of a crime that nobody even believed he committed.
Skeppy also encourages Tommy to be violent by saying "We need to take revenge. [against Sapnap]" which on a surface level doesn't sound bad until you realize that Sapnap has never wronged Skeppy once, which makes you really wonder who "we" is.
He also threatened to kill Tommy for standing near the Quartz Mansion a few minutes before that while giving him what I'd presume to be a death glare.
And then he did it again when Tommy starts boasting about how he "singlehandedly" killed Skeppy;
[Skeppy stares down Dream and Tommy, not saying anything at all, standing a block above them]
"He's gonna assassinate you, Tommy." [Dream]
"He wouldn't- He couldn't- Cause I'm too strong." [Tommy]
And then, the Manburg vs Pogtopia War happens, and luckily for us, we have Bad's POV.(https://youtu.be/OjxADY5Vb3A)
This stream is literally just packed full of moments of Bad and Skeppy being morally questionable, even if the Badlands didn't do much in the actual war.
It also shows that there's a difference in how Sam and Ant view things compared to Bad and Skeppy.
Sam even says at one point that he thinks that they are "Defending the innocent," and Ant states that he agrees. Bad brushes this off and Skeppy completely ignores it.
Sam and Ant also express some guilt and sadness for the fact that their friends homes got blown up, meanwhile Bad and Skeppy don't care whatsoever and are satisfied with the outcome.
"Do you consider this a win boys?!" [Skeppy, interrupting Sam, Ant, and Bad's conversation about the destruction]
"This is a win, Skeppy!" [Bad]
"This is a win for us!" [Skep]
"Let's go!" [Ant]
[incoherent]
"...Technically we gained nothing but their losses which is still a gain!" [Skeppy]
"It is a gain!" [Bad]
"This is a gain for us." [Sam]
"The conflict, it will continue, we've now- We've now got- Destroyed buildings that need to be repaired, there's new battle lines that have been drawn, so this is perfect! We can keep the conflict going, and then the Badlands will be victorious! Yes! I'm loving this. Good work everyone. Good work team." [Bad]
Bad and Skeppy later talk to eachother alone about a tweet Skeppy made. The tweet is basically him stating that he's considering burning Tommy's Cat disc [This was literally moments after MvPG]
"Yknow what, Skeppy?" [Bad, changing vcs so Ant and Sam don't hear them.]
"Hmmm..." [Skeppy]
"I saw your tweet."
"Hmmm..." [Skeppy again, but this time it's with a tone that indicates he's quite amused.]
"Are you suggesting that we introduce a little bit more chaos into the mix?" [Bad]
"I don't know, I don't know. We'll have to see how it plays out."
[Bad giggles]
Basically, this section establishes c!Skeppy and c!Bad as morally gray (at best), which contradicts the idea that they "did nothing wrong/can do no wrong."
The lack of knowledge about their involvement these events really supports people's incorrect impressions of their characters.
The Egg Arc
Moving onto to what is probably the most important section in this post, is the Egg Arc.
And Early Egg Arc Skeppy is heavily misunderstood. Not just by the people around him, but by the fandom itself.
His behavior towards Bad and Puffy in the Early Egg Arc is often played off as being lighthearted or seen as "omg jealous skeppy haha skephalo monke noises" or just defined as only that one scene of "Is it me or the Egg?" All three are just wrong.
Skeppy acts so uncharacteristically aggressive to everyone around him because he is scared of being replaced by Puffy and the Egg.
He actually starts being pretty two-faced and starts talking shit about Bad to Puffy as a result. (https://youtu.be/oHOwoG8XIkM) It gives him a possessive toxic friend vibe even if he normally doesn't act that way when it comes to Bad at all, since his change in behavior is fear-based.
"The Egg is beautiful and Bad loves the Egg!" [Puffy]
"No he doesn't!" [Skeppy]
"He does love the Egg!"
[Puffy starts talking over him]
"He doesn't! He loves me! He loves me! Not Discount Skeppy! Not Discount Skeppy!- [Puffy interrupts him]
That is not true, I am not replaceable."
And then he goes on to say multiple times that "Bad cannot make his own decisions" and that "Bad doesnt know what he wants."
He also hits Puffy with his sword a few times and claims that he was simply "testing it out."
"Bad is ignorant when it comes to these things. We're just gonna be real. We're just gonna be- [Puffy talks over him] No I- I haven't insulted him, I've just been honest."
Skeppy also clearly does not trust Puffy whatsoever. The moment Bad mentions that someone stole his stuff, Skeppy immediately goes after Puffy and accuses her. Somehow people think that c!Puffy and c!Skeppy are friends, yet c!Skeppy literally demonstrates behavior that says the clear opposite.
Eventually, we get the scene of where Skeppy repeatedly asks Bad if he'd choose him or the Egg, which leads to Skeppy trapping himself inside the Egg. (Which maybe Bad could've done out of paranoia if we go by the theory that he made the Egg, because Skeppy had actually witnessed how the corruption came back after he removed the obsidian once, so the fact that he apparently decided to put himself in the Egg while covered in obsidian voluntarily (He can't can't the Egg's voices) is weird because we don't have much of an explanation for why he would do that. Red Skeppy can't hear the voices either as proven in 4/18.)
Anyways, Skeppy being in the Egg actually extended the Egg arc, and is basically why it ever escalated in the first place. Eventually, everyone had become uninfected except for Skeppy, who has gone through a complete personality change unlike everyone else.
This leads to Bad willingly letting himself get corrupted again because Skeppy is corrupted. This is selfish.
We know that in the case of everyone who isn't Skeppy, the Egg influences via voices. Red Skeppy is most likely completely controlled by the Egg as a way to try and take advantage of Bad.
So, keeping that in mind, Bad's actions after he willingly lets himself get infected are pretty bad for someone who "isn't" selfish.
He makes the Eggpire for chaos for the Badlands. He manages to get people infected and on his side. He also sets up the Red Banquet, and ends up traumatizing and killing multiple people. He has to be at least somewhat aware of what he is doing. (There's also the chance that Eggpire c!Bad isn't infected at all but that's for another time because I could write a whole ass book on that- [Note: This theory is different from the theory that c!Bad made the Egg])
However, an important part of the Egg Arc that is very overlooked is that Bad actually starts paralleling Early Egg Arc Skeppy in a few ways.
I once made an analysis post on why Bad is afraid of Dream and why that lead him to putting Skeppy on Big Daddy Island. [Yes it's canonically called that. BD Island for short. Fun fact, it was made on a 16th.]
To summarize, the Skeppy Jail in the Disc Confrontation ends up sending Bad into a paranoid spiral which causes him to lead a dubiously-infected Skeppy to BD Island.(https://youtu.be/PD37c3-hd3E)
And to say the least, Bad acts meaner to Skeppy than normal on BD Island. He also doesn't answer his questions as to why they're going there, and when he does, it's only to bring Skeppy's ego down. [He states at one point its because Skeppy is "bad at Minecraft." in a hurtful way]
In a similar fashion to how Skeppy acted like an aggressive jerk when he was scared, Bad also acts different than usual in response to fear.
In fact, he seems to downplay his emotions if his prison visit to Dream is anything to go by. (He repeatedly says that he's nervous over and over again to chat, and then puts up an extremely cheerful front to Dream despite being basically terrified.)
But one of the most important things about BD Island is that it establishes a very clear difference between Red Skeppy and c!Skeppy as characters. This is shown by when c!Skeppy starts to notice he's feeling corrupted again on 3/2. (https://youtu.be/dtXLjPYBWo4)
Putting that aside cause I'm starting to get off topic with this analysis, so I'm going to get back on topic by talking about Skeppy [And Bad]'s first canon death. (https://youtu.be/oU_FwB0pRsI)
The most important thing to be taken from this stream in context of this analysis is Red Skeppy calling c!Bad selfish.
Which although it's the Egg's doing, it's entirely true that Bad is selfish. This man has literally committed so many crimes just for Skeppy, instead of yknow, trying to solve the problem instead of creating more.
It's obvious that both Skeppy and Bad wouldn't consider Bad's actions to be selfish even though they are and Red Skeppy is right.
Puffy also calls Bad selfish during the Red Banquet, and with the Red Banquet comes what people would use to shut down this analysis completely;
"I know, wait. I know where I can go. I know who I can see. But the Egg... The Egg is... it's in their possession right now. What can I do?
...They have it. I just... I just wanted what... I just wanted what it could give me.
I didn't really want to hurt anybody. I just wanted what it could give me, but... I don't know.
I don't know. Did I screw up? Am I in the wrong here? I don't know. I just need to go. I need to get out of here.
Oh my goodness. I don't know what to do."
Or more specifically;
"I didn't really want to hurt anybody." AKA the most bullshit thing c!BadBoyHalo has ever said.
Why is it bullshit?
L'Sandburg
Yes, I am aware that Bad "apologized"(https://youtu.be/j2FrG2Z4i_k) to Puffy with Ant. (Bad tries to shift the blame onto Ant a lot of times in that stream, though. He's got no sense of responsibility or much of a conscience for anything BUT Skeppy)
But this apology gets completely overturned and rendered as a lie by L'Sandburg.
L'Sandburg is either confusing or annoying to the fanbase, and for some pretty valid reasons, even if i personally love it myself for its characterization despite it being filler improv lore.
Some people find the fact that it's a big reference to L'Manberg annoying, some simply find it boring, while others have issues figuring out the plot or watching it which makes sense.
L'Sandburg is a hard plotline to get into because Foolish has extremely long streams while Bad streamed very late at night for most people, causing it to be hard to find clips.
There's honestly so much evidence in L'Sandburg that I have yet to transcript as I watched these events live and need to rewatch said VODs so I could make this more solid but I'm tired- (also do not use the DreamSMP Wiki as a source for L'Sandburg information, they literally glossed over everything negative Bad and Skeppy did and it's strange and at one point got completely inaccurate by saying that Skeppy and Foolish agreed to the plan off stream when it was on stream.)
I do have evidence that is actually sourcable, however, hence why we have this section.
So to properly start this section off,
Let's talk about the nature of L'Sandburg itself.
L'Sandburg is quite literally a hostile takeover of land.
If Bad felt guilty for what he indirectly caused, you'd think he'd try doing something to repair his relationship with Foolish, but he does the exact opposite by literally invading his land and telling him to die.
He also acts exactly how he did pre-Egg arc.
It's actually mind-boggling when you realize that Bad is indirectly most of the reason why Foolish joined Las Nevadas; L'Sandburg was the final straw.
And then we have Skeppy. It feels like nobody actually watched the part where Skeppy talked to Foolish about the kidnapping plan and people just think he wants to leave Bad because of what Foolish said which... Makes no sense with how Skeppy acts towards Foolish in that stream. (c!Happyduos relationship post-Egg arc isn't shitty and I'm tired of pretending it is. c!Skeppy is the biggest c!Bad apologist ever throughout L'Sandburg and he's still in the Badlands during it. Also just because of this it makes me think Skeppy's kidnapping was double-staged, as in Skeppy betrayed Foolish by telling Bad about it (When Foolish gave Skeppy the copy of Bad's death threat directed towards him (Foolish), he states that he'll "talk to him about it later" which we never see on screen) and it was an elaborate setup to make c!Foolish look bad (Not only that, c!Bads reaction seems way too over the top in comparison to his gradual/genuine anger in 4/18. And the timing of everything is extremely convenient. How is it that Skeppy starts messaging him that he's "cold and hungry" the moment that Bad and Foolish start to be "peaceful" with eachother? And then the moment things calm down, he messages him again. It's fucking insane-)
In fact, Skeppy very clearly manipulates Foolish in that stream. He sets off many red flags, and luckily for me, I actually have parts transcripted and sourced. (https://youtu.be/qXbMGjs_VhY)
To simply list everything he does in that clip:
- Excuses Bads actions multiple times
- Accuses Foolish of being a terrible human being
- Calls Foolish "greedy" for not letting him have a huge chunk of his summer home for free
- Guilt trips him
- Threatens him for land
- Attempts to blackmail him for a statue
- He wanted the original copy of the book with Bad's death threat to Foolish, meaning that he was probably going to either burn it or keep it so that Foolish has no claim against Bad.
- Physically hits him multiple times
- Acts dumb on purpose multiple times
- Talks over him multiple times
- Implies multiple times that he isn't loyal to Foolish
- Tries to test him multiple times
And here is just some of those things transcripted below:
[Skeppy gasps] "Can you build a statue of me?"
"Wait- Why would I build a statue of you?"
"Because, if you don't, I'm going to keep telling Bad to do whatever he's doing on the highest scale. And then he's going to keep doing it-"
"-WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?-"
"-And then he's going to take your property. So it's either that or you build a structure of me."
And this;
"Yknow what- I kinda see what Bad's saying, but I don't wanna go against you just yet..." [Skeppy]
"What do you mean? WAIT WHAT?"
"I'm not- I'm not- I'm not going to go against you."
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?"
"I'm with you, I'm with you." [Skeppy punches Foolish]
"How are you even contemplating going against me?-"
"What am I gonna do, when nighttime comes around, and I'm all cold, and there's monsters, like- What do you want me to do?" [Skeppy randomnly switching the subject to guilt trip him]
And this;
"Alright yknow what, I accept." [Skeppy, agreeing to foolish's deal that he can have a tower too]
"Just so we have everything clear, it's still my land. It's your tower to use, you can do what you want with it, but like..."
"Yeah, yeah yeah yeah, uh huh yeah, yeahyeahyeah Makes sense. Yeah. Yup." [Talking over him]
"Are you listening to me?"
"Yes, yeah."
[Skeppy throws down the copy of the book of Bad's death threat]
"Give me land bitch."
tl;dr from my original reddit post: im tired this took four hours to write basically they're immoral assholes that are also hypocrites and only care about themselves they r not good people, people only think that they are because of a lack of information about events they've been involved in, k thank u have a good day
extra note: holy shit editing and formatting this on mobile was a FUCKING MISTAKE
#c!skeppy#c!badboyhalo#eggarc#dreamsmp#dream smp#happyduo#c!happyduo#analysis#apologists#antis#l'sandburg#discwars#manbergvspogtopia#c!bad
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Paint me
Laurent LeClaire x Female Reader
Summary: Reader finally has enough money to splurge on getting herself painted for the first time in her life. When she meets her painter, Laurent, she wonders whether she got more than what she bargained for.
A/N: Hello everyone- sorry this ones out a bit late tonight- I had practice and had to finish up a few things on this one after. This is my tenth fic for my 30 fics in 30 days for April- can’t believe we’re 1/3 through 🙈If y’all have ever seen In Secret you know what scene inspired this fic asdjksdj lol 😂 also @propertyofabelmorales fic from Valentine’s Day also inspired me 🥰 I low key probably spent more time on this than necessary considering he isn’t a very popular character but I couldn’t help myself 😅 In secret was actually the first movie (that wasn’t Star Wars) that I saw Oscar Isaac in so Laurent low key has my heart- even with his murderous tendencies 😂 I always love hearing from my followers so feel free to drop an ask or request here. Thanks for reading and hope y’all enjoy.
Warnings: 18+, Smut, Reader is fearful of Laurent, Reader thinks Laurent might kill her, Dubcon, Oral sex (F receiving), Unprotected sex, Creampie- if any other warnings need to be added let me know
Main Masterlist Word Count: 3.2K
Being painted was an important status symbol in this life. To have your image captured for all to see, put down on canvas by paint from a brush was a way of showing off beauty to the people around you, and the people that came after.
You were elated to have your image captured on canvas for the first time, finally able to afford it on your own. A rare sight in the world that you lived in to see a woman able to pay the fee of having her portrait painted.
Such a rare sight it was that when you had chosen a painter and contacted him he had almost seemed confused. When he had asked if you had a husband you had snorted turning up your nose to then tell him no. It was not that you did not want any sort of romantic touch, but being tied down to someone for years that would probably not cherish you the way you deserved sickened you. So, with no one around to pressure you into an arranged marriage you remained unmarried.
The painter you had hired, Laurent, was sweet as honey, almost to a sickly degree. The charm had remained even after he had realized that you were alone, basically a spinster. Whether or not he kept up the act because he thought it would be easier to get underneath your skirts or because he truly did not mind an independent woman did not matter to you. You would only let your gaze linger over while he painted you, that was all. He was here to paint you, nothing more.
He had positioned you in a chair to sit in a simple position. His reasoning for that he told you was that the simpler the position, the easier it was for your beauty to shine. Painters had a way with words though, so you tried not to let your heart swell from the compliment.
You let yourself stare in each session as he began to lay out the foundation of your likeness. Each time you sat in the chair time ticked by slowly, inch by inch. It was not as if you minded as it let you look upon how his inky curls shone in the dim lighting, plus every other part your eyes were allowed access to. It was only fair in your book, considering his job was to stare at you.
This session you were in now seemed different to the others; he seemed more distant. While you both stared at the other not a single word was exchanged, only the brush on canvas got to speak today with each stroke.
It was harder to concentrate this time on staying as still as possible. You ached to move your legs over, just a bit to the side. Daring to test the waters, hoping he would not notice, your legs twitched a little over to the right.
For a while he continued to say nothing, painting with ease like he had completely missed the twitch in your legs. That was until he decided to speak for the first time in hours,
“No-“ His face twisted, morphing into a look tinged with darkness. It was this first sign of displeasure you had heard from your hours of sitting as if you had a rod in your spine. Dipping his brush back into his paints again to find his desired color was a much more rushed action than before. It was an annoyed and quick movement, trying to swiftly correct the mistake you had assumed he had made. When he returned his brush where it belonged on his canvas it scraped along it as he pushed the paint along, molding it into his image.
Another moment goes by silently and with no more words of displeasure; you begin to relax into your position again. It was already hard to relax fully while his eyes flitted from your body to his canvas; your nerves only raised higher after his outward sign of displeasure. He scrutinized every angle and curve as his eye took in every inch of you to create an accurate portrait of you. You wondered if in his fee there was an understanding that he would paint you in the highest light possible. Though, truth be told it was foolish to question that. What type of painter would he be if he displeased his clients by being honest in his paintings?
It was in his job description to lie. Painters depicted the beauty they saw and made it shine, even if that meant trying to find beauty in the darkest of corners to forcefully shed a light on them. All it took was a painter of proper skill, a canvas, and of course a set of paints. Any unwilling features that tried to fight their painters lies would be forcefully bent to their will, almost like a king, and all with a simple stroke to canvas. No, you weren’t ugly, but you accepted that it was his job to bend the truth to his will.
The darkness you had briefly observed reappeared on his face once more. He tried to be quiet in his frustration, but his whisper could not contain the anger brewing beneath. Truthfully his words were a far cry from a whisper, it was more of a shout, “It is not right!”
Naturally you wanted to question what had made the painter suddenly rise with anger, though you wisely kept your mouth shut tight. You did not know this man, nor did you know what he could be capable of underneath the sweet words. The darkness that brewed glinted in his eyes as he took his brush to canvas again, this time with more venom in his strokes.
You were not going to trust the honeyed words he had spoken to you, at least not now while you saw how the honey could possibly be sour. Even though honey never turned acrid in common knowledge, the sight before you disproved that. Each new brush against his canvas turned violent, almost as if he’d push through the canvas with how much force he was using and create a hole.
You could have left the room in a hurry, or even demanded him leave. After all, it was you that employed him. Watching honey that soured so quick intrigued you, so the rod stayed in your spine, though you knew it was naive of you. You couldn’t trust his words, but you could still listen to them.
Brush after brush splattered paint onto the canvas in front of him that you could not view. His once dexterous movements had devolved into a man you did not know, not that you truly knew him beforehand either. You couldn’t imagine he was painting anything close to your likeness; you highly doubted long irritated strokes would be good for each of your contours and curves.
Clattering noises filled the air of the room you were both trapped in, one trapped by his job and one trapped by curiosity. You hoped the curiosity didn’t kill you like the cat. He had kicked the easel that held the painting he was being paid for, which had caused the clattering. Gripping the paintbrush in his hand with fury he then separated it from the canvas and began to pace.
As he paced your mind wandered further; it was all it could do while it was stuck observing the man before you spiral. You wondered if he had forgotten your presence, even if he had been painting you- and you had even been doubting that.
Clearly he hadn’t forgotten about you as he suddenly stopped his pacing, slowly turning to face you again. His gaze no longer flitted between two things calling his attention, now fully focused on you, still with that rod in your spine.
“It is you.” He spoke with a deadly bite and you could not help but have your bottom lip wobble at his accusation. Racking your brain you tried to find why you were the one that was the source of his wrath and why you were the one that was about to receive it. “You are not in the right position.”
You wanted to protest, saying that you had not moved a muscle since he had placed you in this exact position with your spine rigid in a chair. The protest became stuck in your throat, no doubt because of the fear you now held for the darkness that brewed underneath. You remained stoically silent, rigid as ever, waiting for him to mold you into the position that he wanted you in.
He twirled his paintbrush in his hand absentmindedly while he thought. You did not know what he was pondering, though you had to guess it had something to do with fixing how you were positioned. He answered your own curious thoughts by confirming them, “You need to relax.”
Relaxing, that was hard enough earlier when you had not had fear put in you. Still, you tried to let go of the tension held tightly in your shoulders forcefully just as he did whenever he forced your features to look their best in his painting.
He then sighed, obviously displeased with your effort. Instead of letting you try again he simply gave you an order to ‘stay still’ while he began to approach you with his paintbrush in hand.
As the paintbrush approached you instead of the canvas you could not help but tremble as it came closer. It was not any sort of weapon that could do you any harm; it would take a lot to hurt someone with a paintbrush. Still, you quivered as it approached, perhaps more because of the gaze that was transfixed on you.
Laurent’s gaze was wild, a hint of madness was evident in his eyes. They were two dark pools of almost black fixed upon you as if they were set on devouring you in the oblivion in their depths. Eyes were said to be the window to the soul and Laurent did little to make you doubt that claim. He did not give you soothing words as he saw you tremble beneath his daunting gaze and the slowly approaching bristles of the paintbrush, still partially coated in the color he had last been using. Instead of giving you the soothing words you may have desired the paintbrush crept closer, like it was stalking you in the night just as the obsidian pools he called eyes.
Your quivers were not solely because of the glint of madness you could see, hiding in the depths of his eyes. It would be a lie to say that all your quivers and shivers were rooted in the fear as to what he might do to you if you dared move from the position he had placed you in hours beforehand. Something else akin to desire had found itself at home run in through your veins, unburdened by the worries of what the black pools might be hiding in their abyss.
That feeling, the one that was running through your veins in spite of the lingering fear, was soon guiding your body. You were no longer staying rigid in your position out of fear; you wanted him to touch you, even if only with the tips of his brush.
He knelt down when close enough to then reach to lift up your skirts. You were scarcely breathing now, still afraid yet intrigued as to what a man could do with a simple paint brush. Opening your legs up at the approach of his paintbrush would have been indecent to some, but you could not help yourself. Biting your lip hard enough to possibly draw blood was so you did not move into his touch, letting him come to you as you did not want to incite his wrath. You wanted him to touch you with it, despite that fear of those black pools staring fiercely at you.
The soft bristles finally grazed the inner flesh of your thigh, a small tickle running through the nerves connected to the spot it touched. You could’ve been fooled into thinking that it had been the brush of his hand if your own eyes hadn’t been fixated upon him.
You moved your position just a hair, maybe even smaller than the ones on the paintbrush used to move you.
“There.” His whisper breathless, now devoid of the darkness that had stifled any sweetness.
You ached to hear him say it again, it was not a praise for you in the strictest sense. He had been simply readjusting you, hardly any room or need for any praise. The way he had whispered it along with the whisper of the brush upon your skin made it feel like he was praising you. Before you knew what was happening or considered the consequences you chased the brush he had begun to pull back with your thighs.
The darkness quickly came back on his face when he had noticed you had moved to chase his touch. He began to bark out a command to put you back in your place, even though he was the painter, and you, the client. “Sit ba-“
“Brush me again.” Your plea was too beautiful for him to let it go unanswered, even though you had cut him off. There no doubt was still lingering fear inside you, afraid of what he might do in retaliation.
He surprisingly obliged you, you could see his curiosity meld with the darkness in him. He lifted your skirts again, holding the brush just above the spot where he had touched moments before.
When he brushed the inner flesh of your thigh again, the pressure was harder, less unsure.
That simple touch made you moan, even though he wasn’t touching any spot that normally might bring you pleasure. It was as if a dark shadow had cascaded across his face to blur your perception of who he probably was underneath it all. If it wasn’t for your curiosity and your simple desire you would have thought more critically about his next request.
“Take off your dress.” Like someone without a thought you stripped it off of you in haste, as did he with his own clothes.
In no time at all it seemed, his mouth had enveloped your own, keen on devouring all you had to offer. He picked you up with ease by the tops of your now naked thighs so he could lower you to the floor. He then allowed himself to nip and suck on any section of skin he desired to put his mouth on. Not that you could reciprocate as he had your hands held above your head.
When his fingers started to dance along the tops of your thighs just as the brush had done you instinctively pushed your thighs together. The action was quickly reversed by Laurent releasing your hands to push your thighs apart, giving him an unobstructed view of your entrance.
His mouth was soon swiftly on the places that brought you pleasure, sucking your pearl into his mouth like a sweet.
You wanted to writhe underneath him out of sheer pleasure, but he did not need to bind you to make you immobile. That fear still lingering in your mind kept your body still, even as he combined his mouth with his fingers by pushing them into your entrance.
“There?” He whispered as he crooked them upwards, trying to find the spot that would make you see stars. It wasn’t quite right though, so you shook your head side to side. You didn’t dare to speak, not that you could do anything more but making unintelligible moans of pleasure.
“There.” He whispered with finality when he hit that somewhat spongy spot inside you making you cry out louder than before. It was so nice to hear him say those words again, honeyed words that tasted so sweet even though they were tainted by darkness. Your release shot through you quickly, like an arrow sent to kill you.
He removed his fingers from you when you were finished with your first release of the night, wasting no time to push himself inside you. He was larger than any other man you had been with, stretching you blissfully and almost painfully. You were lucky he was not too cruel to not let you adjust to his size, but as soon as you had he unleashed himself upon you. All you could do was wrap your legs around his waist and let him thrust into you at a brutal pace. The sounds of skin slapping on skin were so loud they almost over took the moans you were emitting along with his grunts.
When his hand came to wrap around your neck your own mortality became evident to you. Early before you had succumbed to his touch with a simple brush, you had been afraid he might harm you, even with the desire pumping through your blood. You had not even thought of beyond a simple bruise or cut to your flesh by him. His hand around your throat while he thrusted into you made you wonder how much it would take for him to squeeze until your lips turned blue.
Desire one again took over your fear, his hand around your neck combined with the sweet nothings whispered in your ear made you fall apart again. It was a slow devastating release like honey dripping off a spoon languidly until it dropped down to sweeten the pot. Even though his own honey had turned sour, he still was fully capable of making people feel sweetness while shrouded in darkness.
He filled you soon after you had finished your own release with a grunt. Neither of you had any real care to be able to give to the possible consequences of him filling you. He rolled off of you and you were glad in the moment he didn’t crush you under his weight like most men would have done.
Silence seemed to be a staple item that constantly wormed its way in between the two of you. No one spoke for a while, truthfully it might have been an hour. Laurent was the first to break it again, with much less malice than before,
“Do you want me to continue to paint you?” He whispered into your skin as he continued to pepper his plush lips across your skin. Glancing up towards the easel that still faced the canvas away from you and then over to the bare man next to you helped aid you in your decision. You could let him leave with wasted paints, wasted canvas, and wasted potential.
The wasted potential was what stopped you from letting him paint the rest of the angles of your body. Pondering what could come of the painting, and your relationship with the man who had just made you see stars while simultaneously making you fear or your life at the same time made you frown. The possibilities were endless, but those two black pools hid something too interesting for you to ignore. You wanted to know more, even ached for it.
“Yes.” You simply replied and you then willingly fell into the abyss.
Ask Me Anything
—-
Tag lists (message me if you want to be added):
All works: @shotarosleftpinky @90spumkin @kyra-morningstar @s1utformgg @takeyourleap-of-faith — grr tumblr is still being stupid
People who might be interested 🤷♀️: @propertyofabelmorales @sergeantkane @foxilayde
#laurent leclaire x reader#oscar isaac#oscar isaac smut#oscar isaac x reader#in secret#30 fics in 30 days#oscar isaac fanfic
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pobrecito
Pairing: Javier Peña x reader
Wordcount: 2k
Warnings: none, pining, yearning, enough fluff to fill a couch cushion
Summary: you hide that you know Spanish long enough to accidentally sort of hear Javi fall in love with you
>>
At first you had thought it was a joke.
You were working in the Columbian office, of course you knew Spanish, but it was fun when people assumed you didn’t. Or really, you had to laugh because in truth, it was annoying and stupid and waste of your time.
More often than not, you stopped correcting them, stopped trying to explain your qualifications, stopped trying to earn the respect, and instead just shut your mouth and did you job. They always said – the more you try to prove yourself, the more your desperation just disproves your point, and it was true. Either the person would pay enough attention that they’d realize their mistake and feel foolish, or they weren't important enough to be relevant to your life.
Occasionally, there were exceptions, and while it was ridiculous to have things explained to you, but it was it was a fun insight to people. Do they paraphrase when they translate? Native, fluent, or faking it, hoping you wouldn’t notice? You had a little gringometer in your head that helped you laugh, at least. Most importantly, what information do they omit, when they figured no one could catch them?
Everyone caught on, eventually, faces burning red, eyes wide and sputtering, and that part was certainly fun.
Well, everyone in your department. Higher level agents rarely noticed, which was surprising because while you weren't one of them, you worked with them quite often.
You were even friends with them, checking in on each other during late nights and knowing the way they took their coffee, and vice versa. When you started to go out with Steve and Connie and Javier, and the others, you assumed they must’ve picked up and not made a fuss about it, which was more than alright with you. They were some of the smartest people you’d ever met, sharp eyes and minds and tongues, surely they’d notice. After all, they noticed your humor, thought process, and persona enough to invite you into their little circle.
Of course you were wrong.
It was a hot, loud, wonderfully chaotic night and you were all riding high on a minor break through. Enough to put the work down, to trade flickering office lights and coffee for the glare of bar neon’s and cool drinks. Your arm was tucked into Connie’s as she leaned on you, laughing as she told you stories from a brighter, happier, more wholesome world.
Javier was behind you, making your neck prickle like it wasn’t smoldering hot, his gaze sweeping over the crowds, piercing you when it touched your skin. You were acutely aware of him, you always were, since the moment you saw him stalking through the halls, filled with purpose. The twitch in his jaw, the narrowing of his eyes, the way his hands changed their grip constantly, as if they were trying to keep up with his racing mind.
It made you ache, how much you noticed him, and how little he noticed you.
Like a dog looking for crumbs from the table, you held onto moments, grasping at them in childish, lovesick desperation. Logically, it wasn’t much – when he handed the papers, joking about how you got confused when he tossed them onto your piles, when his foot yanked your chair out for you when you were tired – but you still cherished it all.
Even though the noise you could hear his voice, low and sarcastic, with just a touch of gravel, and it made you want unhealthy things. If you let yourself focus on it too much, it would probably consume you, filling you ears and mind and soul with thoughts of him.
So you tried not to, tried to listen to Connie, but you couldn’t help yourself from losing focus when you heard a man nearby talk about you.
The man was handsome, taller than most, warm skin and playful eyes, and he was asking a server if they knew you, if you were single. And you flushed, turning away before you heard him add to his friend, in deep, hungry Spanish, that you were gorgeous.
The others with you heard it too, of course they did, and Connie was grinning at you, wiggling her eyebrows too focused on forcefully whispering to hear what you heard.
Javier, his voice just as playful, his Spanish just as sharp, was telling the man that you were gorgeous, but you were not available.
Oh and you could’ve died right then and there, the shock burning through your insides more than the alcohol ever could. Then, because life is stupid and unfair, your mind snapped back into gear before your heart did and the logic was out of pure self preservation. Javier Peña was just protecting you, it was a courtesy, of course it was, because if he had wanted you to hear, he would’ve said it outright.
He didn’t even know you spoke Spanish.
You sipped your drink and for a moment you closed your eyes and forced yourself to turn that thought into something you could live with, something you could use.
He didn’t even know you spoke Spanish.
And then it became a game.
Surviving the weeks and months of sharing the same space what felt like 20 hours of the day was only bearable, only possible, if you stopped focusing on your aching heart and made yourself laugh.
More than ever, your use of Spanish became absolutely controlled. During long quiet moments of digging and slow processing information, you went out of your way not to speak a single word. You endured the dull, tedious over explanations, with the knowledge that you had a little secret. When the conversations were fast and people were spitting words onto the table you’d slide in quick, almost imperceptible words and phrases, the spanglish so organic you had to stop yourself from grinning. Internally preening every time, you ate up the moments you snuck it by him, by everyone, actually enjoying the anonymity that came with chaos and intensity and desperation.
More than that, you enjoyed listening.
Javi was speaking in Spanish more and more around you, so quiet and casual and thoughtful, it was impossible that he was tricking you. You wouldn’t put it past him, to tease you behind the language barrier, but it wasn’t that, not even close.
Because unbeknownst to you, he was harboring his own secret, nursing his own little crush you. You were gorgeous, but more than that, you were soft and smart and sharp all at once and he was addicted to it. He’d met his fair share of women, and basically all of then were pretty, but you made him feel hot and cold at the same time. Made him wish he had an actual home to take you back to, made him think about stupid cliché date nights, and… and you made him want to be the best version of himself. With you by his side he felt like he was able to float, saved from drowning in the corruption and the paperwork and the politics.
Javier felt like he was going crazy, half talking to himself, half to his friends when he began muttering about … well, you. It started when he heard other people talking, just defending you when you couldn’t (or wouldn’t, anyway) whispering that you’d proved time and time again that you were capable. And then it became something new altogether, as speaking about you while you we’re close became intoxicating. At first he watched put of the corner of him eye for you stiffen or to squint with focus, translating, but when you didn’t react, but now it was commonplace. A little escape where he didn’t feel quite as embarrassed to admit how much you occupied his mind.
Now you were stuck at an impasse.
It was flattering, exhilarating, even, to hear his defend you, praise you when he thought you werent listening. You heard his teasing, too, and how he thought out loud when he was annoying, and it felt almost dirty to eavesdrop on a man who was so rarely vulnerable.
The tension was pulling tighter and tighter between you, taught enough to snap with the slightest pressure, and yet the two of you were grinding your heels in. The others in the office had picked up on it, the way he was always adoring you in Spanish, and eager and attentive you were to his every move -how could they not be? So they began to push and pull at you gently, stretching you like taffy, seeing who would give in first. Surely if they provoked Javier enough, you would be able to hear the affection in his voice, see his gaze lingering on you as much as yours did on him?
Not that any office scheme ever goes as planned.
Javier was muttering about how you shouldn’t have to finish something for someone who was to lazy, and you, tired and off your game, didn’t realize that was a language you weren't supposed to respond to.
“Desafortunadamente,” you murmured before freezing.
There was shock and panic in Javi's eyes, but instead of enjoying it, for some reason it ground into you skin like a burr, annoying you.
“Oh, c’mon,” you said, fully turning to look at him, arms crossing. “¡Mi abuela corre más rápido! It really took you this long?”
Instead of triumph, hurt was coursing through your veins, it wasn’t fun that he hadn’t noticed, it was just a testament to how truly separate you were.
To his credit, Javier was putting the pieces together remarkably fast, all the moments he’d basically professed his love for you hitting him like bullets. Did you hear the time he’d cursed when you walked in on a weekend, comfy and cozy and so domestic he wanted to kidnap you? What about the time he’d told off the new guy from flirting with you, had straight up told him that you belonged to someone else without a second thought, and only a sharp pain in his heart?
You watched his face, the annoyance seeping out of you to make way for guilt as you remembered he had bared little parts of his heart more than once and your admission also meant that you were ignoring those, had ignored them for weeks.
Before either of you could apologize, explain, make any type of excuse, though, Javier was palming the back of your head, yanking you close and slotting his mouth against yours.
Kissing him brought the sudden awareness holding back from each other for the past weeks, past months was as ridiculous as long hours spent without food. Now that you had each other, the first few moments were so overwhelmingly needed that your brain could barely process it. At some point your arms must have uncrossed because they were wrapped around his middle, fisting the back of his shirt like you never wanted to let go.
It was hungry, desperate, almost longing as all the words that could have - should have - been said were shoved to a place of non relevance as you sunk into each other.
Javier pulled back, unwilling to let you go or stop fully, he peppered smaller kisses on your lips as he spoke teasing words.
“We could’ve had this so much sooner.”
A grin stopped your kisses along his jaw, as you found your voice just as teasing, “Pobrecito,” you murmured.
A huff pushed into the air between you, and you felt his quiet laughter. And his forehead pressed against yours, surprisingly tender for such a heated moment.
“I don’t think so,” he kissed you again, suddenly slow, blissfully happy, “not anymore.”
<<
translations:
desafortunadamente - unfortunately
mi abuela corre más rápido - my grandmother runs faster
pobrecito - poor baby
>>
Taglist: @fangirl-316 @scribbledghost
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Lil' Mia and Miranda thing since I dragged you guys down the rarepair hell with me~
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Lab equipment was really not meant to blend well within a lived-in home. And it didn't. The plush carpet on top of wooden floors giving way to the smooth lab flooring that squeaked under boots not appropriate for the setting created an odd contrast. Not that that was uncharacteristic for Miranda, any of her workspaces falling perfectly under the description of an organized mess, with particular emphasis on mess.
With Rose sleeping peacefully in the room generously, suspiciously so, provided by Miranda, Mia decided to stretch her legs by walking around the manor, the baby monitor connected to her phone. The building was relatively big, albeit quite old, tucked in the woods somewhere between the Beneviento house and the factory, with a tunnel conveniently connecting it to the labs running under the town. It had close to no spatial organization, bedrooms and labs and storage rooms alternating by patterns known only by the so-called goddess, or most likely not even by her.
Mia did not trust the woman. Not with the memories of the prison cell and the kidnapping of her daughter for experiments still fresh in her mind. But, the tiredness of motherhood and the odd loneliness that came with being the only two inhabitants of the house that were capable of coherent speech as of now, had her longing for some company.
It was an easy task finding Miranda, the soft cries of Eva guiding her down a short hallway to a lab door left ajar. Inside, the woman was sat at a desk, a laptop with half written reports and notes in front of her, pushed out of the grasp of the fussing infant in her arms. Miranda was far too busy trying to calm her daughter down enough to fall asleep to notice Mia leaning on the doorframe, curiously observing the scene. Oddly human, in her failing attempt to get her child to stop crying, when at any given time she could get anyone to kneel before her and bend over backwards to her every whim. Yet a small infant was giving her so much trouble.
"Need a hand?" Mia offered with a small chuckle. Should she even offer her help?
"I am fine thank you." But a slightly louder wail from Eva came with perfect timing to disprove her words.
Miranda's shoulders seemed to slump ever so slightly as her eyes closed slowly, the usual makeup replaced by dark circles, testimony to the long hours spent going through decades of research and reports while also caring for her newly reborn daughter. It was oddly bittersweet, to see a woman so dignified otherwise all but beg the small child to go to sleep so she could finish her work.
Work, Mia concluded, that was rather essential for the whole place, and also her home for now, to continue existing the way it was. With a sigh she walked up to the desk and gently stoked Eva's short brunette hair. "Here, let me hold her. At least until you finish typing whatever it is you're doing," she said waving a hand in the direction of the forgotten computer, who's screen had turned black by now.
There were a few long seconds of hesitation, but a weary glance at the mountain of files on the other side of the desk that she was yet to go through convinced Miranda to finally allow her daughter slip into Mia's arms. It took maybe five minutes of cooing and a one sided conversation made in silly voices to turn the cries into giggles, small hands trying to grasp at Mia's finger that was ticklishly caressing puffy cheeks. Exhausted from crying, Eva's eyes slowly fluttered shut and she was gingerly lowered into a crib set by the desk, one of the many scattered around the house.
Miranda watched the scene unfold with uncharacteristic softness slipping by the icy mask of her steely eyes. Even goddesses can be caught by surprise it seemed, and whether it was due to the apparent skills that Mia had with calming Eva down or at how she was willing to help despite their precarious position was up to debate.
"Shouldn't you be better at this," Mia asked, pulling one of the chairs closer to sit in. "I know it's been, what, two or three centuries or something but haven't you done this before?"
Her question was obviously poking fun for the most part, but Miranda couldn't help the tired sigh that crawled its way from the depths of her now useless lungs.
"No, actually. I haven't," she responded curtly as she grabbed one of the files and opened it in order to transcribe its contents in a digital file. "At least not on my own," she added upon remembering the numerous subjects she helped raise during her time working with The Connections.
"Oh? Did you have a sweet loving husband once upon a time? Do tell me more," Mia said leaning her chin on her palms as if she were a teenager at a sleepover talking about crushes, although the memory of Ethan clawing its way to the forefront of her thoughts made her grimace slightly, until she pushed it back down in the depths of her mind.
It was foolish perhaps, acting like that around a woman that could, and would with the right motivation, kill her in the blink of an eye. Truth be told though, Mia was bored out of her mind, so what better way to pass the time than push Miranda's buttons, especially when she seemed too tired to retaliate.
The so-called goddess grimaced, at least ten different reasons to find the thought outrageous flashing through her mind and, settling on the most obvious one, looked at her, one eyebrow raised. "I was a nun."
Mia leaned back in her chair, looking at the black head covering hanging from a hook behind the door, together with black robes. She had to wonder if they were the same ancient ones or if she replaced them every once in a while.
"Yeah, I couldn't tell," she chuckled. "A nun turned goddess. How ironic don't you think."
"Worshipping was never quite up my alley. And neither were men," she replied flatly, turning the pages in front of her and typing the relevant information in the file she had open on the screen.
Mia's eyes widened slightly with an amused oh. "So was she raised by the convent then?"
Was this information really to be given out? Mirada did not like talking about her past, or personal information in general. Gods did not need backstories, they simply were.
She sighed. "No, no. Her parents died when she was four and with nobody else to look for her, she was brought to us." Miranda gave a small shrug, pausing to type up decades old results on lycans. "I was the newest there, so the nuns dumped her on me. I was so mad at first, but she's always been such a brilliant little girl, even back then. She would ask for a bedtime story and did not complain when I'd start reading from one of the medical books I stole from the merchant. There was just something about her that made her grow on me."
With the paragraph done, she pushed her chair back, quietly so as to not have its legs scratch against the linoleum floor, and walked to another, smaller desk pushed against a wall. From there, she walked back to the crib where the small infant was sleeping peacefully, a small doll in hand. Doll that Mia recognized immediately, as an identical one was by her own daughter's sleeping form, back in their room. It was a small replica of Angie, plush and soft to the touch, unlike its real life wooden counterpart, the white dress made of delicate silk. Both toys had been made by Donna herself as gifts.
"But as you can guess, she was well past a toddler when she was placed in my care," Miranda finished, leaving the doll just by her sleeping daughter's side.
"So you suck with babies," Mia concluded with a grin. She would have laughed, but had enough clarity of mind to be quiet.
Miranda simply gave her a tired glare before rolling her eyes. She went back to her desk and opened a new file to be transcribed, this one on the reservoir's structure.
"I can care for them," she started, an odd almost imperceptible strain in her voice. "It just gets trickier when it's my own daughter and not an act."
Mia nodded absent mindedly, eyes darting to Eva. To see a woman with such power and ruthlessness, who could level the whole town to the ground if she so pleased, show such raw genuine affection towards the child made some of the notions in her brain crumble to the ground. Miranda was still the same woman who, ironically enough, experimented on more children than she cared to count, but then again Mia was also a willing participant in said experiments so was she really that much better?
She definitely was, Mia concluded, choosing to ignore a small pang at her heart when she watched all the ice in those gray eyes melt into tenderness while looking at her daughter. Instead, she started toying with one of the many pens scattered on the desk.
"Since I'm staying here, I don't mind helping you out with her," Mia said quietly, keeping her eyes on the small giraffe doodle she was doing on a napkin.
It wasn't for Miranda's sake really. She simply wanted the best for Eva, the child completely innocent unlike the atrocities committed by her mother throughout the last few centuries. Besides, it would be nice for Rose to have a friend not unlike herself, given the yet to be understood power both girls possessed.
"There's no need-"
"Consider it a thank you for letting us stay here, without a sniper pointing at my daughter's head at all times," Mia finished, a slither of ire slipping into her tone on the last words, the memory of a rookie agent panicking and pointing his gun to Rose for the unforgivable crime of being a hungry crying child seared behind her eyelids.
Miranda sighed, an odd sense of relief washing over her. After centuries of trying to bring her back, you'd think the she would do anything to spend each and every second with Eva, not letting anyone else care for her in any capacity, but truth be told, the prospect of not facing motherhood completely alone, even if Mia was helping her solely out of some sense of obligation, did not sound half bad.
"As you wish," she finally said, going back to the half written paragraph her mind drifted away from minutes earlier.
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I know everyone is probably pretty interested in who the other syndicate member (Harpocrates) is. We know that it's somebody who uses he/him pronouns as Phil and Techno used them while referring to the unknown member. That immediately rules out one of the big contenders in Puffy and also rules out Hannah (but it doesn't really make sense for it to be her anyways). Dream was in prison for the syndicate's formation so it's probably not him unless he figured out how to get through Sam's security which is pretty much impossible. We can rule out anyone connected to the egg as the syndicate seems pretty pro-omlette and we can rule out George cuz that man will probably never be a big part in the lore. We know Techno and Quackity have a very rocky relationship so it makes no sense for it to be him. It can't be Tubbo because the syndicate went to check out Snowchester and didn't have any knowledge of it. That also indicates that it's probably not Jack since Techno would probably have more info on Snowchester if that were the case. The very idea that it could be Tommy makes me laugh. Just no. Sam doesn't seem very likely since I can't imagine him wanting to get involved with the people who are Dream's allies and the man seems pretty busy (Also Techno didn't know about Tommy being dead which doesn't rule Sam out but he probably would have told Techno if they were close enough to be in a syndicate together and obviously Techno didn't know that Tommy was dead today). Ranboo just joined the syndicate so it isn't him. Fundy also isn't a strong competitor since he and Phil weren't on great terms the last time they spoke. I'm also not putting much faith into people who haven't been that involved in the Techno side of the lore that much either. This includes Punz, Purpled, Sapnap, Karl, Connor, etc.
Harpocrates is the god of secrets and Techno probably gave the secret member that name for the fact that they're, you know, secret. However, it should be noted that Harpocrates was adapted by the Greeks from an Egyptian god which is kinda interesting since Foolish is out partying with his big old desert temple. Ultimately though, I'm not so sure about Foolish being our secret member just because he was online the entire time the meeting was happening and I feel like that's kind of a weird move from a story telling standpoint.
So looking at the info that we currently have, I have an idea of who it could be.
Eret.
They recently released their character's morals on their alt Twitter which gives us a lot of insight to their character. Most notably that she has "grown increasingly indifferent to the throne" and that "neutrality has been very important to [him], however, ... [she] has lent their resources to those they saw to be the most morally just". As still acting royalty, it would make sense for Eret to want her involvement with an anarchy syndicate to remain a secret. We also know that Eret has a pretty good relationship with Philza (the nether road trip and Wilbur's failed ressurection) and is at least neutral with Techno. The use of exclusively he/him pronouns from Techno doesn't really disprove Eret since pretty much everyone on the server only uses he/him pronouns for him. Eret wouldn't know a lot about Snowchester since they haven't been on in quite a while which fits with the fact that Techno also doesn't know that much about Snowchester. Also, as noted above, Harpocrates is the god of secrets and silence. This kind of fits with Eret's character as his act of being a double agent (and keeping secrets) in the L'manburg war is one of the most memorable things she has done.
I will say though that I think it would be really funny if it was Charlie Slimecicle. (He did talk to Techno about how he's willing to try things besides government)
Tl;dr : I think our secret anarchy syndicate member is Eret because of their want to help everyone on the server. It would make sense that they want to stay secret since he technically is an acting ruler at the moment. (But like it would be so funny if it was Charlie Slimecicle tho)
#dreamsmp#dream smp#mcyt fandom#ranboo#dreamsmp theory#dsmp techno#philza#eret minecraft#king eret#technoblade#dream smp theory#the syndicate
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Out Loud
A Martin character study AO3 Link
“G’night mum, love you.”
“Make sure you put the trash out, don’t want it stinking up the house.”
At 12 it occurs to Martin, he can’t recall the last time his mother said “I love you” to him. She must have. He knows she loves him, so why can’t he remember her saying it? Was it before dad left? It can’t have been that long ago. He knows if he brings it up she’ll just tell him off for being silly so he just decides to not say it unless she says it first. She doesn’t say it.
“Look how nice our neighbor’s garden is,” she says instead. “If only we could have such a nice garden.”
“The neighbors hire a man-” Martin tries to explain. He had just done law maintenance over the weekend; he would have to bring up memory issues next time they saw a doctor.
“Aren’t you happy with how I provide for you?” She snaps. “Ever since your lousy father left us I have done my best even with my health and all you can talk about is getting a bloody gardener.”
“Sorry, mum,” he says. It’s better not to argue when she gets like this.
“Forget it. Just get me my tea.”
He goes and brews her a cup of Oolong tea. It’s far too bitter for his tastes but it’s all he buys when he does the shopping. Perhaps that was it, instead of saying she loved him she just provided for him.
Martin tells himself that until she gets too sick to work and begins needling him to get a job at 14. Suddenly he’s providing for her on top of school and everything else but that didn’t mean she didn’t love him. She was just sick and the medication she was on made her tired most of the time so it wasn’t like he could expect her to be excited to see him; especially not when he’s the one bringing it to her.
“Is soup the only thing you buy?” She asks one evening when he brings her dinner.
“You didn’t have soup last night,” he reminds her patiently after a long day of school and work.
“Oh, so you think I’m ungrateful? I am your mother! I gave birth to you! You should be happy to take care of me!”
“It would be nice if you acted like a mum for once!” Martin snaps back. He regrets it as soon as he says it and doesn’t wait to hear her response. He leaves the house and sits in the park near his house for a long time and cries. Of course she loves him. It must be so hard on her to be stuck at home all day with no one to talk to and there he went snapping at her. She’s asleep by the time he comes home and neither of them mentions it in the morning.
Martin doesn’t know what he expects when he starts to transition. He hadn’t even called it a transition at first, he just likes how he looks with short hair, baggy clothes, and a sports bra. His mother disagrees. There are days she won’t even look at him and when she does it’s usually even worse.
“You cut your hair again,” she mentions one morning over breakfast. “Just when you were starting to look like a girl.”
“Yup,” Martin replies tight-lipped. He had been thinking it over for a while and he’s slowly coming to terms with the fact that he isn’t a girl. The way she says it hits him sharply. If she was never going to say “I love you” to a daughter, why would she say it to a son? He doesn’t bother coming out to her properly because he can already see the disgust on her face when he gets a proper binder.
When she decides to move into a full-time care facility, it’s almost a relief. He feels foolish for expecting her to say it when she leaves. He feels even more foolish when he says it in goodbye. The receptionist gives him a sympathetic look when she doesn’t say it back but the receptionist probably assumes his mother has memory issues and forgot who he was. She doesn’t. Still, he appreciates the gesture.
Dating is nearly impossible for most of his life. It’s easiest to blame his busy schedule; he doesn’t even have time for friends outside of school. The fact that no one even asks him out isn’t something he wants to think about. After he drops out of school and his mother leaves, dating and friendship don’t get any easier. He can’t let anyone he works with get close enough or they’ll find out his real age and utter lack of qualifications. Online dating is also out of the question for similar reasons. If one of his coworkers saw him with the age 19 in his profile they would either know he wasn’t actually 25 or they would think he was a creep and he didn’t exactly feel comfortable lying about his age to potential dates. Meeting people organically isn’t the worst thing in the world but it’s difficult. He makes a few passing friends at a local trans support group but even then, he can’t get close to anyone without risking someone discovering his falsified CV.
He doesn’t have his first real boyfriend until he’s 23 years old. They meet at a Holloween party thrown by a mutual acquaintance and date for almost five months before Martin ruins it.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Dominick, I love you,” Martin says as he serves dinner.
“Oh, uh, it’s a little fast to say that, don’t you think?” Dominick had stammered awkwardly. Was it? It didn’t seem like it to Martin and even if it was, it was true. He loved Dominick.
“I-I don’t think so,” Martin replies nervously. Some distant part of himself starts to berate him for being so needy.
“It kind of is. Let’s just pretend you never said it and we’ll see how we feel in a few more months, ok?”
“You mean we’ll see how you feel,” Martin says a little bitterly.
“Why can’t you just relax and enjoy the holiday?”
Martin had sighed in resignation and picked at the rest of his plate. They broke up a week later because Dominick felt like they were “looking for different things.”
Martin doesn’t have another serious boyfriend after that. He goes on a few more dates over the years but nothing that lasts longer than five months. Nothing that lasts long enough to say “I love you.” In some deep dark part of him, he wonders if he was ever meant for love. His father hadn’t loved him enough to stay, his mother hadn’t said she loved him in over a decade, and he’s not even sure he was in love with Dominick. He gets crushes, sure, but he just throws himself into his work at the Magnus Institute instead.
Working in the library isn’t bad. He gets along with his coworkers well enough but he can never get close to them. Not close enough to love them as friends or be loved in return.
Then he gets transferred to the Archives.
Jonathan Sims is not the first asshole boss Martin has ever had. He doesn’t understand why Mr. Bouchard sent him down to work in the Archive in the first place and his first impression with his new boss is less than stellar when a dog follows him into the building. It doesn’t help that Jon is good-looking and every once in a while Martin catches glimpses of a version of the Archivist without a stick up his ass. Like when he spends Martin’s ice cream birthday talking about emulsifiers. If only he would be clearer about what he actually wants from Martin. No report or follow-up seems to be good enough, even with the help of Tim and Sasha.
Martin works hard for Jon’s approval. He doesn’t know why he wants the recognition but it’s either this or quit and he really, really can’t quit. So he spends three full days looking for every woman named Angela over fifty in Bexley only to be berated for actually talking to one of them and then he offers to look into a case about spiders that clearly upsets Jon only to get trapped in his flat by a zombie worm woman.
When he finally escapes, he takes a few worm corpses with him and he dumps them on Jon’s desk while he’s in the middle of a statement. Let Jon try and disprove that When he gives his own statement he makes special emphasis on reminding Jon how hard he worked to meet his exacting standards. He refuses to be yelled at for this.
Except Jon believes him. More than believes him, in fact. He offers Martin a place to stay. Of course that would be enough to ignite a crush in Martin.
As soon as they get to document storage Martin sits on the cot and begins to cry with exhaustion. He expects Jon to leave but again he surprises him.
“I-it’s alright, Martin,” he says awkwardly as he pats Martin’s shoulder. “You’ll be safe here and I’m certain Elias will respond promptly to my request for extra security.”
“Thanks,” Martin sniffs. He can’t remember the last time he cried in front of another person.
“Would...would you like me to stay until you fall asleep? If- if you think it will help.”
“Oh, er...no...I’ll be fine, thank you. You should be getting home, anyway. It’s Saturday, Jon.”
Martin blacks out as soon as Jon shuts the door to document storage. When he wakes up he finds his crush on Jon stubbornly still in place.
He can’t help himself after that. He starts taking special care of Jon in hopes of encouraging the kind man he saw that night into emerging. At the very least Jon doesn’t yell at him as much and he even thanks Martin for the tea he brings. It’s then that he notices other things about Jon, like how rattled he gets by certain statements and how he’ll often go an entire day without eating or drinking anything unless someone brings him something. That someone being Martin. He also notices how late Jon leaves, if he leaves at all.
It’s on one such night of Jon still being in his office at 11 o’clock that Martin knocks on Jon’s office door.
“Jon?” He calls gently.
“Hzzmt! Martin?” Jon responds, having been startled awake from dozing at his desk. “You should be asleep.”
“And you should be home.”
“I see your point,” Jon sighs. “I’ll finish up here and head home. Unless you need something?”
“Actually….I-I was thinking,” Martin beings. “Since I sort of kicked you off your cot...D’you want to come back to document storage with me? You know, get some sleep?”
“What?”
“Er...forget I-”
“The cot would be rather cramped with both of us,” Jon warns as he gets up from his desk. “If...if you’re sure you want me to join you.”
“Yeah...I thought you had work to do?”
“It can wait until morning, no use keeping you up longer than necessary.”
Martin only half regrets offering to share a bed with his crush. Jon was right, the only way to fit both of them on the cot is for both of them to sleep on their sides (or for Jon to sleep on top of Martin but even the thought has his face burning) and it’s difficult for him to fall asleep with Jon’s back pressed against his. It’s good to hear Jon fall asleep, though, and as time wears on it’s easier for Martin to goad Jon away from work to sleep a few hours.
The more of himself Jon reveals the harder Martin falls for him. Especially after Jon accuses him of being a ghost during the Prentiss attack. Even with the guilt Martin feels every time he looks at Jon mummified in bandages. That was Martin’s fault. If he had just paid more attention then he wouldn’t have lost Jon and Tim in the tunnels. He does everything he can to try and make up for it; despite Jon becoming more and more closed off by the day. Intellectually, Martin knows that Jon has gotten like that with everyone, but something deep down makes Martin feel like it’s his fault Jon’s gotten so cold. It doesn’t help that Jon seems to have gotten friendly with the policewoman investigating the murder of the previous Archivist. Tim even seems to think they’re having an affair which does wonders for Martin’s self-esteem. Jon wouldn’t be the first straight man Martin has ever had a crush on but Martin was pretty sure Jon wasn’t straight. Again, he wonders if he’s done something wrong to push Jon away.
After Jon stumbles out of his office covered in blood claiming to have had an accident with a bread knife Martin finds all the excuse he needs to regularly drag Jon to the canteen to make sure he eats something. The silences during those lunches are hard. They had eaten together before but now Jon wasn’t talking to him. The most Martin could get out of him were a few one-word answers. He tries not to think about how it reminds him of his mum.
“So,” he tries for the millionth time while Jon picks at his sandwich. “Did I tell you what happened while you were at physical therapy the other day?”
Jon doesn’t say anything but he looks up with a gaze that bores into Martin.
“Uh...A little girl came in alone with a statement, she must’ve only been eight years old,” Martin says. Jon looks at him with an expression that almost seems afraid. “Don’t worry, it recorded fine on digital. She walked right down into the Archive, walked up to my desk, and said ‘Excuse me. My name is Beatrice Walker and I’d like to make a statement about a supernatural occurrence.’ She sounded so grown up and she refused to leave until I had recorded her statement. Turns out her dad was using the library for research and she had just wandered off.”
“What was her statement about?” Jon asks to Martin’s surprise.
“Oh, a hamster with mysteriously changing spots.”
“Ah,” Jon replies thoughtfully. “Not much need for follow-up there, I suppose.”
“Not unless you really need me to track down the shop where her parents picked up the new hamster.”
He catches the briefest of smirks from Jon before the conversation dies again.
After that Jon’s coldness and paranoia comes out in the form of a screaming accusation over letters Jon found in the trash. Martin barely manages to make it to the bathroom before he bursts into tears after coming clean about his CV. Tim thankfully doesn’t check on him while he silently curses his taste in men. Jon doesn’t meet his eye for the next week in what he bitterly hopes is guilt. He does seem slightly more willing to talk with Martin at lunch, though.
Then Jon goes missing. After trying to get Martin and Tim to go home early because Jon was feeling under the weather; he disappears. Not before apparently bludgeoning someone with a pipe and isn’t that exactly what he and Tim need to see as soon as they get back from a two-week kidnapping by a spooky door monster?
With Sasha gone, Jon missing, and Melanie King being suddenly hired by Elias, whatever’s left of Martin’s relationship with Tim deteriorates. More so when Martin becomes the only one in the world to believe Jon could be innocent. It’s probably that that makes the police detective “investigating” Jon so actively hostile toward him. Apparently, people say he and Jon are “close” and that probably only means the lunch thing but he wants to imagine it’s something more. Like people are somehow picking up that Jon likes him back.
When Jon comes back to confront Elias it’s all Martin can think to do to fall back on his tea-making. He ducks into Jon’s office with a piping cup of the overly sweet tea he spent months perfecting to Jon’s taste and finds him with his face buried in his one non-bandaged hand.
“Jon?” He calls as gently as he can while he closes the door behind him. “I brought you some tea.”
It’s when Jon looks up that Martin notices the bloody mess down the front of his shirt.
“You’re hurt. Let me go get the first aid-”
“No!” Jon interrupts frantically. “Just...Could you just stay with me for a moment?”
Martin acquiesces and they sit side by side on the sofa in Jon’s office in silence until Jon starts sniffling into his tea. He offers Jon a hug and Jon all but dives into his chest to cry. It’s the saddest most broken thing Martin has ever heard and it’s all he can do not to pull Jon into his lap and curl around him protectively.
“Martin...I-I...I’m sorry,” he says quietly. “For everything. For Sasha and Prentiss and...and for the way I treated you. You didn’t….no one deserves that.”
“None of that was your fault and I sort of deserved it. I didn’t actually know what I was doing.”
“You didn’t deserve it,” Jon insists before going back to quietly crying into Martin’s jumper. Martin doesn’t respond. He can’t recall the last time someone’s apologized to him. At least not like that. He’d been told off most of his life for not doing things up to people’s standards. A few people over the years had told him he didn’t deserve it but Jon was the first person to apologize. No wonder Martin was falling in love with him.
Damn it.
Cuddling doesn’t become a regular occurrence for them by any means but Jon begins doing more to seek Martin out after that. They eat lunch together more often and Martin stays up late to talk to Jon while he’s abroad. It drives home how deeply buried into Martin’s heart Jon has become. Especially after he comes back after going missing for a month and has the audacity to joke about being moisturized by a clown mannequin for a month.
He wonders if Jon feels the same way. Sometimes Jon will smile shyly at him, and he can almost believe that Jon would be interested in a relationship if the world wasn’t ending. The last time they speak before the Unknowing they’re in document storage.
“Are you ready?” Jon asks as he shifts nervously.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Martin signs. He heard what happened to Melanie. He knows what’s likely to happen to him. Some small part of him is screaming to just tell Jon his feelings like it’s the climax of an action movie.
“Stay safe,” Jon says.
“Come back,” Martin replies. Jon offers him a hug. It’s no movie kiss but it allows Martin to hold Jon as close as possible. Jon himself is hanging off of Martin’s neck and it feels like a final goodbye.
Then Elias confirms what Martin has always suspected deep down. That his mother never loved him or if there was a time when she did, she stopped when his father left. Even after everything. After he spent years taking care of her. After he had to quit school to care for her. All she ever saw was his father. All his transition did was to remind her further of how much he looked like his father’s son. At least it was worth it. To distract Elias so Melanie could find evidence to arrest him.
Then Peter Lukas shows up and reveals that Elias planned to get arrested. Worse than that, he offers Martin a promotion of sorts.
Then they get the news from Yarmouth. Tim’s body is found in a charred heap, Daisy is missing, and Jon is dead in all but brain activity. At least Basira is physically alive.
Martin spends as much time as he can next to Jon. He’s used to loving someone who can’t love him back. Maybe this is all he’s destined for. Love unrequited. He talks to Jon’s dreaming corpse. Tells him about his day, reads him poetry, even a statement, but nothing draws Jon out of his coma.
Then his mother dies. He barely has the emotional strength to mourn her. Instead, he scatters her ashes and mourns his childhood lost to trying impossibly to earn her love.
After the Flesh attacks, Martin makes a decision. He’ll join Lukas. It’ll probably lead to his death but what did that matter? His mother was gone and didn’t care about him anyway. Tim and Sasha were gone. Jon was basically gone. Basira and Melanie were the only people left that he vaguely cared about and by doing this he could at least protect them.
He visits Jon one last time in the hospital. He’s still covered in wires and his eyes still flit around violently behind his lids as Martin sits down next to him and takes his hand.
“Hey Jon,” he says quietly. “I...This is the last time I’m going to see you...Probably ever. I know, I know old dramatic Martin surely he’s exaggerating. I’m not. The Institute is in danger and...I have a way to keep Melanie and Basira a little safer, so I’m doing it. I just came by one last time to say...Jon, I...I love you. Goodbye.”
He gets up and presses a kiss on a part of Jon’s forehead not covered in wires before leaving. It’s alright that he doesn’t say it back. No one ever says it back to Martin.
When Jon wakes up everything becomes that much harder. Suddenly he had a reason to live and the way Jon pursues him makes him almost believe...No, even completing the thought would be dangerous for all of them. Jon trusts him enough not to be constantly badgering and that makes it worse. When Jon is there the Lonely makes Martin resent his presence and when Jon’s gone Martin resents his absence.
The final, most excruciating pain is when Jon comes after him in the Lonely. He’s excepted his fate in the chilling numbness of the Lonely. Maybe that’s why he says it. The certain, inevitable rejection would be numbed utterly. So he says it.
“I really loved you, you know?”
And Jon looks broken. Even after he rips Peter’s statement from him. Even when he reaches for Martin’s face with hands that seem far too warm and makes him See. Knowing Jon loves him isn’t like “knowing” his mother loves him. Instead of a lie born in Martin’s mind to stamp down the fear of rejection, it’s a reality pouring from Jon’s mind mingled with Jon’s fears of rejection.
Jon’s hands still feel too warm compared to the icy chill of the Lonely as he leads Martin out. Still, he refuses to let go all the way through the tunnels, the Institute, talking to Basira, packing at each other’s flats, and on to the train. The way to Daisy’s safe house feels like a blur and when they finally arrive it’s all Martin can do to remember to take off his binder before collapsing into bed with Jon’s warm arms around him.
He wakes to Jon’s quiet crying. The awful, stifled thing that breaks Martin’s heart.
“Jon,” he whispers.
“Martin? Did I wake you? I’m sorry, I’ll-”
“It’s alright, Jon,” he assures as he swaps their positions so Jon is tucked firmly against him. Jon makes another broken noise and Martin can’t stop himself from crying, too.
“I-I’m here, Martin. You aren’t on your own,” Jon soothes and Martin almost has to laugh. They lay crying and comforting each other until they both fall back asleep.
When they wake up properly they take stock of the safe house’s pantry and make a list of things to pick up in the village after breakfast. Martin gives in to the temptation to buy a new notebook to try and write poetry in. They have enough canned food to survive to the next ice age so they pick up perishable items like milk, bread, butter, and eggs. Jon also picks up fresh peaches and a box of Martin’s preferred tea. It’s easy to pretend like they going on a normal shopping trip as they walk up and down the aisles to check things off their list.
They return to the cabin and settle in. Martin sits on the sofa and tries to write out a poem while Jon tries to read a book from Daisy’s personal collection. After a while, Martin beings to feel Jon’s gaze on him.
“Is there something on my face?” He tries casually as he’s met with an expression he’s never been on the receiving end of.
“I was just thinking about how much I love you,” Jon sighs. Martin can’t stop the noise that comes out of him. All his life trying to earn love and Jon just says it while Martin’s thinking of a synonym for ‘yellow.’
“I-I don’t expect you to reciprocate,” Jon says quickly, his soft expression suddenly turning worried.
“But I do.”
“Oh…Oh!”
“Yeah.”
Jon starts giggling and it’s impossible for Martin not to follow suit until happy tears stream down both of their faces.
#the magnus archives#martin blackwood#jonmartin#jonathan sims#I wrote a fic#this was supposed to be posted on valentines day
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“Fubuki Delenda Est”: Part 1.
The following post is my personal evaluation of Fubuki’s character in the manga and how her storyline was handled in the remake. I will take into consideration the webcomic precedent, obviously, but I will also look at how manga Fubuki stands on its own as an original character with no ties to a source material counterpart.
Let’s get started.
As trivial as it may seem at first glance, Fubuki’s first reaction to Overgrown Rover perfectly encapsulates the core differences between the webcomic and manga incarnations of the character. These are Fubuki’s first thoughts in the webcomic (Chapter 69):
Meanwhile, these are her concerns in the manga (Chapter 114):
Quite the difference, right? Webcomic Fubuki expresses her fear for the potentially gruesome consequences a monster like Rover could pose to civilians if the “dog” were to escape the monster lair, whereas her manga counterpart is so obsessed with her personal gain that she is entirely focused on reminding the civilians about who saved them, like a foolish brat who spares no thought to the threat the monster represents and the danger it poses to innocents - and, thus, getting distracted. This is not how Fubuki behaves: prudence and caution are some of Fubuki’s defining traits, and yet the manga keeps completely ignoring this, characterizing Fubuki as a reckless and foolish idiot, basically the very opposite of who she should be. I will return on this topic soon enough.
Disclaimer: I wrote this post before the release of Chapter 160 (“Divide”). I could have used many panels and pages from this update to further support my criticism towards remake Fubuki (unfortunately), but it’s an already long post so I decided to not bloat it even more: maybe in the future I will write something about it (hopefully shorter than this one). It goes without saying that what follows is based on the currently released chapters. Future updates, manga and webcomic alike, could disprove everything written in this post. Webcomic and Mob Psycho 100 Season 2 spoilers ahead.
EDIT (09/09/2022): fixed typos and rephrased sentences for more clarity. Corrected the numbering of the Chapters as well (for the moment at least). I also added a couple of thoughts and a proper introduction to the post.
EDIT (10/09/2022): Fubuki’s connection to Psykos, how the manga handled it, what replaced their fight and more are all topics I examined in this post (it’s basically a Part 2 to this one).
EDIT (01/08/2023): added a title.
EDIT (09/03/2024): for a webcomic Fubuki analysis, this post.
EDIT (25/03/2024): added two paragraphs in the sections regarding the Demonic Fan and Do-s’ battles.
Back to topic: in the webcomic the situation was even less tense and dire than in the manga:
Fubuki, Fang and Bomb were together with Genos when they faced the monster,
there were no civilians nearby,
the group noticed right away that Rover was injured,
Rover itself didn’t attack them from the start, but was simply standing in front of them,
no Demon Level Threat was lurking in the area, like Do-s in the remake, posing an additional source of problems for the heroes,
and nonetheless webcomic Fubuki was way more cautious than her manga counterpart and acted like one would expect from a professional hero, focusing on the situation at hand and saving Genos from the monster dog, instead of distracting herself for egoistical reasons only to be saved by Bomb like in the remake. As flawed as she may be, webcomic Fubuki knows where her duties as a hero lie when the situation requires it, while, on the other hand, her manga counterpart can only mumble about the “Fubuki Group”: it’s pure, unfiltered flanderization.
But let’s take a step back and look at how the manga adapts other webcomic moments of the MA arc involving Fubuki, starting with the chapter where the Saitama’s group joins the fights.
In the wc (Chapter 66: 1, 2), after being informed about the S-Class mission against the MA and hearing about the formidable menace represented by the latter, Fubuki expressed her concerns about the threat posed by the Monster Association, dropping her “Fubuki’s group boss”/Chūnibyō persona for the rest of the arc; in the manga, even after confronting one of the MA members (Do-s) and suffering the consequences of it (namely, losing temporarily her group and being taken out of the hero raid as a result of her underwhelming performance), and so knowing full well how powerful and dangerous the monster organization is, Fubuki keeps displaying an overconfident and overbearing attitude - like taking the lead, ordering around the rest of the Saitama group and bossing around her powersful companions as if they were her underlings - as if nothing happened. This obviously serves as the setup for all the jokes and the gags of the following chapters (all manga original content). Consequently, the trajectory of the character in the incoming events changes as well:
webcomic Fubuki, a (too) cautious and wary hero, found herself in the middle of a war between some of the strongest beings in the setting and then proved to be no mere B-Class but one of the few characters who played a major role in the events of that crisis and greaty contributed to the victory of the HA. Still, that didn’t spare her from confronting a shadow from her past, Psykos, or from experiencing, more or less, the realization of Saitama's "prophecy” when she faced Garou, all stuff that contributed to flesh out her character and push forward her storyline;
manga Fubuki, instead, ends up taking the role of the arrogant but weak fool who gets put in her place by literally anyone, passing 95% of the time sitting on the ground while looking pathetically distressed, providing only plot-fixing healing powers and cheap gags to the story (well, other than shilling her sister, but that’s a common job in the current manga, shared by basically the entire cast, now all super fans of Tatsumaki).
A downgrade on all fronts.
The absence of Genos during the Overgrown Rover fight also greatly affected (for the worse) Fubuki’s characterization and changed the context behind the “you owe me one” line from the original. In the webcomic, Fubuki says this line to Genos after saving him from Rover (Chapter 69). We have to keep in mind that before the battle Genos had a generally hostile attitude towards Fubuki (1, 2), on top of being an S-Class Hero and being stronger than her - as proven to us multiple times, Fubuki puts all this stuff in high regard. This statement here is her way to admit her limits (being unable to block another volley of projectiles from the monster) to someone more powerful/higher ranked than her (Genos) and warn him about her inability to repeat right-away the same feat in the event of another attack, while at the same time putting emphasis on what she accomplished; beside, Genos didn’t save her before, so the statement makes perfect sense in this context and doesn’t make her sound like an ungrateful idiot. In the remake the same line makes absolutely no sense to be directed to Fang and Bomb: the martial artist brothers saved her multiple times before (1, 2.1, 2.2, 3) (something that didn’t happen in the wc) and never were hostile or dismissive towards the esper, which not only makes Fubuki bad at math (they owe nothing to her, if anything, she is the one still owing something to them) but portrays her as an ungrateful and insufferable brat and all the “good leader” stuff the manga keeps pushing becomes completely impossible to take seriously considering how immature Fubuki acts most of the time. Actually, the way the manga adapted this moment reminds me more of wc Tatsumaki’s words when she stood up again, after being clowned by Psykos and the Cadres, and blamed her colleagues for being unable to take care of the situation by themselves (she even says “you owe me one”): too bad that, after her glorious failure against the Cadres, it was thanks to the Saitama Group and Amai Mask (without forgetting Pri Pri Prisoner and Pig God, who saved the heroes buried under the debris) that the HA didn’t suffer a gruesome defeat and didn’t have already lost the battle. The original Overgrown Rover battle then ends with Fubuki having successfully saved an S-Class from an attack of a Dragon Level Threat with nothing having tarnished her achievement afterward (here), whereas, in the Murata version, Fubuki keeps acting like a clown and falls on the ground reduced to a trembling mess unable to stand on her feet, making “funny” scared faces like a stereotypical (bad) battle-shounen female character (Chapter 123: 1, 2) and that after being rescued by Fang and Bomb once again (never happened in the wc as well). On the subject of remake Fubuki being reduced multiple times to a shaking puppy and how it ruins the character in exchange for bad humor, keep reading. Added in date 28/08/2022: Fubuki’s intervention is also framed differently: in the webcomic she moves in front of Genos, standing between the S-Class and Rover’s attacks (before that she was at Genos side), while in the manga she is caught by surprise behind Fang and Bomb. As we see later on, a worn out and tired Bomb (Chapter 147) and then Fang (Chapter 148-153) were able to keep up speed-wise with Garou the sleeping beauty (stronger than the Garou who defeated Darkshine, let’s not forget) at a speed Fubuki was unable to follow: I don’t think is unreasonable to assume the two brothers stayed behind simply in order to protect Fubuki from Rover and the moment seems to follow this interpretation, with Fubuki forcing the two martial arts to protect her, even though they could have easily avoided the blast but decided to stay because they couldn’t simply abandon the weaker hero to her destiny. Additionally, considering the stuff Fang and Bomb went through on the surface, I very much doubt that they would have suffered any major injury here, let alone die, whereas, Genos was 100% saved by Fubuki, who wasn’t a hindrance or a liability to him at all. Also, the two martial artists were seen deflecting the blasts of Rover even before Fubuki “buffed” them, during the Do-s “rematch” chapter (another instance of redraws creating issues where there were none), so to what degree her power boost actually helped them is impossible to gauge and its effects are never brought up again. Actually, there are no signs of Fubuki effctively improving their performance in any conceivable way. The only thing indicating she did something comes from herself (in the manga she is delusional, so, even if her dialogue box was meant to be an objective statement, it’s hard to tell) and vague Bomb and Fang’s remarks - again, nothing supported by any fact or later development occurring in the story. If you ignore these statements, you wouldn’t even notice something was missing; in this fight, Fang and Bomb simply showcased once again their martial art and fighting prowess, and that’s it. And albeit the dialogue seems to imply it, there was no hint of Fang and Bomb being hindered by fatigue or injuries prior to this scene. Similarly, Fang claiming he got his strength back comes from nowhere as well. Actually, despite this statement, the Fang and Bomb’s combo performed against Rover few pages later is depicted as way more underwhelming than the one against Elder Centipede, despite the latter being a less powerful technique than the one used here (with a buff supporting them too). I want to remark how the buff is never brought up or elaborated on ever again in the arc and the interactions between the characters have barely any consequence in the following chapters too - aside from Fubuki learning about Bomb’s martial arts talent (I guess?). As a proof of this, Fang and Bomb recognize Fubuki's actions and her leader vocation only in Chapter 142, despite having already witnessed it here.
Fubuki’s reaction to Tatsumaki’s lifting the MA’s HQ and destroying Z-City: this is the scene in the webcomic scene (1, 2) and this in the manga (1, 2). As you can see, they couldn’t be more different. I already talked about it plenty in the past (like here, points 15-17), so I will try to get to the point quickly. In the webcomic that scene justified Fubuki’s fear of her sister with a concise and effective demonstration of Tatsumaki’s unstable and crazy temper coupled with immense power, making Fubuki’s concerns believable and understandable to the reader. In the remake it, the scene serves goes in the opposite direction: to reassure us about Tatsumaki’s status as the best sister around - from a storytelling perspective, this change obliterates the entire Esper Sisters arc before it can even start and makes Fubuki comes off as nothing but a pathetic comic relief. Funnily enough, the manga even contradicts itself a few chapters later, but that is obviously not acknowledged at all nor that matter when Fubuki is sure her sister would never harm her and is more worried about poor Tatsumaki’s Blast “curse”. The webcomic scene gave us a glimpse of the relationship between the two sisters, respected the characterization of the characters involved and laid the ground for the future confrontation between the two without feeling intrusive to the plot of the arc and without taking away the focus from the ongoing events; the other version, meanwhile, shits all over one character for a cheap joke in order to shill the older sibling, completely disregarding the type of relationship these two characters originally had (again, the main topic of the next arc). To tell the truth, remake Fubuki has never been shown to actually fear Tatsumaki nor she has any reason to do so, seeing how manga Tatsumaki allows Fubuki to do whatever she wants without suffering any consequence for it (even after being defeated multiple times) - in the remake, the two of them even go shopping together as ordinary sisters: yeah truly like the source material (in Part 2 I will discuss how this doesn’t do any favor to the resolution between the two sisters even if we looked solely to the manga without comparing it to the source material). Furthermore, Chapter 133 (I believe) has Fubuki on her knees screaming like a baby, begging to not be transported to the surface where a powerful monster (Psykorochi) is battling her sister; in the equivalent webcomic scene the group is trapped under the debris and Fubuki isn’t squatting and screaming like a “small fish”, she, instead, is simply warning Genos to not reach the surface because her sister “has entered battle mode” and there are unknown and powerful threats lurking there (1, 2); it’s a reasonable statement, given the circumstances, and her concerns are all justified. Consequently, the narrative doesn’t make fun of her and the two martial brothers, instead of looking at her with a dead-pan expression like they were forced to babysit a hysterical toddler, agree with Fubuki’s advice. By the way, notice how wc Fang, Bomb and Genos don’t express any gratitude towards Tatsumaki either, actually the opposite.
Fubuki meeting Garou: wc (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) and manga (1, 2). I already talked about this here too, so I will summarize my thoughts: it’s astonishing how one of the most dreadful and dramatic moments of the webcomic ended up not only undercut by all the previous instances of distressed Fubuki chibi/exaggerated expressions (not present in the wc) but changed for the umpteenth boring comedy relief shtick starring Fubuki and the floor, with the former pathetically watching in awe somebody else being actually the focus of the scene. This undermines not only Fubuki, but Garou himself, lessening the impact of his reappearance. In the original, Fubuki was exhausted at this point, having faced two Dragon Level Threats (one of them being a long lost acquaintance reappearing as the leader of a world-threatening organization) and was completely isolated from the rest of the heroes when Garou emerged from the shadows, a dark and demonic silhouette under the moonlight, a spawn of the night that seemingly threated any achievement or chance of success the heroes obtained by that point. With this moment, Garou truly seemed to have become the monster he always sought to be and that made for an arc-changing moment - ONE deciding to portray Garou with such terrifying and intimidating aura made Fubuki’s reaction all the more justfied and that helped to sell the idea that we were in the last stages of the arc, in the climax of the saga. And nonetheless, right after defeating Psykos, Fubuki still tried to fight the Hero Hunter with her telekinesis, before succumbing to fatigue and to the fear evoked by Garou’s overwhelming power. Other than reintroducing Garou and signaling the start of the conclusion of the arc, the encounter with Garou also has important consequences in Fubuki’s character arc, as shown by the dialogue with Saitama in the elevator and the fight with Tatsumaki, all from the Esper Sisters. So, this was definitely a very important moment for Fubuki, Garou and the story as a whole, instead of a random, “funny” moment. But why portray the scene like that when we can get another one-note joke that doesn’t add anything worthy to the character (or the story) and actually “harms” Fubuki’s characterization in exchange for a cheap gag? Why bother giving this moment some sort of pathos, when Fubuki in the manga has been used solely for providing fanservice and bad comedy? It’s better to throw in a joke for the sake of a joke, right? That’s probably the thought process of whoever wrote this. I want to remind anyone reading this how in the wc MA arc Fubuki’s concerns and fears were never used for gratuitous jokes and she was never rescued or saved by anyone: Fubuki was the one saving her colleagues instead. In Chapter 160 she keeps getting saved by others, by the way.
Bonus: a brief scene from Chapter 113 where Fubuki is affected by a sudden and jarring personality change the moment the remake stops adapting the webcomic (wc: 1, 2, manga: 1, 2).
And these are the scenes of the MA arc shared by the webcomic and the manga (so far). Now let’s take into consideration manga original stuff - the following isn’t a comprehensive list of all the new content featuring Fubuki, but rather additions that impacted in a major way Fubuki’s characterization itself and her role within the series. Obviously, nothing prevents ONE to add/retcon/bring all the following stuff in the webcomic one day, but that’s another matter.
Fubuki’s manga introduction/being defeated by Demonic Fan? [This and the following paragraphs have been edited in date 24/03/2024] Introducing a character in a story, especially a new character in an ongoing narrative, is always a delicate matter. What is shown at this early stage will often be forever associated with the character and imprinted on the readers’ minds as the defining image of this member of the cast, influencing their view and opinion from that point onward. A misstep at such a crucial point might have a cascade effect on the rest of the story and alienate the readers’ interest and willingness to engage with the story of this particular character. Therefore, it’s in the author’s best interest to captivate the readers with an introduction that highlights the characteristics/personality of this member of the cast and provides reasons to be invested in this new entry and their story. There isn’t one single correct way to accomplish this, obviously; what is important, however, is to generate interest and curiosity in the character, set their character arc on the right course and avoid elements of characterization that might lead to insistencies and issues down the line. The OPM manga completely failed at doing so with Fubuki. Fubuki’s first appearance in the series, the manga original Bonus chapter “A New Wind Blows”, presents Fubuki not simply as a in charge of a group that practices rookie crushing (this being the only detail the chapter shares with with the webcomic, although later I will explain how there are major divergences even on this front) but as rather inept leader surrounded by a badly organized clique; in action, Fubuki is shown to be extremely arrogant and reckless, facing head on monsters with no preparation, skill or the strength required, thus resulting in her sister having to save her life and her men. Fubuki not only fails completely as a leader by battling a monster without a strategy or a plan and thus ending up defeated for having understimated the situation, but also as a hero, since she fails to take care of a monster after acting cocky and full of herself, and as a psychic too, since her powers get countered by a fan that, by the standard of the Demon Level Threats in the manga, doesn’t look particularly powerful and whose attacks are not that impressive considering what webcomic Fubuki had to deal with (or compared directly to her telekinesis output, going by the winds Fubuki’s unleashed in the Esper Sisters arc, which wrecked havoc in the hyper-advanced facility built with state-of-the art anti-earthquake technologies and caused seismic activity above level 6 of the Shindo scale, all things way more impressive than slightly damaging a crumbling random building like the monster did; I will return on this). Regardless of following the webcomic or not, I can’t imagine how this showcase could benefit a character that is supposed to play a major role later in the series as a part of the main cast, and it only gets worse when we remember the webcomic blueprint and the nature of the conflicts and the personal history outlined there - what is worse is that this mess occurs in one of the bonus chapters, chapters that are meant to improve and enhance the story of the remake, but that, in this case, did the exact opposite of that.
In fact, nothing presented in this chapter actually respects Fubuki’s characterization or benefits the original storyline in any way. Tatsumaki, the supposed source of her traumas and the biggest threat to her freedom, here saves Fubuki’s life, allows Fubuki to keep her freedom even after such a massive failure and even permits her to maintain a group that is evidently dangerous to the B-Class (in the remake); the oppressive nature of Tatsumaki’s behavior toward Fubuki and the negative influence she has on Fubuki’s mindset is negated as well by the fact this chapter demonstrates Tatsumaki to be 100% correct about her spoiled and useless sister while also being lenient and permissive enough to do nothing about it. The chapter proves Fubuki unable to live by herself, given how eager she is to throw herself to danger despite having no talent, either as a hero and a esper, to backup her attitude, making an hypotethic interference from Tatsumaki on Fubuki’s life choices not a terrifying usurpation of Fubuki’ self-determination rights, but a life saving intervention involving someone who desperately needs to be monitored. The group? Fubuki is clearly a terrible and incompetent leader, who forces people into her organization, poorly directs these underlings and always leads them into dangerous situations without any strategy or battle prowess required for the job, which result in spectactualr fiascos. How and why they could still be loyal to her and stick to the group, instead of leaving like the protagonist of the chapter does, is beyond me, especially considering how the group will only meet failures as the story progresses - a major disservice to the original dynamic and the webcomic that ends up being quite comical. As for Fubuki’s characterization itself, her original cautious and risk adverse attitude is contradicted and replaced by a cocky and arrogant personality not backed-up by any substance, considering how easily she gets instantly defeated; in the webcomic, any time Fubuki had to partake in a dangerous situation and fight, she always expressed caution and denoted a focused and wary professional attitude (see this, or the example at the beggining of this post), a demeanor at utterly odds with what is shown here or elsewhere in the manga. From any angle we look at it, every single detail shown in this instance, or in the rest of the manga, prevents Fubuki from undergoing her webcomic character arc and, at the same time, alienates the readers from the character, because they have no reason to be invested and interested in a similar character, who has no redeeming qualities but a catalogue of dislikable and obnoxious flaws, which don’t make for an interesting alternate reinterpretation of the esper either, but an annoying and boring walking failure.
For a comparison with the way the source material chose to introduce the esper, in the webcomic we met Fubuki right when she decided to pay a visit to the mysterious B-Class whose rumors of being a sly fraud and troublemaker caught her attention. This setup perfectly encapsulates the real personal issues of the character: not confronting her inner demons and, by staying in B-Class, avoiding any possible competition that would threaten the sense of realization and security that Fubuki painstakingly tried to achieve in B-Class and with her group as the big fish in a small pond, a feeble sense of equilibrium that keeps at bay her self-loathing tendencies and protects her from perceiving herself as “weak” and from failures that the character is mortally afraid of; once a challenge emerges (Saitama) Fubuki attempts to defuse the bomb by having the rookie join her group; once he refuses, Fubuki retaliates, realizing, during the battle, how frail the cage she trapped herself in out of psychological self-defense, fear of failure and as a protection from her sister actually was, while Saitama’s criticism further unveil her psychological issues and mistakes. The webcomic presents Fubuki in a way that reflects her core characteristics, denounces her fatal flaws and sets in motion her character arc, showing the esper at her worst but, by the end of the arc, putting the character on a path of growth and maturation from her habits and negative mindset - the same happens with King (who left people to die and went to play videogames; worse than anything happening here if you ask me) and several other major characters. We are shown her obsession with ranking, her fear of being challenged and her readiness to retaliate in order to not see her bubble world crumble. These are flaws that are integral to her identity and rooted in her past, her upbringing and her mindset - elements that will be explored in more detail as the story progresses. These flaws don’t row against future scenes and the arc Fubuki is supposed to experience, but represent the internal hurdle she will have to overcome going forward (leave her comfort zone, stop obsessing over her status, challenge herself, face her fears and mature as a person/hero). None of what happens here contradicts or undermines future events; if anything, it builds toward them and provides the proper groundwork for what the series has in store for Fubuki. Fubuki is not incompetent or weak (at worst, she is weaker than some of the strongest characters in the setting and different in the way her battle prowess manifests, being not a brawler but an esper, but that’s it), but flawed and misguided in an endearing and interesting way, especially as we learn more about her personal history and situation. The arc lays the ground for what is to come while establishing the themes and motives that will recur in her storyline, like Fubuki’s complex dynamic with Tatsumaki, Fubuki’s desire to form connections beyond hierarchies and, consequently, the major role Saitama plays in her story, breaking the bubble she entrenched herself within and challenging her mindset by setting a precedent completely new and inedited for Fubuki. This introduction (the original, intended introduction of the character) does as well a very effective job at setupping the B-Class as an underdog and make the reader guess what her role might be in the future, with the pay offs occurring immediately afterward during the Monster Association arc, with Fubuki impressive and outstanding performance. The first glimpse of the character in the remake, instead, portrays her as incompetent, arrogant and weak (all cardinal sins in what is an action manga), devoid of redeeming qualities (including the dynamic of the group and her relation with its components and between the components) and thus completely dislikable. To make things worse, this new set of flaws doesn’t replace the original one but is added to it (making the character twice as flawed) - after all, the series at the time pretended to follow the original 1:1. This results in an inconsistent and contradictory character whose new (offputting) flaws are actually at odds with her original issues - arrogant vs insecure, reckless vs too cautious, delusional vs self-loathing, etc.. The issues is not that the manga version of the character is flawed - webcomic Fubuki is flawed too (in a different way though) and the flaws are part of why I love the character - but that she is fundamentally flawed, narratively; for example, the conflict that should define Fubuki and her struggles simply don’t work in the manga because they are nonexistent. As the manga progresses, it becomes more and more apparent how manga Fubuki is entirely to blame for everything wrong with her life and relations with others (narratively I mean, not morally), including her past with Tatsumaki; nothing the manga presents about Fubuki and the backstory makes it possible for us to understand Fubuki in the present and why she grew up like this, let alone empathize with the esper - I will expand on this in Part 2 when I will talk about Fubuki and Tatsumaki’s conversation. And that on top of being a failure and very incompetent at her job. How could they fumbled Fubuki of all characters it’s mindboggling, to be honest.
“A New Wind Blows” also starts a very baffling manga trend (Fubuki fighting a monster with the group, pathetically losing and requiring to be rescued by her adorable sister) that replaces the original narrative of the webcomic, the sisters dynamic and the nature of their conflict for something way cheaper, boring and hollow. While the chapter doesn’t show Fubuki’s battle or how she actually lost, as it happens off-screen (keep this in mind for the Do-s’ fight), Fubuki’s performance seems to have been affected by her subordinates, who didn’t leave the place, despite Fubuki ordering them to do so. So it was them being a hindrance that led to Fubuki’s defeat and almost to the demise of the entire group. As a result, in the manga, Fubuki’s problems stem not from her past and her relationship with Tatsumaki, but literally from the hindrance represented by her group and how this is affecting her potential. That’s it. It’s as lame and stupid as it sound. It is not anymore an interpersonal conflict spawned by a traumatized kid who projects her traumas into her sibling in order to protect the latter from experiencing her same fate, with the tragic of traumatizing her as well and affecting her life for the worse, a cage monitored by a oppressive warden, but a nonsensical dynamic centered on a person that collects failures for idiotic reasons and can’t survive on her own, neeeding to be protected by her guardian angel, who disapproves the life choice of her sister but permits her to do as she pleases, even if this might result in her death. Furtheromre, none of this incident (or the upcoming ones) worsen or influence the sisters’ relationship nor Fubuki express at any point fear of what the consequence of said failures might have on her life once Tatsumaki learns about it. After the end of this chapter (and the ones recycling this structure) the story of the characters resets so that they could play out the same one more time and no one actually learns anything or grows from this event, as if Fubuki failing and being rescued is the status quo. Even though the relationship is portrayed as distant and cold, as the manga progresses and overtly diverges from the source material, it retroactively becomes more and more nonsensical as to why they got to so estranged from one another in the first place (and bonus art of them hanging out togher like normal siblings add to the confusion) - I will talk about this in Part 2. What sort of conflict there might be between Fubuki and Tatsumaki when their contrast consists in Fubuki constantly failing as a hero and having to be saved by Tatsumaki time and time again, rinse-and-repeat ad nauseam, without ever suffering any consequence from it? Like, how can the sisters’ conflict be a compelling and complex narrative when any tension comes from Fubuki being an absolute idiot with a death wish and a fixation for following a career path she has evidently no talent for, instead of Tatsumaki looming menancingly over Fubuki’s future, ready to strike at any given moment and detaining an oppressive role in her life, with Fubuki preparing her entire existence to this inevitable conflict from which depends her freedom and future? Can you believe what an idiotic and nonsensical conflict replaced the original?
This completely guts and undersells Fubuki’s personal struggles. Aside from the problems it arises for Fubuki, I really can’t imagine wc Tatsumaki letting Fubuki free if something like this occurred (more about this here and here, points 1-5). Furthermore, Tatsumaki having an idea of Fubuki’s power at this point (and a negative one at that) also outright contradicts this webcomic dialogue and the entire arc where it takes place (Chapter 100: 1 and 2; Tatsumaki’s statements also imply that she was waiting for an opportunity to retake total control of Fubuki’s life and her expression and behavior betray how happy she is to do so), where it’s revealed that what prevented Tatsumaki from intervening sooner were her doubts regarding Fubuki’s actual strength, and that due to the fact that no events such as Demonic Fand or Do-s occurred in the source material (unless ONE doesn’t start retconnecting stuff and muddling the webcomic). In the webcomic, in fact, Fubuki was never saved by her sister nor was she portrayed as a weakling hero incompetent at her job; at the same time, the real extent of Fubuki’s abilities was conceiled by Fubuki’s tendency to not rely on exploits and “high risk high reward actions” but preferred safer and more cautious activities (choosing to stay in B-Class is indicative of that, for example). As a result, in the webcomic, Tatsumaki didn’t have a solid idea of Fubuki’s real strength and thus an excuse to intervene prior to their direct confrontation in the Esper Sisters arc, where their divergent objectives led to a battle. In the manga that can’t be, since Tatsuamki personally witnessed Fubuki fail or, at the very least, had all the clues necessary to come to conclusions regarding her sister’ telekinesis, being present in either the Demonic Fan and Do-s encounters. Let’s look this the other way, if these two manga original fights actually occurred in the webcomic, then Tatsumaki would have definitely mentioned them as further justifications for her actions and as a source of additional criticism for Fubuki and the group during the Esper Sisters arc instead of grasping at straws blinded by her trauma, but she never did and that is because they never happened in the source material (unless the webcomic becomes the manga 2.0). Why would she realize only at that point the level of Fubuki’s abilities, if she had already a solid grasp of them and even commented on Fubuki’s level before (I’m referring to her comment on Fubuki being not on the level of Demonic Fan in “A New Wind Blows”)? Especially when wc Fubuki in the Esper Sisters arc gave a demonstration of her prowess that dwarfs anything she did in the manga, to the point they do not compare at all? If the manga and the webcomic were following the same timeline, why would she dismiss Fubuki in the Esper Sisters arc and not before, when Fubuki actually performed poorly (in manga original scenes, by the way)? From this, we can observe what an ill-conceived mess this addition was and what cascading effect it had on the future of the character.
But let’s take for good this starkly different setup for Fubuki’s character arc and accept that the remake narrative presents the group as a hindrance to her potential in order to eventually then demonstrate Fubuki’s actual power once she is by herself: the manga falls short on this as well. Considering how Fubuki will progressively get more flanderized, incompetent and powerless as the manga goes, with or without the group supposedly “hindering her”, ONE and Murata utterly failed to convey even this narrative exclusive to the manga; in the following events, Fubuki will be useful only as a glorified plot device in two instances (and I’m being very generous) and, crazy enough, the psychic will actually hinder her colleagues (the irony!) and force them to save her the vast majority of the time - I will talk about this later, but for now, consider how the second Do-s battle completely wastes the narrative of Fubuki being hindered by the group and doing better alone when, in this “rematch”, Fubuki achieves even less than she did in the first one and has to be rescued by Fang. The manga doesn’t stand even on its own legs, but stumbles and falls on itself! The point the remake seems to be really making is that Fubuki would better be off under Tatsumaki’s custody or babysitted by powerful heroes because she is unable to take care of herself and is constantly in danger. What a good pay off to the narrative “it’s the group that is hindering Fubuki’s potential”! Like in what a way was the group preventing Fubuki from being a plot device and a stereotypical healer if that is what the manga intended for Fubuki’s real, unhindered potential free of those pesky shackles? Was their mere presence somehow preventing Fubuki from using her taumaturgic and plot-helping telekinesis before? Interesting enough, the new role and asspull powers that were assigned to Fubuki during the manga MA arc were never suggested, implied or built up in the events before, when the manga was pushing the narrative I’m discussing here of Fubuki’s prowess being limited by her subordinates. It’s as if if Murata and ONE realized at certain point the kolossal damage they did and stopped trying with the character altogether, repurposing Fubuki into an embarassing pushover with a clichés female power-set. As for the group, how the scene from the Esper Sisters arc (Chapter 105), where the members of the organization express gratitude and loyalty to Fubuki for having taken care of them, could work in the manga considering that what has been shown to us is basically her leading them only to abysmal defeats it’s anyone guess. If this chapter alone inflicts irrecoverable damage to that story outline, ulterior shambling displays and underwhelming showcases erase that storyline altogether. With Demonic Fan, Do-s and several other failures piling up, what we have seen of the group and learnt about them is not what the manga states - it being a well organized, disciplined and effective organization - but an ensemble of poorly lead pushovers with low morale and no ability, always failing at their job and underperforming in any scenario. What is odd is that all the failures and the defeats are never mentioned again, as if they were not a big deal and didn’t affect the group dynamics, despite they should (the only time this happens it occurs in that arc, where Fubuki is the punching bag of the narrative, even more than the usual I mean). The group almost operates following Team Rocket’s rules and while its poor showings affects what perception the reader might have of them, diegetically, in universe, those have no consequences or impact on the character: as mentioned already, Tatsumaki never resorts to anything against them, the group never leaves Fubuki (only one member does, in a bonus chapter) nor criticizes her leadership if not in one arc where we reach level of character assassination that shouldn’t be possible and even then the situation is solved by the end of it (in the most offensively trash way possible), and Fubuki never learns but keeps making the same, idiotic mistakes time and time again. None of this is believable nor feels plausible. Adding new content detracted from the overall narrative, whereas the more concise and to-the-point narrative of the webcomic contributed to the impact and the surprise of the scene where the Fubuki’s group decides to stay with Fubuki no matter what: with didn’t have much insight on theunderlings and the organization prior to the Esper Sisters arc, so, when they revealed themselves to be an organization of loyal and devote subordinates who are ready to die for Fubuki because of her skills as a commander and ability to inspire those around her, it’s a poignant, powerful and effective moment, as it subverts the image of bullies we might have of them from Fubuki’s introduction arc while also adding layers of depth to their bond and, consequently, Fubuki herself - leading to Chapter 105, the Esper Sisters arc nonetheless demonstrate that they were no cowards or weaklings but a well organized and competent group fighting an enemy beyond their weigth, while also displaying trust and devotion to their leader. Another damage this Extra chapter inflicts consists in the fact that it implies that the Fubuki resorts to force (directly or indirectly) to recruit random heroes, even though we can clearly and blatantly see how in the webcomic all its members want to stay part of the group, not out of fear and intimidation, but because they love their leader and refuse to give up on their organization - Fubuki also states that she only confronts those who caught her interest, but that has to be contextualized with the fact that she is talking to someone with a unflattering reputation preceeding him (Saitama) she is wary of and therefore she is trying to appear intimidating. Such a declaration of loyalty and determination simply cannot coexist with the notion that said members were once forced and coerced to join, and the overall message of the arc would fall apart if that was the case. This is not to say that they did not practice rookie-crushing or that Fubuki is a saint, but those episodes weren’t as common as some think and they didn’t involve common heroes or recruitment per se: Saitama’s was an exceptional and unique case in the way the confrontaiton played out, due to what was being said about the hero and Saitama’s personality itself. Moreover, why would an organization that force people to become part of it (as this manga chapter suggests) not punish or retaliate when its members leave, it’s incomprehensible. Again, another contradictory story element born by a chapter that raises issues that weren’t present in the webcomic at all. As a result of this chapter (and, admittedly, other new manga only content that cemented what was shown in this instance), the main takeway many manga readers had of Fubuki was of a spoiled and incompetent hero who recklessly throws herself against enemies with no care because she knows that her sister will come into rescue and save her (the “Fubuki relies on Tatsumaki” garbage), while she surrounds herself with what is nothing more than a fan club that she rules dispotically, instead of a competently led and organized company of heroes who are incredibly loyal to their beloved leader. The fact so many readers got this sort of impression of the character from this addition tells what a catastrophe of a storytelling decision this chapter ultimately was, regardless of the manga following or not the source material.
This manga original content also deprives Fubuki’s encounter with Saitama of being a turning point and a reality check for her character: after all, manga Fubuki has already experienced what Saitama is telling her by the time the two met (contrary to the wc, where it was foreshadowing Fubuki encountering Garou in the Monster Association) and she has already (or should have) understood how frail and feeble her comfort zone is after a “New Wind Blows” (and so, well before her introduction arc and the MA events, whereas wc Fubuki, up to that point, successfully avoided risks and challenges by taking a cautious approach). This completely changes the kind of character arc Fubuki is supposed to undergo as well as her characterization itself: from having to come out of the reassuring habitat she has built for herself - B-Class and her group - that limited her potential (in the webcomic) to a spoiled fool who is unable to realize how outmatched she is and can’t help but throw herself into dangerous situations she isn’t prepared for, needing to be rescued by others and yet always retaining an arrogant and overbearing attitude, despite being a liability (in the manga). It’s basically a completely different character. The Murata version changed Fubuki’s core character flaw (being cautious to a fault and never taking risks, preferring to play it safe) with another (being a foolish and arrogant deluded brat, who acts reckless) which doesn’t suit the character arc she is supposed to undergo at all (having the courage to step up, leave her comfort zone, and confront her traumas and fears). Webcomic Fubuki, at the beginning of her character arc, is presented as a safe player who avoids facing challenges (and her inner demons) and is worried about maintaining her status and rank as the B-Class Rank 1 up until she finally bumps into a situation she can’t avoid or overcome (Saitama) that forces her out of the shell she has put herself in, which leads Fubuki to grow as a person/hero and experience other situations that will push forward her development (the MA and the ES arcs); on the other hand remake Fubuki is someone who keeps repeating the same mistakes, collecting failure after failure without ever learning anything from it, making the whole beef with Saitama, not an extraordinary event that exposes Fubuki to the “weakness” and the shortcomings she wanted to flee away from, but simply another of her failures. This way, Saitama’s prediction to Fubuki, that in the manga is fulfilled by Do-s and not by Garou (another massive downgrade and such an appalling change from the wc), loses all its original meaning: in the webcomic it was a warning to a character who succesfully managed to avoid her inner demons up until that point, a warning reminding her that this situation will not last forever and that she will have to face her shortcomings/issues eventually, while in the manga it’s nothing new to the character since she is apparently used to at this point (the very opposite of her webcomic counterpart).
One single chapter managed to squander the setup upon whom Fubuki’s original arc hinged on. Gone is now any believable or logical reason for being afraid of her sister, now a lenient and sweet sibling; gone is also Fubuki excessive prudence and wariness, which also explained why she chose to stay in B-Class and not advance further in the ranks, even though she could reach high. Nonexistent are now Fubuki’s abilities as an esper and as a faction leader, now a damsel in distress incompetent at her job, too busy to surround herself by fans and rely on her sweet sister than strive to improve and get stronger. Once the chapter ends, in the place where once stood Fubuki now lies a wasteland, a barren and hollow landscape devoid of narrative potential and a future. Any life and any value there were originally there, now have been wiped out by a baffling decision that killed a character right off-the bat. [End of the EDIT].
Both “battles” against Do-s (and what about the way Fubuki abilities are portrayed in the manga)? Manga original as well: the Tournament arc never happened in the webcomic and the monster invasion never occurred. Do-s didn’t exist in the webcomic (her wc counterpart, Goddess Glasses, only fought Amai Mask in the monsters’ hideout and died) and Fubuki, after her introduction, stayed at the Saitama apartment up until the beginning of the hero raid. In previous posts, I have already talked about the two Do-s battles (in the post about “A New Wind Blows” I linked above and here), so I will try to be brief about the first battle and the “rematch” (aka bait and switch, Chapter 114), before talking about general issues regarding Fubuki’s powers and her fighting scenes (or lack thereof) spawned as a result of these scenes (and Demonic Fan), so, if you aren’t interested, skip to the next point.
[Added in date 24/03/2024] The first fight against Do-s is basically a repeat beat-for-beat of the Demonic Fan’s one: the Fubuki’s group shows up first, a monster is about to defeat them, Fubuki arrives and seemingly turns the tides while the group cheers only for things to go south offscreen, and so Tatsumaki arrives and saves Fubuki, expressing her dislike for the group. Same stuff, now with a dominatrix instead of a fan and with Fubuki conscious instead of lying defeated. It’s extremely lazy and beyond absurd how Murata and ONE recycled a plot that was already completely detrimental Fubuki’s story and went against the webcomic’s storyline. Botching the character one time wasn’t enough for them, apparently. Instead of adding stuff that could do justice to the character, they went in the opposite direction and completely destroyed any chance they had to rectify the issues raised by Demonic Fan, since they basically doubled down on them. It’s as if ONE and Murata weren’t able to come up with better content for Fubuki to place between Chapter 52 and 53 of the webcomic (where, storywise, the Tournament arc and the Monster Invasion take place in the manga) that could actually build up to her future scenes and her prominent role in the series. Even if we ignore the webcomic, it’s such a baffling and insane choice: a chapter like this (let alone multiple ones!) gives no reason to the reader to be invested in Fubuki, her storyline (that in the manga consists of her being humiliated and repeatedly defeated following the same routine) and struggles (what struggles? Being utterly incompetent and weak?). But let’s go in order. First, somehow Fubuki forgot how to fly and conveniently stayed on ground level, where Do-s and the slaves could reach her with their attacks. Totally not holding the Idiot Ball here, huh? As shown multiple times in the series, Fubuki can levitate and fly without any issue, like she demonstrated in her introduction arc and in the psychic sisters arc when she left the HA by flying through the hole left by Saitama and reached Tatsumaki, who was very far away from the complex; even during this fight we see Fubuki being capable of levitating (when it wasn’t required anymore) with no problem whatsoever. For some reason Fubuki decided to give herself a penalty. Also, any advantage Do-s might have here is denied by the fact that Fubuki is an esper (and, in the webcomic, a strong one at that) and can strike the monster however she pleases with long range telekinesis attacks. So, given the one-sided matchup they laid out here, how will ONE and Murata solve this issue and turn the battle in Do-s’ favor, since they wanted so bad for Fubuki to lose agaisnt a nobody? But by having Fubuki act like an idiot and allow Do-s to turn the situation against the psyhic off-screen and in a nonsensical way, obviously! Seriously, how the hell did Fubuki put herself in this situation, and how did Do-s gain any advantage? Not even ONE and Murata were capable of coming up with a logical explanation or a believable scenario wherein Fubuki could lose control of the situation and see the tides turn against her in an logical manner, so they conveniently skipped straight to this outcome with no attempts at justifying it. I’m fine with characters making poor decisions during stressfull situations and under pressures: human beings are not automatas and expecting rational choices at any given time would not make for engaging or interesting stories either; however, when, for plot reasons, a character becomes braindead stupid, incredibly incompetent (to the point of forgetting even common sense and their most basic abilities) and unbelievably weak, even though no good reason is provided for that to happen, then I call it bullshit. The Do-s battle is one of those cases. From the way the situation is framed, we have to believe that Fubuki simply did nothing but looked at Do-s braniwashing every single one of her subordinates and awaited her turn while Do-s was busy dealing with the group and forcing them to join her side: Fubuki either allowed the latter to get an advantage or was in a stasis while this happened. And while Fubuki was capable of blocking Do-s’ whip without breaking a sweat when she appeared on the scene, during the actual battle Fubuki is shown to have a very difficult time to repel it. Even if we factor the group and the others getting in the way and Fubuki having to restrain them, this development is utterly preposterous. Now, some could say that Fubuki’s difficulty is the result of a prolonged battle that weared down the esper’s telekinesis, but I don’t think this argument works either, for several reasons. First of all, in the webcomic, Fubuki is capable of withstanding point-blank multiple blasts from a powerful Dragon Level Threat (with difficulty, admittedly, but that’s a given), Overgrown Rover, and keep fighting after that, facing another Dragon Level Threat, Psykos, in a long battle of attrition where the B-Class emerged totally victorious, with still enough energy to attack Garou, appeared out of nowhere; at the end of the arc, the esper lift the boulders Fang (the S-Class Rank 3) was trapped under and couldn’t move by himself - I’m considering the webcomic because, at the time, the manga was following it albeit with additions, and Murata and ONE knew what was ahead for the character. With such a track record, it’s very baffling how they decided to add a battle like this one. Fubuki having a difficult time defending herself from Do-s’ wimpy attacks and low ranked heroes only for the esper to deal effectively and competently against multiple Dragon Level Threats, with energy to spare after a battle of attrition, a day later creates such idiotic and gatuitous inconsistencies and discrepancies that have no narrative justification, which is probably why Fubuki’s major role and distinct performance in the MA arc were utterly cut short and downgraded; and while I have major problems with the Rover battle as you already know, blocking a blast from the monster even in that circumstaces and with help it’s still in another league compared to dealing with the attacks of a fanservice monster and low-ranked heroes, especially considering that it happens a day later (in fact, many readers complained about this despite the fact that blocking Rover’s attack was in the source material and ONE and Murata knew it was coming, yet for some incomprehensible reason they deliberately chose to shoehorn multiple battles, Demonig Fan and Do-s, that only created problems leading to that). Secondly, if what depleted Fubuki’s energy was the duration of the battle and that is the key factor that explains her poor performance against the monster, then we incur in another issue that I already underlined before: if the attacks of the mob and the monster proved to be such a tough order to deal with (something I find absurd, but whatever) then why Fubuki didn’t simply avoided it altogether by flying away and repositioning herself (it doesn’t seem she was even surrounded, considering how in multiple panels the group and Do-s stand in front of her and there was plenty of space around, even roofs from where she could nulllify any advantage the monster might have)? Also why she didn’t employ “Psychic Strike” to put the heroes out of commission if they were such a pesky problem and thus reduce the battle to a 1 vs 1 with Do-s? Frankly, I don’t think I’m asking hyper-competency or machine-like decision making here, but basic logic and strategic play from a professional hero. But what makes it all worse is that Fubuki had the chance to get the jump on Do-s from the start (something that wc Fubuki would have 100% done, see how she attacked Psykos during their conversation in Chapter 74) but decided to make a “grand” entrance instead and even wasted time talking to the monster, resuting in losing the surprise factor - well, honestly, if she hadn’t kept making astonishing idiotic choices, these chapters would have never happened because Fubuki would have won instantly, making this whole sequence very OPM-like, so obviously the remake opted against it. But having lost even that occasion, Fubuki could have still easily blasted the monster from the distance at any given moment (and “the group was preventing her” argument doens’t work as excuse for the reasons mentioned above), and yet she only went on the offensive after having been hurt by Do-s, when the Demon Level Threat approached her very closely, as if Fubuki’s power set doesn’t consist mainly of long-range attacks; cheap attempts at creat tension and drama that ultimately accomplishes nothing and drags into the mud a character. So, the justification that Fubuki was tired out by Do-s and the heroes actually works against Fubuki’s character, since, for that to work, we have to conclude that Fubuki kept herself in a vulnerable position for a prolonged amount of time for nonsensical reasons. In any case, the moment Fubuki retaliated (this and the following pages), Do-s could do nothing, to the surprise of no one: she was ragdolled like a powerless puppet at the mercy of her opponent - by the way, in the webcomic Fubuki attacks Psykos in similar way and she actually dealt damage to the Monster Association leader, and that didn’t require “charging” the attack before unleashing it, contrary to the manga. So, Do-s was getting thrown left and right without any chance to reverse the situation. But obviously the plot intervenes in her favor once again: Fubuki launches a pathetic Hellstorm (the weakest-looking one she ever threw) and then immediately dispels it (literally one page after the spread) before it could tear Do-s apart (the pebbles just started flying and only had the time to scratch the monster). Murata and ONE needed Do-s to be barely wounded because the plot required her to survive by fleeing on her own legs, with the result of making Fubuki look like a weakling who did only surface damage against her adversary; at the same time, though, the “underwhelming damage” argument can be used against Do-s attacks themselves since they, despite cracking the concrete and having struck the esper several times, only left Fubuki with light, surface bruises at most; if the two are barely wounded, it’s because, other than plot, Murata at the time didn’t want to draw female characters particularly injured (I remember how many readers talked about this and how disappointing the whole fight was, in general). About Fubuki’s prowess and her disappointing attacks compare this Hellstorm to the one she launches against Saitama (who wasn’t someone Fubuki wanted to kill, contrary to popular belief) or, better yet, to the one she uses against Tatsumaki, which was so powerful it could be heard from miles away outside the facility; it’s uncanny. Also, why didn’t Fubuki resort to these (1, 2, 3) or this attack at any point during this battle? I’m sure techniques and moves like these would have helped a lot and I don’t see Do-s surviving any of that, considering how she was knocked out by Amai Mask puny head crush and almost killed by another punch of the A-Class (environmental damage is often used to convey the power of an attack, and in this case, is pretty weak, considering how insignificant the damage to the wall is, and, in general, manga Amai Mask himself isn’t particularly impressive), before surviving due to plot armor. Frankly, how Do-s can even stand a chance at all against Fubuki is beyond me, but I shouldn’t expect logic from a manga where, no matter how strong the character should be, if the authors dislike them, they will fail no matter what. Like, even nerfed and stupidified like this, Fubuki was playing rag-doll physics with Do-s with the other at her complete mercy, and this goes to demonstrate how this battle should have never played out the way it did. In regard to the end of the fight, it’s beyond me why Fubuki would stop and wait in front of Do-s for Tatsumaki instead of attempting to finish the monster off before her sister’s arrival, something that would be in line with Fubuki’s character and her desire to not be perceived as “weak” by others. It’s actually quite goofy the way the scene plays out, with Fubuki and Do-s stopping in front of each other and waiting (this and the following pages, basically: “Are you sure your sister is arriving?” “Any time now, for real”), especially with the transition to the next chapter, as if Murata and ONE didn’t know how to properly conclude Fubuki’s battle and introduce Tatsumaki. To be fair, this whole fight is a mess and requires the reader to stop thinking because it makes no sense when put under scrutiny. About the sisters conversation, I have nothing more to say about how this narrative of Tatsumaki saving Fubuki undermines the B-Class completely and makes the older sibling correct because I already explained it in regard to Demonic Fan, which is essentially the same chapter with the same topic, the same character writing and the same (terrible) message; I want only to add, though, that it is frankly hilarious how Tatsumaki allows Do-s to escape and focuses instead on the Fubuki group despite having all the time in the world to kill the former - she also lowers to the ground where she can be attacked, Tatsumaki is another genius, I guess. Well, whatever. The combo of this battle and Demonic Fan is one of the most baffling writing decisions in the entire manga. Why they decided to include this instead of content that could do actual justice to Fubuki’s character is beyond me. On top of all the problems already listed above, this is such a generic fight between a female character hero fighting a villainess who exploits the morality of the former - basically, the very opposite of how subversive and creative Fubuki vs Psykos was in the webcomic, which completely flips upside-down those tropes. Also, while it doesn’t compare to the garbage that will happen later, the sexual/fanservicy undertones are another sign of the series falling for garbage and cheap clichés without any subversion or unique spin on them, setting a downward spiral that will reach abysmal-tier lows in the MA arc (and, sadly, the arc right after that). Additionally, as I mentioned before, Saitama’s warning to Fubuki is realized in the manga by the Do-s’ fight, which factually replaces the Garou encounter. This alone is a massive downgrade from the source material since it’s not anymore the main antagonist of the arc to instill fear in Fubuki and put the psychic in front of the reality she wanted to avoid, but a random fanservice monster. In the webcomic, facing Garou will have major repercussions on Fubuki’s perception of Saitama - as it demonstrates that he was right about her flawed mindset - and, by comparison, serves as a measurement of her growth during the battle against Tatsumaki, the source of Fubuki’s traumas, a battle where Fubuki fights without ever giving up, filled with resolve and determination - the parallels between fighting Garou and Tatsumaki are drawn by Fubuki herself and explicited by the story itself. Meanwhile, the Do-s fight has no overarching effect on future events or Fubuki’s development. Even though Fubuki remembers Saitama’s words during the battle, this is never brought up again nor affects Fubuki’s relationship with the main character at all; if anything, the scenes featuring them will be turned into the most boring and generic “female character pesters the male protagonist” with all the associated clichés, totally ignoring how it was portrayed in the original and how Fubuki was actually written there. While encountering Garou led to the important elevator dialogue that revealed Fubuki’s high opinion of Saitama and how much she respected him, to the point of being honest and sincere with the hero, nothing of the sort happens as a result of the Do-s battle; Fubuki will actually only annoy Saitama and act as a caricature, all problems introduced in the manga that I will discuss later. The only real consequences of the fight consist in the fact that Fubuki recognizes Do-s in their next fight (we will see how inconsequential even this is and how Murata and ONE fumbled spectacularly this setup) and trivial and circumstantial matters with no significant or evelasting effects (Fubuki loses temporarily the group and is extromitted from the operation, only to take part in it regardless). In the end, this battle is one of the numerous changes that don’t improve anything but only ruin and botch the source material.
Somehow, the second fight with Do-s managed to be indicibly worse than the first one.
I won’t bother with Do-s reviving because a drop of blood fell through the ceiling right on her, or the fact that she bumps into Fubuki, of all people. It’s all forced, random and full of coincidences, and I don’t think I can add anything to what is already self-evident from these ludicruous plot beats, so I want to skip to the actual battle.
So Do-s, who teleported between the chapters from being in front of her slaves to being behind them (Chapter 113 and Chapter 114) (for narratively convenient reasons that should still be a non-factor against Fubuki, as we will see), is using monsterified-civilian hostages to prevent Fubuki from fighting her. But it’s not like Fubuki is some kind of an esper who can use her powers freely and is capable of controlling the direction of her telekinetic waves at will and it’s not like the human-shields Do-s is using are mere civilians turned into some kind of monsters, whereas Fubuki, in the previous fight against the "dominatrix”, was restraining (without harming) 30+ B and A Tier Heroes in berserker mode, all while blocking Do-s whip attacks, right (while I criticized that scene, it’s miles better than the absolute and lampant lack of care of this disaster)? For starters, Fubuki could have taken away the whip from Do-s and/or used the environment against the Demon to restrain or injure her - like breaking the floor, crushing her with the walls or the ceiling - in order to separate her from the hostages - simple stuff that Fubuki should be capable of doing in her sleep if the manga isn’t implying that Fubuki is a Wolf Level Esper, something I won’t exclude considering how Murata/ONE seems to have turned Fubuki from a skilled, capable and strong Esper into the embarrassment of the psychic world. Moreover, in this chapter Fubuki actually still ends up knocking out Do-s using her own physical strength and the monster whip, after Fang took care of everything else, so why not allow Fubuki to play an active part in the scene and accomplish the same with her powers, instead of being a third wheel and only intervening as comic relief? Is the manga implying Fubuki is physically stronger than her own psychic output, despite being otherwise an ordinary human being? There are basically hundreds of ways to improve this scene and make it way less contrived and more character-focused, but that would require spending a little bit of effort on Fubuki and her scenes, something that is clearly deemed a waste of time by ONE and Murata - despite the webcomic providing them dumbproof instruction manual on how to handle the character and write the scenes featuring her, but that is still too much work for the dynamic duo. I’m probably biased, but I truly find it absurd how Do-s faced Fubuki two times and survived basically unscathed - and that without taking into consideration webcomic stuff (more about that later). But, again, ONE and Murata are not even trying to give Fubuki a fighting scene or portray her as a competent and strong hero in an arc whose only content (in the remake) consists of fighting and battle scenes between “badass” and “cool” characters. Compare this encounter to a slightly similar situation that took place in the webcomic, when Fubuki showed up right when Psykos and the Cadres were about to attack King (Chapter 74). At the time, Psykos was at an absolute advantage while the HA team was in shambles. The MA leader was surrounded by Dragon Level Threats, towering over the strongest heroes lying on the ground defeated, yet Fubuki was capable of successfully pulling off a stunt that turned the tides and completely changed the rest of the arc. While Psykos was underestimating Fubuki and boasting about her own superiority, just like Do-s in Chapter 114, Fubuki took advantage of that moment of distraction and overconfidence by sending a powerful psychic attack against her former follower, leaving the latter screaming in pain (meanwhile in Chapter 65 of the remake a similar attack against Do-s did absolutely nothing): this sneak attack humiliated Psykos in front of the Cadres, who stopped considering Psykos their leader, and Fubuki’s attitude and taunts successfully lured the MA leader away from her underlings, in a place were Fubuki could fight her opponent without any interference. Fubuki basically saved King and the heroes who were about to emerge on the surface (plus the injured ones already above the ground) from dealing with a group of monsters led by a Dragon Level Esper, who, other than being capable of effectively commanding and organizing the Cadres and being an incredible threat by herself, wouldn’t have allowed Zombieman to restrain and “defeat” Homeless Emperor, with the consequence of the Psykos+Homeless Emperor combo being still on the loose. What is this? Fubuki being an actual character whose actions majorly impact the series as a whole and with a real role to play in the plot, instead of being a glorified pinup?
Webcomic Fubuki proved to be more than capable of exploiting a situation to her advantage, using everything she could to turn the battle in her favor, which proved her intelligence and quick thinking, while her manga counterpart can do nothing but play the part of the powerless and irrelevant dumbass, always at the mercy of her opponents, constantly needing to be rescued by others.
As I mentioned before, during the “rematch” Do-s was barely paying attention to Fubuki, too busy thinking about Amai Mask and her plans for him once she had finished her business with the esper, and was once again relying completely on her love slaves: this made this encounter the perfect setup for another battle between the two and provide a tangible sense of growth for Fubuki from the previous one, showing the supposed development Fubuki has gone through and building up to future scenes (I’m referring to Chapters 142-143) because none of them carry any weight if zero evidence has been provided to back-up the claim that “Fubuki grew stronger/changed” - after all, the manga has completely neglected Fubuki (better waste time on third rate characters and useless battles, I guess). All of this and more could have been accomplished here, in this chapter, and I think that would have been better than Fang taking the center stage and resolving everything for Fubuki, which goes against the entire point of Fubuki’s role in this arc and its original narrative purpose: having to face an unexpected yet dangerous emergency without having anything or anyone to rely on but herself, playing a pivotal role in the MA crisis, proving her worth and her abilities but, at the same time, coming face to face with her limits and her shortcomings. Fang’s intervention takes away from the character arc she is (was?) following without providing any worthy trade-off - comedy-wise this chapter is one of the lowest points of the entire series (and that is saying something considering the “comedy” of the MA arc remake). Fangs removes an obstacles from Fubuki’s path and offers her a “victory” she didn’t earn, but was served to her on a silver plate without doing anything. How this series, in regard to Fubuki’s character and the battles she starred in, went from wc Fubuki vs Psykos or wc Fubuki vs Tatsumaki to this kind of content is truly disappointing and disheartening. The treatment of Fubuki (and female characters in general) between the two versions couldn’t be more uncanny. There were no sexual, morbid or male-gazey undertones in the webcomic scenes and the character was never subjected to this crap (sofar), and instead of fanservice fights against stereotypical fanservice adversaries like Do-s, every Fubuki’s battle served her story and her development, first and foremost. Seriously, how can you take a character like Fubuki, a beautiful example of a well-written female character, and then turn her into a prime example of everything wrong with female characters in battle manga, by resorting to awful clichès no present in the original and also putting her in garbage like this battle?
Added in date 09/09/2022: Fubuki here also acts completely out of character (more than the usual, at least) even compared to her manga self of 20 chapters prior (the last time we saw her before this confrontation was at Saitama’s apartment, single panel appearances not withstanding), let alone Fubuki’s introduction arc or “Numbers” era - there is no need to even bring up her webcomic self: a completely unrelated character would be closer to manga Fubuki than the original, at least so far. The “humor” (a qualifaction that sells to high what is actually present here) of the chapter is bottom of the barrell shounen-shlock exaggerated faces and character overreacting to situations in an amateurish attempt at generating laughs (something that admittedly happens, but not in the way Murata and ONE intended). Many readers often say that the manga is more serious and the webcomic is more comedic: I don’t agree one bit. The webcomic results more comedic because it’s deliver of the jokes is far superior and also because these are perfectly tied to the overall narrative instead of being “breaks”. I would argue that the story is much more serious in the source material - hence why comedy is so effective when it occurs, because it works on the accumulated tension provided by the seriousness of a dramatic build up, a bathos that could only erupt as long as what preceeded it headed in the opposite direction of the subverions - and the characters, instead of caricature, always mantain their integrity and characterization, even in jokes. This in the manga doesn’t happen, and the “Rematch” is a perfect example of that, just like several others (aside from the ones involving Fubuki, Saitama vs Garou and any notable addition that involves Amai come into mind). Fubuki here is not Fubuki, but a clown with no identity or characterization beyond providing the lowest, most idiotic comic relief contribute possible. Her design and mannerism are also reflective of this, for the worse. It’s as if Murata now doesn’t even pretend to draw her as an actual character, but simply as an excuse for trashy fanservice. To think how much better he used to draw the character in the past...
Murata and ONE have clearly shown that if they want, they can go out of their way to allow characters to get their moments, even against opponents way above their league and/or in situations where these characters should be completely outmatched. See how Spring Mustachio was able to fend off Black Sperm (1, 2), whose individual cells are as strong as an A-Class hero in the remake, and, together with Iaian, keep up with Homeless Emperor’s spheres (1, 2, 3, 4), despite the fact he was previously beaten by a Tiger (a Demon at best) Level Threat in an environment where his self-imposed limitation, brought up in the manga during his remake original fight with Garou (Chapter 50), shouldn’t have factored: Spring Mustachio had no reason to restrain himself against Kombu Infinity since he was fighting in a relatively large street in the middle of Z-City (1, 2), a ghost town (as he was saying to Golden Ball prior to the fight), where the trusts of his Tomboy wouldn’t have caused any collateral damage to valuable property or put at risk the lives of some bystanders (it’s as if the excuse for “holding back” didn’t exist at the time). Yet he still got completely and utterly rekted, but apparently in his case that doesn’t count nor did it turn him into a complete joke contrary to a certain member of the main cast. Same could be said about Iaian, who now can keep up with Evil Natural Water (1, 2, 3, 4), fight Black Sperm and deflects Homeless Emperor’s spheres as well (examples above), and that after a taxing battle against a Demon Level Threat, Devil Long Hair. Or Gearspear, who, thanks to the power of friendship, demonstrated a level of psychic powers beyond what manga Fubuki has ever shown (1, 2); always the C-Class esper in the Nyan redrawn fight performed on the fly a more impressive Hellstorm than anything done by remake Fubuki (1, 2, 3), despite the fact he wasn’t even able to use his psychic at all before (1, 2). Apparently Mizuki and the totally random inspiration he got from Tatsumaki were enough to unlock his potential and give him a badass moment - putting aside other issues, as random and forced a temporary power boost is, it doesn’t compare to the sheer insanity of getting a skill boost out of thin air that places Gearspear on the same level of someone like Fubuki because the author wants to give him a random and pointless “epic feat”. After that, Gearspear assists One-shooter, who previously failed to even slightly harm Nyan (a Dragon Level Threat), against Sage Centipede (a “?” Disaster Level Threat, probably on the same level of Psykorochi and so beyond Nyan) and both of them succeed at distracting the monster. Or Mizuki during the fight against Nyan: the absurdity of her surviving multiple direct hits from the monster is off the charts and, in general, she got more fights and pages dedicated to her than what Fubuki got so far. Or Metal Bat teaming up with post-Platinum Sperm Garou in general; etc. If the authors want a cool scene for a character, then the character will get it no matter how tattered and beaten they were in the scene before or how paper thin the logic behind it is (Tatsumaki is a prime example of this). There is no pretense at consistency nor any logic besides spectacle, fanservice, pandering and favoritism towards certain characters. In the case of Fubuki (and Amai Mask, too), ONE/Murata apparently refuses to give her any new battle scene or prove her usefulness in any situation that doesn’t involve “healing” powers. Speaking of healing powers, these have been asspulled brought up simply to bring back to full health characters the story requires to still be plot relevant and also prevent anyone (except some irrelevant nobodies) from dying in a convenient and lazy way. To be useful wc Fubuki didn’t need stereotypical shounen female character healing/support powers nor was this cliché power set required to differentiate her from Tatsumaki or other espers: it was her characterization, how she fought her battles and her more cautious and strategic approach that made Fubuki different. But apparently the remake needed a discount Orihime, which happened to be Fubuki of all characters. In hindsight, the moment Fubuki got support/healing powers - without any previous hint or proper explanation at all, she manifested these out of nowhere when the plot required them - was a red flag of her shounenification into a tropey female character, basically the opposite of what she is in the wc (at least up until now). In the webcomic Fubuki’s achievements and battles were tightly and organically tied to her development and her storyline, whereas her moments of “relevancy” in the remake are deus ex machina galore, serving the plot and other members of the cast first and foremost. The healer abilities are in no way reflective of Fubuki’s character and aren’t linked in any way to her personal history; if there is a reason she received them, it’s simply because the author has read too much battle shounen and thinks that healing powers are mandatory for a female character. These also spare him from the effort of coming up with better explanations for a character recovery or from dealing with the permanent consequences of a gruesome fight (after all, Fubuki will come and instantly nullify the life-affecting injuries of anyone, if no other asspull happens to be nearby). As soon as her plot-friendly powers cease to be needed, Fubuki is immediately re-established as the comic relief and/or thrown off-screen. To to tell the truth, the remake doesn’t even bother highlighting her efforts in scenes involving her new powers, like with Tanktop Master, where it is even doubtful she did anything at all since Murata usually underlines the use of psychic powers with a visual clue, like a glowing aura around the character, absent in that case - compare it to the aforementioned moment with Gearspear and Oneshooter and notice how much more upfront and explicit his contribute to the fight is, it’s astonishing. EDIT 01/07/2023: There is no discernible difference between TTM throwing rocks/debries here and him launching the overhead transmission line (and himself) in the previous chapters, nor with his feats from the Alien Invasion arc; these are all in the same ballpark. If we remove Fubuki here, it wouldn’t affect the chapter: the only thing we would “lose” is a cheerleader following around the real hero and the subsequent gag at her expense. Aside from that, Tank Top Master’s feats would still be consistent with what was shown prior. And with TankTop Master working out and training even more harshly after the events of A-City (the Alien Invasion arc), is it fair to assume that he truly got stronger to the extent the MA arc is showcasing (like throwing the antenna, which happened before the scene with Fubuki that I’m discussing here). So, if anything, it appears to me that this exchange was all a misunderstanding played for laughs: Fubuki did indeed nothing, but TankTop Master, being the perfect example of the remake “wholesome” hero, humbly attributed the merits of his own actions to the esper; furthermore, Fubuki existing solely to be the irrelevant and outperformed idiot who highlights and hypes the merits of the rest of the cast is 100% consistent with the rest of the remake, so interpreting it that way is actually in line with what the series has gotten us used to. If Fubuki actually did something here, it should have been better highlighted, both from a visual and narrative standpoint, by making clear that Tank Top Master was exceeding his limits thanks to Fubuki and that her telekinesis truly made the difference (or anything at all). If she actually did something, why keep it ambiguous like this? And if we take for granted that she truly contributed at all, her “achievement” is only brought up for an extremely forgettable joke at her expense while the degree and utility of her help is not highlighted at all - and again, this only if we assume that she did something at all, which is a big leap of faith giving the precedents of the manga. [End of the Edit] The manga also wasted several opportunities to showcase Fubuki’s capabilities at organizing a group and coming up with a plan (like when the S-Class joined the fight against Psykorochi) and undermined her value as a leader with dozens displays of incompetence (like with Demonic Fan, both times with Do-s, being saved by Fang and Bomb multiple times, lowering her guard for egoistical reasons on several occasions, acting cocky in front of Garou only for Bomb to protect her, being a buffon and a damsel in distress most of the time, etc.).
To be honest, I wouldn’t care about Fubuki getting fewer fights than character x or power levels in general if:
a) the manga was nothing but a sequence of battle scenes since the Hero raid started;
b) Fubuki didn’t get a standout performance in the webcomic and wasn’t featured in one of the most important fights of the arc, on top of receiving actual narrative focus;
c) “characters” that barely matter to the overall plot and add nothing to the story didn’t get way more screen time and presence in the story than her.
About the latter point: tertiary to background “characters” now have a far better display of their prowess against considerable threats not only compared to the Fubuki Group (whose ability to face a Demon, as stated in the webcomic, is completely undercut by their manga original battle scenes), but to Fubuki herself too - as already mentioned, Gearspear and Oneshooter did better against Sage Centipede than she did against a sleepwalking Garou, resulting in her being a total hindrance to Bomb despite what she declared before (Chapter 146, “don’t underestimate me!”). It’s ironic considering how she was one of the very few characters involved in the MA arc, S-Class included, actually doing something against the Dragons (like defeating the Leader of the Monster Association) and being the most impressive not S-Class Hero on the field together with Amai Mask (and I would argue she accomplished even more than him, as incredible as he still was), but in the remake we have seen several non-S-Class Heroes bravely and tirelessly fighting head-on Dragon Level Threats (see the redraw of the Nyan fight) and that while Fubuki sits on the ground, screaming like a puppy at every turn - even a “character” like Mizuki is depicted fighting against a Dragon with more dignity, professionalism and courage than her. It’s truly absurd.
This brings me to another point: webcomic Fubuki isn’t weak - up until now, at least. Wc Fubuki chose to focus primarily on technique and refine her skills, but that didn’t mean she was lacking in raw psychic power. In the MA’s flashback, Psykos reveals how high school Fubuki was able to move with her telekinesis a large truck ( “大型トラック”= large/heavy truck, weighing, at minimum, 10 tons), and there is no reason to believe that Fubuki hasn’t gotten stronger since then, as the next feats demonstrate; during the MA events, Fubuki was capable of withstanding several Overgrown Rover’s blasts point blank and, afterward, she proceeded to fight Psykos one on one and win (the latter, contrary to Fubuki, being basically fresh and unscathed from her prior battles); after this, Fubuki still had enough power left to attack Garou and, right at the end of the MA arc, the esper casually lifted the boulders Fang was unable to remove by himself, thus freeing the S-Class Rank 3; or in the Esper Sisters arc, when Fubuki destroyed a Tiger Level Threat containment cell as if it was nothing and her psychic powers caused an earthquake capable of shaking the whole HA HQ fortress built by Metal Knight (1, 2, 3, 4); and these are the first few examples on top of my mind (there are plenty more in the Esper Sisters arc). Yeah, truly the weakling the manga wants to pass her for. The only way to reconcile Fubuki’s webcomic exploits with the pitiful performance she displayed in manga original scenes requires bringing up some sort of power-up occurring between the monster invasion and the Esper Sisters arc, which doesn’t seem to be a thing, nor something like that has been suggested so far, if in the Esper Sisters arc she will retain her webcomic feats. In the webcomic, Fubuki didn’t get any power-ups between her introduction arc and the Esper Sisters arc; she was always that strong but what was holding back her own potential were her doubts, her lack of self-worth, her inner (and outer) demons and traumas. And in that context “holding back” wasn’t a lazy excuse for dragging out a battle for dozens of chapters, but an actual character flaw she had to overcome in order to protect what she cared and took responsibility for (her group, Psykos and Saitama too) from Tatsumaki. By the way, notice how Fubuki’s psychological issues played a big role in her characterization in the webcomic and starting to overcome them was a turning point for the character. Well, the manga threw all that aside and removed this central facet of Fubuki’s character in exchange for something completely different: a stereotypical and boring “she is such a weakling!” cocky and arrogant brat who believes to be superior to anyone. The facade she put on in the webcomic, the leader of the Fubuki Group and all that, is now her real personality, her true self and her inner monologue and thoughts couldn’t be more different between manga and webcomic. Apparently, her original personality was too complex for the remake to handle and for that reason it got scrapped, replaced by pure flanderization.
It’s worthy to note how the Demonic Fan and Do-s battles are often brought up when discussing Fubuki vs Psykos or Fubuki successfully blocking Rover’s blasts as a way to criticize the outcome of the latter two, dismissing these as not consistent with previously established “power levels”. Too bad that the Demonic Fan and Do-s battles are manga original content. The manga created inconsistencies with developments that presented no problems whatsoever in the original and undermined the impact of those very moments (especially the duel with Psykos) by making the characters involved underwhelming and the situations themselves unbelievable, thanks to appalling and badly thought additions. The webcomic not only explained why Fubuki was capable of turning the tables against Psykos (superior technique, being the more skilled esper and using her wits), but, before that, did a great job hinting at Fubuki’s expertise in psychic abilities - like her refined and nuanced knowledge of telekinesis mentioned by Tatsumaki or, as I mentioned before, being able to withstand Rover’s energy attacks - while at the same time preserving her status as an underdog by having several characters underestimating her - like Genos's total disregard for Fubuki’s possible contribute in the upcoming battles. If you read the wc from Fubuki’s introduction up to Psykos’s defeat, there is nothing contradictory or confusing about Fubuki’s victory, it’s spelled out clearly in the most dumb proof way possible. For some reason the manga, instead of building up to what one should expect to be an important battle and laying the foundations to this confrontation, has undermined and sabotaged any chance of portraying this fight as one of the major moments of the arc by reducing Fubuki to a pathetic imitation of an esper with no relevance in the story and whose psychic abilities are never highlighted or properly shown if not for fixing plot issues. In the manga, Fubuki is deliberately placed at the very bottom of the esper world, surpassed in raw power and psychic output by manga original characters like Evil Eye and Gearspear. Psykos, who in the remake is leagues and bounds a better and more sophisticated psychic user than her former president, in the original focused only on raw power and she was taught by Fubuki herself (Tatsumaki recognized the MA leader’s telekinesis as similar to Fubuki and drew a connection between the two) - even non-espers like the members of her Group learned basic telekinesis techniques from their leader, which says plenty about Fubuki’s knowledge and mastery of this field. Yet in the manga Fubuki is often employed to prop-up and highlight how better other characters are compared to her - like the laughable page with Fubuki hyping Gearspear while fighting Overgrown Rover (!) - or used as a tool to make Tatsumaki go serious against Evil Eye (Chapter 96 and 97 in the Volumes), and so on. Fubuki is blatantly depicted as a “third rate” esper whose only form of value is represented by her “healing/support” powers, which, instead of being an organic development of her character arc, came out of nowhere and feel like a cop-out from the authors, who, too busy powering up Tatsumaki and Psykos, probably remembered Fubuki was supposed to be an esper too and decided to turn her into a walking Senzu Bean, an easy and convenient way to circumvent stress-free any bothersome narrative dead-end they put themselves in.
Fubuki being rescued by Tatsumaki, relying on and depending on her older sister for her own survival? Manga original scenes. To tell the truth, I don’t think I need to explain any further how something like this completely and utterly obliterates Fubuki’s storyline and makes her appear as a whiny and spoiled brat while at the same time it ends up depicting Tatsumaki as a kind-hearted and indulgent lovely older sibling who is trying to prevent her stupid sister from killing herself. Fubuki being a weakling and needing her big sis is also a handy plot device, useful in case Tatsumaki needs a(nother) power boost and more sympathy points. That said, Tatsumaki has truly a weird way of displaying her “protective” side, if we actually pay attention to the story and ignore whatever ONE/Murata’s pretend to say otherwise: in fact, when Tatsumaki actually found herself face-to-face with a monster responsible for defeating (Demonic Fan) or injuring (Do-s) Fubuki, instead of going on a rampage like what was suggested in Chapter 143, she looked amused and barely bothered by it before failing (or not even attempting) to kill the monsters themselves (by the way, both of them survived their encounter with Tatsumaki, and Do-s even escaped easily from the nonexistent Tatsumaki’s wrath). Fascinating. Another unintended discrepancy between what the manga wants us to believe and how the characters were actually portrayed in the story.
What about Fubuki only babbling about her group during the battles and trying to recruit the Saitama group while fighting the Dragons? These are all scenes added in the remake; the only time in the wc MA arc Fubuki mentions the Fubuki Group is during the Hot Pot, when Fubuki didn’t have the slightest idea of what was happening underground. After that, she didn’t act as the “one in charge”. Moreover, the constant display of cockiness and arrogance during tense encounters is another manga thing that strays far away from the way more cautious, serious and mature attitude of webcomic Fubuki - her more “chunni” side only slips on the surface during “mundane” situations/calm moments and not while she is on duty/mission, and that serves to underline how socially stunted she is and how she resort to this habit when she is outside her bubble, in a foreign environment where she has no idea how to properly fit it (an no, she isn’t trying to recruit anyone here, but her behavior is the result of her severe lack of social experiences). It’s worth noting how the childishness and bratty side of remake Fubuki was a trait usually associated in the webcomic and the early parts of the manga with Tatsumaki, to the point she was often mistaken for/referred to as a child/brat (some examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; [EDIT 28/05/2023:] there are also this and this, so yeah, plenty of characters consider her an annoying brat; also when Psykos, disguised as the meat puppet, referred to Tatsumaki as “child”: why? Because that’s how the rest of the world sees Tatsumaki, as an immature brat) - outside of the Alien Invasion/Fubuki’s Introduction arc ones, all these scenes have been promptly removed and replaced with OOC and random praise for Tatsumaki [End of the Edit]. As much as the characters have been subjected to the goody-two-shoes treatment, I would argue that Fubuki comes off as more egoistical, manipulative, immature and self-absorbed than she ever did in the webcomic, let alone how dumb and incompetent the manga depicts her. Also, how Fubuki is deliberately framed as the annoying and obnoxious female character that stereotypically yells and pesters our main character and the others by displaying a childish and irrational attitude borders almost inadvertedly in a sexist cliché, which was absent in the webcomic. Sure, Saitama didn’t find Fubuki particularly endearing and I mentioned above Fubuki’s chunni side in the webcomic, but these were limited to two instances and Saitama found anyone in the group annoying and wanted them to leave (see Chapter 57). Fubuki wasn’t singled out from the rest (see Fang and how Genos calls him out for his dojo-recruitment shtick). For example, compare how Fubuki in the webcomic discusses with Genos, Fang and Bomb the recent events involving the reveal of the Monster Association, where she is hearing their recount and (correctly) guessing her hypothesis, with her manga counterpart, who obnoxiously annoying Saitama (who in this version doesn’t pay attention to her, unlike the webcomic) and the others while drawn in a typical shouen chibi angry expression while being the only one overreacting and also secretly plotting to use them for her own benefits (poor flanderization, which is better than the times when she is anything but Fubuki, I guess). I think this difference encapsulates how differently she is treated.
And in regard to Fubuki collecting embarrassing moments and being used as comic relief? Remake stuff. All the jokes added in the manga MA arc serve no purpose and don’t contribute in any way to Fubuki’s characterization and the only thing they accomplish is to ridicule her and undercut any major moment involving the character. I find really bizarre how the role of the clown was assigned to Fubuki (or Amai Mask) of all characters when several existing ones already filled the comic relief niche and new characters could have been created to fulfill this purpose without damaging and/or affecting the overall plot. Worthy to note is how manga Fubuki’s comic relief role has become a thing from Chapter 85 onwards, increasing more and more as the manga progresses: as bad and lazy as Fubuki vs Do-s was (the first one), there was no misplaced gag or joke like in the “rematch” - the fight itself was a dull and lazy back and forth, but at least the chapter seemed to impact Fubuki’s storyline and have repercussions. Now, both authors don’t even bother anymore. About the kind of humor employed in the scenes involving Fubuki as of recent, compare them to manga original ones of the past, like the Special Chapter “Numbers” (Volume 10): it’s like night and day. In that mostly lighthearted chapter, all the jokes and the humor not only are actually funny but serve Fubuki’s characterization and expand on that, feeling 100% like something written by ONE and following his comedic writing style. Also, the exaggerated, chibi-like expressions Murata keeps drawing Fubuki with don’t suit her character at all and portray her as nothing but a generic, bland female character - a tertiary or minor character like Mizuki, or even Do-s, won’t suffer any major damage from something like this nor will their “characterization” be in any way compromised, but for Fubuki it’s a completely different story; the aura and the personality of the character changed drastically for the worse. To be honest, Fubuki isn’t the only victim of this and Amai, King, Saitama and Garou, just to name a few, have also been subjected to this more slapstick, shounenesque kind of humor with assorted chibi faces, characters yelling at each other et similia - which reminds me of that one time when ONE told Murata to change some panels he drew with Boros losing his temper and acting goofy because it was out of character. Another thing: remember the gag of Tatsumaki being ignored? Well, in the remake Fubuki is subjected to it too (Chapter 95). In general, the remake features several scenes with Fubuki yelling and pestering Saitama and the group like a stereotypical female character. What wonderful additions!
And what about Fubuki not showing up after King did his thing in the remake (Chapters 149-154), despite her being the only one who actually mattered in this scene saved him in the webcomic? As I already wrote, If Fubuki hadn’t appeared there and stopped Psykos from launching a coordinated attack against King, all the re-emerging heroes (and those already on the surface) would have been slaughtered (1, 2, 3, 4). It single-handedly changed the fate of the battle. But with Psykos out of the picture and her role taken by Golden Sperm, Fubuki had no part to play in this section of the arc, despite being fundamental in the source material. To be honest, I can’t imagine remake Fubuki pulling off something like this considering how she has been portrayed. Similarly, I can’t see the manga assigning to her such a pivotal role either, considering how much she gets sidelined and sabotaged at every turn, as if Murata and ONE are truly scared of Fubuki being relevant.
What originated the whole “Fubuki is useless, irrelevant, annoying and weak”? The treatment reserved to the character in the manga. It all started with the Demonic Fan chapter, an awful addition that crippled from the get-go any chance of a close adaptation of the webcomic and to portray the character as a competent and sympathetic member of the main cast. But it was with the manga exclusive Tournament arc and the first battle with Do-s that Fubuki’s status as irrelevant and inconsequential to the overall plot was cemented forever. After being introduced, in fact, Fubuki does nothing for dozens and dozens of chapters and, outside of pin-up covers and illustrations, the only notable additions in the numbered chapters are either Fubuki’s failures or Fubuki pestering others while maintaining an arrogant demeanor. She has been a non-entity in the story for almost 100+ chapters (to give an idea, in the wc 60 chapters after her introduction we were already at the Espers Sisters arc) and the few times she appears, Fubuki is depicted as a weakling with no redeeming qualities, completely unrelated to the overarching plot and the events involving the rest of the cast. Think about season 2 of the anime and how little Fubuki appears in it after her introduction arc: the episode devoted to it is a complete waste of time considering how we barely get to see her ever again and Fubuki’s most “memorable” moment in the season is being whipped by Do-s and then she disappears for the remaining time. Incredible content that truly did justice to the character! If the anime adapted the equivalent number of chapters of the webcomic instead, by the end of the season Fubuki would have already defeated Psykos and we would have gotten her first flashback, on top of Fubuki having much more screen time, relevancy and an actual character arc - and on the plus side of not having the awful manga additions. Murata and ONE clearly not having a single clue on what to do with Fubuki, despite the perfect blueprint provided by the webcomic, completely obliterated her character in the manga and the new scenes featuring her (being defeated by Do-s and then rescued by Tatsumaki) in the new story arc set between Chapters 52 and 53 of the webcomic clearly hinted at how bad things were going to turn out during the Hero raid and the surface battles*.
Cui Prodest?
If there is a character who actually benefitted from all these departures from the source material and from this treatment of Fubuki, that is without a doubt Tatsumaki: after all, the more pathetic, useless and incompetent Fubuki is, the more justified Tatsumaki’s behavior appears and, consequently, the more likable she becomes. The manga desperately wanted to turn Tatsumaki into a sympathetic/lovable figure and employed everything it could to achieve it before getting to the Fubuki’s related scenes and developments, to the point it moved earlier the ones related to the older sibling and postponed and delayed the ones featuring the younger: apparently Fubuki (her characterization, backstory, role in the story, original relationship with Tatsumaki, Psykos and other characters, etc.) had to be utterly demolished in order to overhaul completely (nu-)Tatsumaki and turn her into what feels to be an OC character clumsily shoehorned into the series. What Tatsumaki got in the remake is the exact opposite treatment that was reserved for Fubuki:
Tatsumaki’s role and the importance in the arc got totally turned upside down and ridiculously increased to the point where the remake put her under the spotlight more than anyone else, hijacking what originally was an arc about Garou; manga Tatsumaki doesn’t even resemble her wc counterpart and her worst moments and worst flaws have been erased altogether or changed accordingly to her new portrayal as some sort of paragon of all virtues she never was (not even in the earlier parts of the manga, making the whole thing an incosistent and out of nowhere change that messes with what was established before);
instead of the humiliating defeat she suffered in the webcomic, Tatsumaki received the longest, most padded out, asspull-riddled battle in the entire manga (so far), specifically designed to make her look noble and heroic while fighting a lame two-dimensional opponent, Psykororochi, a fusion that (narrative-wise) worked backward, removing any characterization or depth Psykos and Orochi may have before (at least the former), with the result of turning Psykos (the founder of the Monster Association, the Dragon behind Tatsumaki and Fang’s defeats, the esper who hard-carried the Monster Association during the first stages of the surface battles) into a complete and utter moron, a Dick Dastardly tier-villain incapable of taking a victory even when it is served to her on a silver plate;
Tatsumaki’s contribution to the arc has now become positive and vital for the HA and all her actions are depicted in the remake from a sympathetic angle. Basically every character does nothing but cheer for how amazing, powerful and/or inspiring Tatsumaki is and praise her while barely containing their tongue hanging out of their mouth. All Tatsumaki’s actions are now followed by a cascade of awestruck and amazed reactions (some examples, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; for Blast and God, keep reading), because everyone is suddenly a fan of hers. The whole thing is so absurd that Gearspear becomes an ultra-powerful and skilled esper by simply thinking about Tatsumaki and even those who hated her guts in the wc now are on friendly terms with her (like Genos, 1, 2) and, similarly, the one who was afraid and terrified of Tatsumaki (Fubuki), knowing well what she was capable of, at this point acts full-time as a cheerleader and her number one fan (imagine reconfiguring Fubuki into a tatsumaki shilling machine: complete character assassination) - other examples, like the dialogue between Fubuki and Tank Top Master, were linked above;
speaking of that, the twisted relationship between Fubuki and Tatsumaki has been turned into a generic sweet and heartwarming sibling dynamic, transforming what once was one of Tatsumaki’s worst sides (her creepy and obsessive attitude towards her sister, which contemplated acting like a tyrant and mangling those close to Fubuki) into one of the most sympathetic and lovable elements of her characterization;
consequently, Tatsumaki’s affection towards Fubuki is portrayed not as an unsettling and toxic love/obsession but as a pure and cute sibling concern, only slightly too protective at times (but rightly so, considering how helpless and dumb manga Fubuki is);
As mentioned before, Tatsumaki’s Esper Sisters character content, minus the dislikable and unpleasant parts, was dumped in the MA arc and took precedence over Fubuki MA’s moments and focus, let alone Fubuki’s Esper Sisters arc related stuff, with the consequence of Tatsumaki’s past being revealed in this arc long before any Fubuki’s flashback - including the highs chool one which was extremely relevant and deeply connected to the MA arc themes itself;
Tatsumaki is never depicted to be wrong about anything and if she somehow makes a mistake, she is still justified by being forced by the circumstances or by others; the psychotic, unhinged and violent brat, always ready to throw a tantrum at any given time and capable of putting at risk a mission because of her unstable and psychotic character, turned into one of the most rational, mature and stable heroes of the remake;
for this, she has become some sort of strategic and intelligent warrior who employs brains and wits in her battles, contrary to the wc where she simply relied on the overwhelming and ruthless use of her psychic powers, bulldozing her way through everything and everyone, be it enemies or human relationships - Psykos, before, and Black Sperm, later, outsmarted her for this reason, but these moments have been completely erased in the manga;
in the source material (EDIT: and in Volume 6 not 7) Tatsumaki openly defied and criticized King during the Boros arc, then, at the start of the MA arc she complained about the special treatment reserved for him and even when she had to recognize his “success” in securing Tareo, Tatsumaki was still eager to prove herself as the strongest hero and take all the glory for putting an end to the MA. In the manga version of the MA she straight out praises him multiple times, docilely accepting his superiority and, in general, she is way more lenient and reasonable towards her colleagues, not extraneous to recognize their efforts, their struggles and their power;
in the remake Tatsumaki is an exemplary professional hero who puts the safety of the kid and her colleagues over anything else - in the webcomic she couldn’t give a damn about Tareo or her colleagues (the link above about the wc and, for more context, Webcomic Chapter 70);
instead of adapting this awesome moment** which served to prove how Amai Mask was no common A-Class hero but instead someone who could back up his words and attitude with facts, we got Tatsumaki, of all people, teaching heroism to the A-Class Rank 1. Furthermore, during the briefing pre-operation (Chapter 96) is now Amai Mask the troublemaker instead of Tatsumaki (Webcomic Chapter 58); etc.
I guess toning down and whitewashing Tatsumaki’s original character was a given in order to make this character (one of the few female characters of the series, already known by the general public for appearing in Season 1 as the token loli character) more likable and marketable palatable to a wider and more mainstream audience, considering how her original actions and personality could have been offputting for a broader public.
In the Murata version, the only acknowledged flaw of Tatsumaki appeared to be following Blast’s ideology to the point of self-harm and refusing to receive help from others - which are endearing flaws, not the dislikable or offputting type that might turn off a reader: as of Chapter 156, even that ceased to be treated as such. What saved Tatsumaki from falling prey to God’s ruse was precisely that stubbordn attachment to that mindset***. The “curse” Fubuki was talking about it’s revealed to be actually a blessing and a healthy ideology that, instead of warping and damaging the person poisoned by it and affecting her and the other’s lives (in particular her sister’s), prevents the special snowflake to be tricked by a cosmic horror entity****. In the wc, there is no such thing (at least, so far): in the MA arc Tatsumaki’s zealous attachment to this philosophy and mindset backfired hard, and she had to suffer the consequences of her actions even in the following arc, where, among other things, she tried to kill Psykos (mind broken and detained in the HA’s prison), attacked her sister (and attempted to lock her away forever), and intended to cripple (or worse) the Fubuki’s group, and that in the name of the same destructive words Blast inculcated into her - had not Fubuki convinced Saitama to follow her in the HA’s prison, Tatsumaki would have succeeded in all of her aims. All of this happened because Tatsumaki was following Blast’s advice to extreme and insane degrees. The negative depiction of this unhealthy outlook on life and the foolish disregard of human bonds are 100% consistent with ONE’s other works. In particular, I think, the World Domination arc from Mob Psycho 100 shares many common elements, themes and story beats with the Esper Sisters arc: from Fubuki and Tatsumaki being mirrored in a way by Sho and Toichiro Suzuki, to the role the main characters (Saitama and Mob) play in these dysfunctional families, serving as an equalizer in the unfair and uneven power dynamic between the conflicting family members, which prevents them to communicate on a common and equal ground. Both Saitama and Mod prove with their intervention the importance of human relationships and dismantle the toxic ideology that the two antagonists were following, even at the price of harming their families. Coincidentally, both these arcs were written around the same time, 2015-2016.
In regard of the MA arc, the manga frames Tatsumaki’s defeat against the Cadres to be entirely accountable to the characters she was actively protecting and the beatdown she endured as the consequence of having to take care of others while fighting her opponent(s): the remake is basically justifying Tatsumaki’s overreliance on herself and her distrust of others by making the heroes a hindrance to Tatsumaki who otherwise would have solved the situation quickly and without any problems. If Tatsumaki’s claim about finishing off the MA alone without the other heroes (1, 2, 3) in the webcomic were soundly contradicted later on, in the manga is 100% true and correct. In fact, every time remake Tatsumaki is injured/harmed, that happens because she is too busy protecting/shielding other heroes or because she is limiting herself in order to not harm others, and not as a result of her arrogance: in the wc there were no excuses that could lessen the humiliating factor of her mistakes nor her concerns for others were the reason behind her downfall. Tatsumaki being unceremoniously defeated not only follows perfectly ONE’s style and humor but, more importantly, reinforces the point the arc was trying to convey: the S-Class (and the HA in general) became complacent and overconfident in themselves, believing to not be threatened by anything and, in some cases, acting recklessly to the point of jeopardizing the mission and the safety of others; but as much strong and powerful they are, none of them is invincible and unbeatable. The arc was a wake-up call for them. This applies especially to Tatsumaki: the strongest of the bunch wasn’t worn out or beaten by a super strong “final” boss created by the fusion of two Dragons that was constantly absorbing everything it came in contact with its tentacles spreading through the entire Monster Association, after having been “blessed” and powered by none other than God itself, but in a rather anticlimatic way, beaten by a “weaker” opponent (Psykos) who seized her opportunity just when Tatsumaki wasn’t paying attention, too assured of her imminent victory: that perfectly underlined how none of the Heroes were safe from enduring a painful reality check, no matter how invincible they appeared on paper and all the “hype” surrounding them. None of the S-Class were supposed to get epic and cool duels or awesome showdowns against the Cadres, but to be completely and utterly demolished, and HA’s final weapon wasn’t an exception. Her defeat had to be umiliating and abrupt to drive home the underlying theme of the heroes being flawed, imperfect and not invincible. Depicting Tatsumaki’s defeat as a prolonged, exhausting battle, where she is not at fault for her demise but is heroically carrying the team (a complete liability and a hindrance fo her), defeats the very purpose of this section of the arc (and one of the points of the arc as a whole). Furthermore, the flaws of the S-Class and their shortcomings as heroes/individuals justified to some extent Garou’s points in his speech at the end of the arc, but here all of that was scrapped as well.
To add salt to the wounds and contrary to the manga, the wc Monster Association wasn’t even prepared for a war by the time it was attacked by the heroes. The monsters weren’t ready to launch their attack, they didn’t have the resources, the assets or the numbers of the remake to take on the HA head-on. It was only thanks to a mix of strategy, cooperation and luck (something usually belonging to the hero party) that they were able to completely overturn the situation, making the defeat even more insulting for the HA. This all served as a bath of humility for all of the S-Class (and the HA as a whole) and the next few arcs dealt (and, in a way, are still dealing) with this fallout, which could have been prevented if some heroes weren’t unhinged, arrogant and reckless lunatics. Comparatively, those who ended up contributing the most to the HA’s mission were the members of a group of characters that wasn’t officially part of the operation. They were capable of turning the tides when everything seemed lost: the martial artist responsible for the Garou’s problem, the fraud hero who is too afraid of revealing the truth, the “second choice” esper and the rookie S-Class, Genos, who kept busy the Cadres while Psykos was “playing” with Tatsumaki. And if you look at it, those who impacted the arc the most are the unaccounted variables: Saitama, his group and Garou. None of the S-Class raid members actually defeated or killed a Cadre (the closest being Zombieman and he only restrained Homeless Emperor before God’s intervention), but the “outsiders”. I could add how the addition in the remake of “guests” and participants unrelated to Saitama, his circle of (positive) influence and his foil/ the main character of the arc (Garou) detracted from this subtext and took away the spotlight from them - Genos aside, obviously. Added in date 02/09/2022: I forgot to mention Amai Mask. The A-Class was introduced as a pretty boy full of himself always far away from the action but ready to complain or criticize his colleagues, but, during the worst hours of the HA, he managed to fight alone both Black Sperm and Evil Natural Water at the same time, buying time for the team without ever taking time to rest. Contrary to what his looks and previous appearances suggested, Amai Mask demonstrated his value as one of the most committed and passionate heroes of the HA. In front of his battle prowess, even the S-Class, who previously despised him, couldn’t do anything but recognize his courage and strength.
But the most glaring change, as mentioned earlier, is how the webcomic and the manga frame the supposed similarities between Fubuki and Tatsumaki in a different way: in the former (1, 2, 3, Chapter 105) marks one of the most dramatic points of the arc and it is Tatsumaki herself who smugly states this while observing Fubuki’s renewed will to fight, now enraged by what Tatsumaki (apparently) did to Saitama and by the threat the older sister posed to her freedom and the people close to her. EDIT: another instance (Chapter 101), where Tatsumaki states that Fubuki can endure the loss of every person in her life because she is Tatsumaki’s sister after all, hence not “that” weak. It goes without saying that this supposed similarity is depicted negatively, highlighting how deranged and insane Tatsumaki’s ideology is by pitting two sisters who love each other but are unable to communicate one against the other - bonus: this panel from Chapter 88.1 of Mob Psycho 100 has a striking resemblance to the pages linked above (especially the one from Chapter 101). In general, wc Tatsumaki’s influence over Fubuki is portrayed negatively and she is depicted as a harmful and bad “role model” with unhealthy world views that contributed to the shape Fubuki in the way we see in the present. Meanwhile, in the manga (1, 2), ignoring the completely gratuitous, idiotic and tasteless boob joke that seems to have been written by a fan***** and not by ONE (what the hell were they thinking? How low can this manga fall?), the similarities between the two are actually depicted as something positive, as if Fubuki could be good only as long as she followed in the footsteps of her sister, which reflects the role of paragon of all virtues attributed to the older sibling and the blatant favoritism towards Tatsumaki demonstrated by the authors - whereas in the original Fubuki being her own person and not having to deal with what cruel bullshit Tatsumaki wanted to impose to her was one of the underlying messages of the Esper Sisters arc.
Conclusions (for now).
With all that being said, I don’t want to change anybody’s opinion on the character or “taint” their enjoyment of the series. With this post, I simply hoped to dispel and clarify some misconceptions regarding Fubuki, whose character is often discussed without taking into account the major and staggering differences between the webcomic and the published manga, and also reflect on the way the manga drastically altered her character.
Personally I think that the manga has not expanded or built upon the extremely solid foundations provided by the source material but, on the contrary, has only lessened and undercut Fubuki’s role in the series. What is worse is that this utter and incomprehensible disservice to a character already had a great blueprint in the source material and simply following that would have been more than enough. Back in the days, I would have never expected the manga to not capitalize on it and strive to improve what was one of the most well-written characters in the series nor for Fubuki to be relegated in the MA arc to a plot device employed as a way to solve pesky narrative problems the authors clumsily put themselves in by not planning and properly laying out the events of the arc and the role assigned to each character. It’s really absurd how Murata and ONE went all out with a character like Metal Bat (for example), who in the webcomic had barely anything going on for him (at least before the most recent developments), while someone like Fubuki, with an actual role, a “supporting cast”, a well-written arc and an interesting backstory to delve into, was essentially sidelined. Actually, scratch that: even the likes of the Support Team received more love and care than her, and they are cardboard cut-outs at best. One would think improvements, additions, new details and new scenes would write themselves considering the layout provided by the original version yet here we are. Fubuki’s role and characterization, personality and storyline, even the tone of the scene she is in and their content are the exact opposite of her webcomic counterpart. Fubuki has been degraded from being an actually major player to an absolute joke, a comic relief mostly ornamental to the scenes she takes part in while even non-characters keep getting put in the limelight multiple times. What makes this even more frustrating is that Fubuki was directly and intrinsically related to characters, themes and scenes of the MA arc, to the point of being one of the few characters that actually made the difference and, on top of that, having one of the best performances of the MA on the hero side. Now? Something that can’t be said anymore. Characters that barely did anything or that weren’t even present in the original got more screen time and flashy battle scenes/heroic moments than her (really anyone, from Tanktop Master to the Support Team, Spring Moustache, the Samurais, Metal Bat, Drive Knight, etc.), which is absurd in itself, even without taking into account how badly Fubuki has been written and used in the manga compared to the the webcomic. Her character clearly fulfills a completely different narrative purpose and, consequently, the manga reserves her a completely different treatment, from a member of the main cast with an active and important role to play (and one of the few developed characters with an ongoing character arc) to a background entity who shows up every now and then mostly for lighthearted moments (or on the front page of a chapter). It’s as if Murata and ONE went all “Carthago delenda est” on the character because Fubuki posed a narrative threat to her sister’s popularity.
At this point, if somehow the manga started adapting the webcomic 1:1 again, following Fubuki’s original webcomic characterization and masterfully enhancing her original scenes to further heights (like a perfect adaptation of Fubuki vs. Psykos) or if it came up with new memorable and interesting developments, that wouldn’t still erase what came before (aka shitting all over the character for 100+ chapters), nor would it repair the damage already done. Now even if Fubuki fights Psykos it will either be an unsatisfying adaptation that won’t do any justice to the original battle or an unbelievable and jarring confrontation with no build-up nor strengthened by previous chapters. The only way to effectively “fix” this mess would be to rewrite the vast majority of the scenes involving Fubuki and to remove entire portions of the remake, which obviously can’t be done. Now, the problem isn’t simply that the remake not following the original route or not respecting how this character was written before, but the fact that manga Fubuki has a nonsensical and contradictory character arc (if this unintelligible mess can even be qualified as a “character arc”) that occurs largely off-screen; it’s a mess regardless of whether or not you take into account the webcomic. Remake Fubuki is, at best, a collection of female battle shounen tropes badly put together and, at worst, something out of a fanfiction (written by someone with a clear bias and favorites) or a dōjinshi even, before having anything to do with the original character.
With the manga following a different route (both in relation to Fubuki and the series in general), I truly don’t know what ONE wants to do with the character and the prolonged absence of Fubuki in the wc (save three pages last year) doesn’t help either, making her future in the series unclear. And, obviously, manga original stuff could always leak all over the webcomic, as unfortunate as that may sound. With the manga having effectively destroyed anything that made Fubuki unique, relatable and interesting (even esthetic-wise, she is basically a moe-blob nowadays), perhaps as a way to not take away the limelight from certain characters, I wonder if this is indicative of Fubuki’s future in the webcomic: maybe, despite all the seemingly hanging plot-lines related to her and the importance and the focus she got in the past, Fubuki will not play any role or won’t have an active part in ongoing and future arcs; if that’s true, it would be a shame and a total waste of this character. With that being said, if instead wc Fubuki gets a well-written and satisfying progression and conclusion to her story, that will be enough to make me forget the massive disappointment the manga turned out to be.
In any case, the Part 2 of this post will touch all the topics not covered by this analysis and address what is left of Fubuki’s involvement in the MA arc.
*The fact that Murata and ONE forgot about the foreshadowed second confrontation between Fubuki and Do-s makes it blatantly clear how Fubuki is nothing more than an afterthought in the remake.
**to tell the truth, that was adapted in the manga. Same thing, really...
***God, the entity the manga keeps shoehorning at every turn, is another victim of Tatsumaki’s shilling: apparently the mysterious being that knew of Tatsumaki’s past didn’t resort to using the perfect trigger (Fubuki) to trick Tatsumaki and make her accept its offer, but decided to impersonate the one person who taught Tatsumaki to only rely on herself, Blast. Not even Eldritch Entities are spared from holding the Idiot Ball in order to show off how awesome Tatsumaki is, which results in the threat posed by God and its mysterious objectives being completely undermined by an incredible display of stupidity, tailored by the author(/s) as a way to put their pet on a pedestal. And some consider Garou as a Gary Stu! What I find ironic is the fact the manga has rewritten Fubuki to be a damsel in distress who needs to be protected 24/7 by Tatsumaki, yet it doesn’t employ this already established dynamic or follow its narrative logical conclusion for what would be the most natural outcome for this setup (it still wouldn’t make up for what has been done to Fubuki, though): Tatsumaki seeing through God’s lie and not taking the bait, recognizing that Fubuki would not have asked for her help. This would have provided an actual sense of growth to Tatsumaki’s character and her role as a big sister to Fubuki (well, considering how much more rational and less obsessive Tatsumaki is compared to the webcomic, not so much, but still better than nothing, I think).
****Blast’s comment on Tatsumaki’s growth is nonsensical too: it’s the #1029 “character x comments with a smile on their face how character y has grown up” heartwarming moment of the arc played completely straight, with nothing differentiating it from the others. I wouldn’t even complain if there was something slightly ambiguous about it or if there was anything to infer about this exchange beyond what there is on the surface, but so far it is as dry as a desert, and it doesn’t help that Blast himself is the most colorless character in existence, a black hole of characterization and writing of such magnitude that calling him bland or generic would be paying him a compliment. Besides, compared to when Tatsumaki developed? To her ten year-old self? What she said in this chapter is no different from what she would have said to God if this scene had occurred during her first appearance in the series (”A New Wind Blows”). Blast’s line doesn’t hold any value and doesn’t serve any narrative function other than fellate Tatsumaki even more.
*****Or something Murata could come up with: for proof, don’t look any further than his comments during the live streams or the sketches and joke comics he drew in the past, like the high school Fubuki one, but there are plenty more. It feels like he got a bigger say in the writing of the scenes featuring Fubuki, which are now more comedic, generic and “fanservicy”.
#fubuki#jigoku no fubuki#c: Jigoku no Fubuki#wc fubuki#webcomic fubuki#opm fubuki#one punch man fubuki#hellish blizzard#blizzard of hell#opm#content: comparison#content: character analysis#the links work#I don't know why tumblr gives the error message before eventually loading them though
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