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tempenensis · 3 years

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philosophy of “moving forward”

Human civilization as a whole is something that always changing. Culture as part of civilization construct adapts and evolves together with human who creates it. In the evolution of ancient to modern culture, believe in myth and words of mouth on the nature of unknown things changes gradually to studying them using science; in this science is the driving force of culture change and the old believe is the opposing force.

A subtle theme that slowly surfacing is the clash of old tradition to the new, more progressive thinking. Old tradition and rules are opposed and changes are happening gradually - and while it’s been bubbling for long, it's now culminated in one controversial life of Itadori Yuuji.

the old and rotting : the Great Three Families

One of main undertones during student fights in the Kyoto exchange goodwill arc is how old jujutsu tradition underlined to be contrasting with the more modern principles most Tokyo students follows. This especially prominent in the fights of Momo vs Kugisaki and Fushiguro vs Kamo, and secondary drive in Maki vs Mai.

In one of elite jujutsushi bloodline, the Zen’in family, perfection is a must. “Possessing inherited curse technique of Zen’in family”. Other than that, they are failure in starting life as jutsushi. Even among them, women are not allowed to stand in the starting line.

Looking at these alone, it implies on how old tradition put manifesting inherited technique among anything else and especially the discrimination towards women. It reflects the view in our real history, where women used to be banned from doing works and jobs considered masculine -- a view that has largely abandoned since women rights to be in the same level with men gained approval worldwide.

Momo’s saying this to Kugisaki is not wrong per se, since she herself probably experiences this; emphasizing Kugisaki’s naivety to old tradition that a lot of jujutsushi still largely follow. Kugisaki herself is also not in the wrong; she’s someone who puts her ego over everything - she has her own individualistic view that keeps her apart as her own person.

Another view of old tradition is the bloodline over everything else. It’s understandable if you consider the way they prized inherited technique over everything. To ensure that the inherited technique can manifest along the bloodline, one of the way is to keep the bloodline ‘pure’, to say. That’s why marriage among blood relation is probably the norm, even though the only clue of this is Naoya in the latest chapter, who considers which one of the twin is “good”, further emphasizing how little women is respected in this household.

Ironically in bloodline with a lot of inbreeding, it’s not the strength that is accumulated, but rather the weakness. For example, in Habsburg dynasty who used to rule Europe in the past, their long history of inbreeding caused their offspring to manifest a lot of genetic disorder - one of which is a physical disability named as their own, Habsburg jaw. Charles II of Spain was the most famous example of this. As a result of inbreeding along the Habsburg bloodline, Charles II inherited a lot of genetic disorders including the Habsburg jaw. He was even know as “the Bewitched” because of his appearance.

In line with this are Kamo Noritoshi and Fushiguro Megumi, who were born not out of inbreeding, but possessing the inherited technique of their respective clan. Noritoshi manifests Blood manipulation technique despite being a mistress’s son. While we don’t know Megumi’s mom, it is implied that she was a normal person since Touji had left the Zen’in and would be hard-pressed if he was to marry a woman from the same bloodline since he hated the clan. And I would not be surprised if Satoru is revealed actually to be a mistress son too in the future.

As if to condemn this believe, Heavenly Restriction sometimes manifest in these clan. Touji and Maki are bound with restriction of having reduced curse energy in exchange of superhuman strength. If you think about it, superhuman strength is actually way more effective weapon to be used in exorcising curse than innate curse technique that is usually simpler and weaker. All they need is some cursed tools to use. But of course, old tradition condemns them since barehanded, both Touji and Maki can’t exorcise curses.

Women being lesser than men, bloodline purity and inherited technique obsession, twins being bad omen, and the heavenly restriction being a viewed as a curse rather than a gift -- all of the believe that composed the old tradition is actually more harmful for the jujutsushi society as a whole. Theirs is an industry who is always chronically short-handed, so you would think that if there are more people available to do the job is better. But they don’t think so just because of outdated tradition. And Zenin Naoya is created as the poster child of it. He embodies everything old that Gojo Satoru discards and loathes.

education as driving force : Kyoto vs Tokyo

Back in vol 0, Getou calls Kyoto to be holy land of jujutsu and Shinjuku, Tokyo to be crucible of curses, where large number of curses can be found.

If we look over the history of these two places, it’s quite reasonable. Kyoto used to be the old capital of Japan, used to be named Heian. As we know, Heian period when Kyoto was designated as Japan capital is known as jujutsu golden age, when jujutsu developed rapidly, curses ran amok, and Sukuna trumped over everyone as the King of curses. We still don’t know where each of Great Families (Osanke) designated locations, but as the remaining of old capital, it is actually not surprising if the Osanke is located mainly in Kyoto, especially the Zen’in and Kamo. This also implies in Naoya speaking Kansai dialect and how Kyoto school shaped.

The influence of old tradition is prominent in Kyoto Jujutsu school. First, most of the students are somehow connected to jujutsu families. Noritoshi is Kamo clan’s heir. Mai is one of the Zen’in. Momo with her way of speaking seems also to be raised in a jujutsu family. Kokichi has Heavenly restriction which we know is inherited among children of jujutsu clan. Other than them, Toudou and Miwa seem to be not from jujutsu clan, but they are probably admitted because of influence of their mentors - and the two of them have different mindset compared to the rest of the students.

Second, when the Kyoto principal asked the students to kill Yuuji during exchange meetings, the four agreed to it readily since that’s how their custom dictates. Todo did not like that idea and Miwa is reluctant, but she still goes along. However she then apologizes to Tokyo students via Maki.

Contrasting to Kyoto school, the Tokyo school is a bit departed from old jujutsu custom. Most of the students are not affiliated with jujutsu families. Maki and Megumi does have Zen’in blood, but the two of them hate the clan and everything it represents. We still have not much information on Toge and Inumaki clan in general. This also applies to students in previous generation too. Nanami, Haibara, Getou; the three of them are not from jujutsu families. Gojou is from one of the Osanke, but he loathes their custom and tradition, which might be his main motivation to go to Tokyo school. Other than them, we still don’t know about Mei Mei, Shoko, and Utahime.

If I have to name one main characteristics that drive Tokyo school foundation is that they learn. Different from Kyoto whose philosophy influenced largely by traditional value set in stone, Tokyo school learns from mistake, learns how the era changes, learns how jujutsu changes so that they can be more humane, then develops to be an unique entity. This is largely due to Yaga’s influence.

But because of him (Itadori), there are certainly lives that was saved. In fact this time he cooperates with Todo to drive away the special-grade (curse spirit). This is not limited on the students, but after this they will accumulate a lot of regrets. Aah, I should have done that, I wanted it to be like this. Aah, I should have said it, I wanted to say it.

Whether the decision regarding Itadori is correct, truthfully I don’t know. But for now, how about we watch over him?

Yaga Masamichi is one great educator. Rather than binding them to the existing tradition, he let the students have their own view and act responsibly. This is the wisdom that build the foundation and general philosophy of Tokyo school. And his view influence Gojo, who used to be his student, in teaching the new generation. For example this; when he asks of Megumi’s opinion of what they should do with Yuuji. And because of it, they bends an existing law to let Yuuji alive; a very blatant opposition to old custom.

In addition, Gojo rather tends and teaches the new generation despite wants to kill the upper management; this might also largely because of Yaga’s influence. The two of them accumulate the same regret from the incident that makes Getou to stray and learn from it -- and that regret is what shapes the learning and teaching in Tokyo school in the current time.

While the two seemingly cut from the same clothes, Tokyo school can afford to be different from their Kyoto counterpart in their teaching because of several things. First is their location. As the capital was moved from Kyoto to Tokyo, Tokyo’s population grows. More human means more negative emotion, meaning the curses also evolved to be stronger. The reason why Getou called Shinjuku the crucible of curses is because Shinjuku is red-light district, where negative emotion is probably the strongest, making curses found there also stronger than any other place. As their enemy grows stronger, jujutsushi themselves also needs to be stronger than them to be able to exorcise them. In addition, the school is where Master Tengen planted his root so to speak, and they also need the strength to protect him too. They can’t afford old tradition to weaken and hold them back, so the Tokyo jujutsushi’s thinking start to depart from old custom. The second reason is because of Gojo; that in itself is self-explanatory.

All in all, education as a whole system is not only designed to merely giving knowledge, but also to give the young the necessities so they can develop into a proper member of society. Good education system adapts to the current era and relevant view on the development of society. In the real world, modern society aligns largely with science, so science and its philosophy are integrated as fundamental parts of modern education system. And character building is also important as part of the system -- for example being critical, to be curious and question things, is an important traits to have because human curiosity is what makes us study things we don’t understand and makes science develops in the first place -- subsequently modernize human society as a whole.

But of course, it’s all not without repercussion. Since old tradition still prevails and holds tightly by the authority, it’s no wonder that Tokyo school is now facing difficulty after the chaos that is Shibuya.

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk meta #brain vomit #jjk manga spoilers

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opossumanonymous · 3 years

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How did things get so messed up?

Warnings: Talk of murder, a single swear, Inko just sometimes thinks about murder, uh vigilante Izuku

Black Widow Inko! Part 2 featuring Dad Might vs Dad for One! This is honestly just Crack with a plot...

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It seemed like yesterday he was in that hospital room meeting his son for the first time. Inko holding their sons tiny body, tears welling in her eyes as she beckoned him closer.

He walked over with no hesitation fully ready to meet Izuku (The name chosen by Inko who got to pick after winning a bet).

Sitting down next to his tired wife he stared down at the infant in wonder. The tiny human they'd waited 9 months for was finally here. Hizashi almost didn't know how to act for a second, so caught up in looking at the tufts of green hair and freckles covering small cheeks.

Reaching out Hizashi gently caressed Izuku's little face with a single finger causing the baby to let out a coo. He grabbed his father's finger in his little fist nearly bringing the 200 year old man to tears.

If asked that's how that day went to Hizashi of course Inko remembers him nearly flooding the hospital room but Hizashi would never admit that.

Tears or not that day Hizashi knew he would protect them with his life so how....how did things get so messed up?!

How did he end up sitting across from his arch nemesis?!

How did Izuku out of everyone in Japan end up with one for all?!

And most importantly how did All Might end up seducing his goddess Inko?!?!

Seriously Hizashi just couldn't understand how she could be with such a lowlife, she must not know who he is.

Never before had Hizashi felt such a deep burning hatred for anyone.

Currently he was sitting on the couch in his and Inko's apartment while she and All Might sat on the adjacent couch. No one spoke until Inko finally cleared her throat.

"Toshi this is my ex hus-"

"Current Husband."

She looked at him with eyes full of fire and a voice full of venom as she spoke. "You forfeited that title the second you thought not calling for 12 years was a good idea."

"...."

She always knew what to say to shut him up especially when she was angry. One of the things that interested him in Inko at first was how unlike most she got incredibly smart when angry.

She also got more sadistic, he could practically hear the gears turning in her head as she calculated all the ways she could kill him.

In this house he was not the devil no, the cute green haired woman sitting across from him was. In fact the murderous aura around her was very concerning, not that he feared for his life with witnesses around. He knew she'd be angry but he'd hoped him getting on his knees and begging for forgiveness would work like last time.

Meanwhile Toshinori was on the verge of having a mental breakdown. At first when he walked into the apartment after a date night he was shocked to find none other than All for One standing in his living room. He quickly pushed Inko behind him ready to defend her against Japan's greatest villain.

While he no longer held one for all that wouldn't stop him from protecting his wife with all he had. How did All for One break out of tartarus anyway?

And just how did he look like this?

All for one looked the way he did before their battle where he smashed his upper face in. All for one, who last they spoke had no eyes, hair and barely a nose now had all of that back and even looked a few years younger.

Each and every person in this room was plotting how to kill someone. Thankfully this day they'd all walk away unscathed.

Mainly because they all had a secret to hide from eachother.

Inko didn't want Toshinori to know about her past, Toshinori didn't want Inko to know who her ex was, and Hizashi didn't want to anger his wife further by revealing any of her secrets. (He may have been criminally insane but he wasn't stupid)

After all one does not rat out their ex-assassin wife's past to her new husband who is also the ex-symbol of peace. Lest they both team up, beat your ass and throw you back in prison or just straight up murder you.

"Anyway Toshi this is my ex husband Hizashi, Izukus father, he left about 12 years ago with no contact or information."

"Oh come now darling those divorce papers weren't serious. I understand you're mad but I'm back and I promise nothing will keep me away this time."

The utter nerve of this guy he really wants to die today! He's lucky he stopped wearing ties years ago or else Inko would've been choked him to death!

"Tea. I'm going to go make some tea I'll be back soon." She said with a strained smile resisting the urge to rip out Hizashi's teeth.

After she left to the kitchen the atmosphere got even darker the two mortal enemies now left alone.

"So it wasn't enough that you destroyed my face and took my son as your successor, you just had to go and seduce my wife too!"

"Your wife! Did you not just hear her she divorced you?!"

"Yeah all because of you and your meddling if you hadn't destroyed my face putting me in comatose I would've been there for her and Izuku!"

All Might paused for a second realization hitting him like cold bucket of water. Before he got his composer back not wanting the enemy to get the upper hand.

"If you hadn't have been quirk smuggling and stealing classified documents I wouldn't have had to!"

"Oh so it's all entirely my fault?!" Hizashi scoffed "I bet she doesn't even know what you did to me does she?"

Toshinori stayed silent it was true she may have known who he was but she didn't know about his hand in her ex husband's absence.

He had no idea how lucky he was she didn't know or there would be two dead men walking instead of one.

"I take your silence as a yes then?" Hizashi was a little smug now.

"Not like you've told her who you really are." Hizashi frowned at this causing Toshinori to smile "I see I'm right as well."

Well he was only half right he never out right told Inko she figured it out on her own. But All Might didn't need to know that, after all no use making Inko even more upset then she already was.

Meanwhile in the kitchen Inko was trying to figure out how to shoot her ex from the kitchen without Toshinori noticing.

While she knew it was impossible without blowing her secret a woman could dream.

As the tea finally came to a boil she noted the distinct sound of her sons bedroom window opening and closing. Knowing her son was back from his nightly vigilantism only done on weekend nights per their agreement. She briefly considered pouring rat poison in Hizashi's serving but decided against it.

Not that the good for nothing scumbag didn't deserve it. But just scaring him would do for now unless Izuku didn't want him in his life. After all he was Izuku's father and Izuku deserved to choose whether he wanted him in his life or not.

Bringing back a tray with the tea she sat the cups down with an eerie look on her face. "Here you go Hizashi I made yours just how you like it!~" She said sweetly.

Yeah Hizashi isn't drinking that, no way she definitely must have done something to it. He hasn't survived the past 200 years to die like that, thankfully his lovely queen isn't good at holding her emotions in.

"Thankyou darling you're too kind." He said taking a cup but not drinking from it.

Toshinori on the other hand called her buff he knew she wouldn't do anything. As he drunk his own cup he remarked on how good it was, well atleast he didn't have to worry about no real or imaginary poison.

Toshinori really didn't know what to do he was having a mental crisis. Should he tell Inko and young Midoriya the truth about All for one or not say anything? The boy would be devastated and would he really want to fight his own father when the time came? He would never forgive himself if it caused Izuku mental pain.

But if he turned Hizashi in to the hero commission they wouldn't know it was him. But he'd still have to deal with them being distraught and possibly hating him for not telling them sooner. Plus everything might become public and there's no telling how many enemies All for one has made that would be out for blood.

This was bad, both his morals and heart clashed at the thought of hurting Izuku and Inko they both quickly became the family he never got to have.

Izuku even started calling him dad for crying out loud! What would he call him if he found out his idol and mentor was the one who separated him from his biological father?!

"We need to settle this once and for all." Inko finally said still annoyed and just wanting Hizashi out.

"Yes you're right we should Inko darling. I won't make this hard, I promise I only want to see my son. Perhaps he can sleepover at my place on the weekends?"

Toshinori paled at that, if he got young Midoriya alone there's no telling what that monster would do to the boy. He could kidnap him, take one for all, and lock him away forever. Toshinori couldn't let that happen deciding he'd rather tell both Inko and Izuku who 'Hizashi' really was.

"Yeah no I don't think so you can have supervised visits and you can take him somewhere if I'm available to go with."

Yeah Inko wasn't buying what her ex was selling she knew he'd have Izuku quirkless and vaulted if she left them alone.

Not to mention that would force her to try rescuing him leading to her being vaulted as well.

But together they could defeat him after all he couldn't fight them both at once.

Hizashi was about to open his mouth when all of a sudden a voice called from the hall.

"Dad?"

"Yes son?" Both men said in unison before looking at eachother with a glare.

Izuku just stood there frozen in shock as his step dad and biological father glared at eachother. He couldn't believe his eyes, even though he heard his father's voice he just thought his mom finally got him on the phone. But this is unreal he never thought in his wildest dreams his father would be in front of him again.

He gripped his plan shirt that had "shirt" written on it in big white letters. His heart felt like it would beat out of his chest at any moment, a million questions going through his mind.

He was so deep in thought he didn't hear his mom get up from the couch and approach him till he felt her hand on his shoulder.

"Sweetie are you okay?" His mom asked him worried.

The two men stopped glaring at eachother now focused on Izuku concerned for him.

Tears came to the greenettes eyes as his voice shook with joy. "Dad!"

Hizashi was then tackled by the boy, slight bits of green lighting appearing on him showing his small use of one for all. Despite Izukus small stature compared to his father's hulking one, Hizashi nearly doubled over feeling like he was punched.

His son was a strong boy, he lamented the years lost since his little green bean was no longer little.

Wrapping his arms around his son Japan's evilest villain patted Izukus head. Causing the ex-symbol of peace to go into a coughing fit, a waterfall of blood pouring from his mouth.

"Dad are you okay?!"

Pushing away from Hizashi Izuku went to check on Toshinori as Inko offered up a handkerchief. Taking it in gratitude Toshinori thanked his wife before reassuring Izuku he was okay. "Thankyou son I'm alright no need to worry." Giving his signature grin he ignored his enemies death glare.

All for One the demon emperor would never admit he's jealous of anyone especially his arch-nemesis. But seeing his son coddle that blonde theif made his blood boil.

"Well this will be a new experience I never thought you'd call someone else dad..." Hizashi said with a strained smile his mouth lighting up with fire for a second.

He could always burn the blonde homewreaker with his fire breath good thing that was the quirk he with.

"Oh I guess it will get really confusing calling you both dad. But what other alternative names for you both? Or I could just call one dad and the other something else...maybe papa could work?" Izuku muttered suddenly, scratching the back of his head.

Both men looked at eachother realizing this could be the deciding factor. They knew that whoever got papa would win, after all it was the cuter of the two choices.

"Alright it's decided then!" Izuku claped his hands together a wide grin growing on his face. Both men sitting in anticipation at the boys verdict. The two looking like they were on a high stakes game show as sweat trickled down their foreheads.

"I'll call you dad" Izuku pointed at Hizashi "and I'll call you papa!" He then pointed to Toshinori.

Toshinori felt like he could do a cheer, his crops were watered, his stomach was back, his scares gone, everything in the universe was right.

That was until he looked over at All for One who he was sure would definitely kill him now if he wasn't going to before. His aura now darker than before as Toshinori's own aura glowed bright with happiness knowing he was the superior father figure in Izukus life.

Meanwhile Izuku ever oblivious to his father's fued just gave his mom his best smile feeling happier to have them in his life. After all they were his family and he wouldn't change that for nothing in the world.

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Sometime later

Yoichi: Leave brother we will not leave this host!

AFO: Oh I don't want your quirk little brother, no not anymore.

Yoichi: Then why are you here what else could you possibly want?!

AFO: WHAT I WANT IS FOR YOU TO MAKE YOUR GOLDEN BOY LEAVE MY WIFE AND SON ALONE! HE'S RUINING EVERYTHING!

Yoichi: I see so that's what this is about...yeah no this is what you get. Consider this karma goodbye brother.

AFO: OH NO DON'T YOU DARE HANG UP ON ME TELL ALL MI-

Yoichi: *disconnects AFO from Izukus conscious*

AFO: *Sitting in Izukus room while his son sleeps* I can't believe it he hung up on me.

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AFO: I'll have you know I did alot of good things I'm not a good for nothing scumbag!

Inko: Oh really name one good deed you've done since we got married.

AFO:............Well umm..... Oh! I had Izuku our son!

Inko: Hehe yeah no I had Izuku you just stood there and cried in the corner for 11 hours.

AFO: WELL YOU TRY BEING SUPPORTIVE WHEN YOUR WIFE CALLS YOU A- Wait no actually I adopted a stray child off the streets! That definitely counts as one good deed!

Inko: WHAT!?

AFO: *realizing how bad he messed up* You what happened was....

#bnha dad for one #dad for one #inko midoriya #inko midoriya is a black widow #vigilante deku #dad might #inko midoriya just being a good mom #hizashi midoriya is all for one #battle of the dads

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darkcircles4lyfe · 3 years

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retrospective & predictions

Since we're on a hiatus week (between 320 and 321) I feel like waxing poetic about the depth and growth of bkdk for a bit. Especially because it seems like we’re right on the edge of their biggest development yet, I’m getting the urge to lay all my perspectives and insights I’ve picked up from others out on the table. This is ultimately only my subjective interpretation of subtextual material in canon, though. If you’ve never quite understood what people see in their dynamic and you’re actually open to hearing me out, maybe from this you can at least see where we’re coming from. And if you don’t like my takes after all, well, we’ll see who’s right in the coming chapters, won’t we? What I have to say can be taken platonically or romantically; I appreciate both.

putting it under the cut, since it’ll be long:

At the risk of projecting, I want to start by examining a couple things based partly on personal experience.

From many different directions, I often hear people expressing that Deku’s persistent attachment and admiration for Bakugou is baffling at best. Despite the bullying, despite Bakugou’s loud, rude, and uncompromising personality, he still puts effort into their relationship and frequently describes him as amazing. It seems like Deku himself is aware of this as he’s said things along the lines of how he’s difficult, BUT... etc. Although I don’t think it’s exactly that Deku finds Bakugou’s personality hard to be around, but that he’s deliberately expressing patience for Bakugou’s emotional turmoil.

I have to say I know what this sort of patience is like, as I went through it with someone I love. I only chose to put up with their behavior because I decided the possibility of what our relationship could be was worth it. I wasn’t blind or submissive to how they treated me, and I wasn’t coerced. I simply expressed myself and established my boundaries while still allowing them the opportunity to join me in my world once they got over their own hangups. And guess what? It worked out in the end. That doesn’t mean there aren’t circumstances where it’s better to cut ties, but I want to stress that true reconciliation is possible sometimes. I used to worry that other people around me thought I was delusional for seeking it, but what really helped was my therapist reminding me that I’m smart and strong. So I think Deku deserves to feel the same. In a way this is his whole mission in life, his approach to being a hero as well as his personal relationships.

Let me also be clear though that I don’t mean Deku is only tolerating Bakugou’s personality, his mannerisms, the parts of him that will likely never change. I’m drawing a line between those things and his emotional state (they so rarely align anyway, but I’ll get to that later). In fact, I think Bakugou’s general attitude is part of what Deku admires. This is gonna be hard to explain without inserting personal experience too, sorry. As a writer myself I’ve noticed I’m drawn to writing characters that are brazen and bold and don't mind telling people off. Really it’s because I operate in the world in the polar opposite way. I try not to draw attention to myself, I’m quiet, and I’m a people-pleaser. People who project confidence, especially in an impolite sort of way, fascinate me. It’s good to take cultural context into account, too: I've heard people who’d know better than me that part of the reason Bakugou is the most popular character in the Japanese fandom is likely because he contradicts a lot of their social norms. His disregard is refreshing and cathartic. I can speculate that Deku has a similar point of view based on what he thinks but does not admit about Bakugou being his image of victory and how this sometimes makes him mimic Bakugou’s speech and mannerisms:

There’s also the bit in this fight where Deku realizes he's the only one able to receive Bakugou’s emotions. This is because he’s the most intimately familiar with him and his situation, but I think there’s another layer. Deku, as we know, has a self-sacrificing tendency, and in the current chapters we’re seeing the worst side of that. But let’s also not forget that to an extent, it can be a positive trait: resilience. When it comes to Bakugou, he has an almost comical ability to dodge the potential fallout of his outbursts. The example we all jump to (and fight about..) is how in ch1, apart from the initial shock of Bakugou suggesting he jump off the roof, the most he reacts is to criticize him for saying such a ridiculous thing. However, I think their interaction post- sludge villain is a lot more interesting:

Note two things: 1, in his head, Deku is practically making fun of how Bakugou’s acting as he stomps away without waiting for a reply. It doesn’t faze him. 2, Deku thinks, optimistically, that he can now focus on a different career choice. This is astonishing really. Up to this point, none of Bakugou’s attempts to put him down have worked; he just kept pursuing his dream. The only reason Deku concedes in this moment it because for the first time, he has been shown that he really couldn't do anything in a fight against a villain. All Might told him he couldn't be a hero (although he’s literally about to take that back in the next few pages lol) and the other heroes at the scene gave him a lecture about it too. It was those experiences, and not Bakugou’s words, that truly affected him. And when All Might tells Deku he can be a hero after all, it’s not thinking of Bakugou’s bullying that makes him sob and fall to his knees, it’s the memory of his own mom never telling him those words he so desperately needed to hear. Having spent most of their lives together, Deku must have been aware all this time that Baukgou was influenced by larger societal forces rather than a core judgement, so he didn’t take it personally. He separated the person from the action, and because he’s resilient and patient, he is thus equipped to handle Bakugou’s emotions. It’s a testament to his maturity and emotional intelligence, really.

But I can almost hear some of you saying, “that doesn’t mean Deku should have to be the bigger person here!” Correct! Just because Deku is perfectly alright bearing all of that, doesn’t mean atonement-era Bakugou sees it this way. We can track his awareness of Deku’s care and selflessness as follows-

The bridge scene, when they’re little kids: Bakugou conflates Deku’s heroism with pity, and subsequently thinks Deku is looking down on him because Bakugou’s own insecurity makes him defensive.

The Sludge Villain, and also Deku vs. Kacchan Part 1: Bakugou witnesses first-hand how easily Deku jumps to risk his own life, but still thinks he’s being looked down on.

The Sports Festival: Bakugou fights Uraraka and recognizes her endurance strategy and refusal to give up as very Deku-like. He’s half right. He thinks Deku advised her in the fight, when in reality she just mimicked Deku because she admired him. I want to draw attention to his very sober comment about her not being frail. It’s a great endearment of Uraraka’s character and Bakugou’s respect for her when others didn’t take “fighting a girl” seriously, but it also reflects on his opinion of Deku. Deku isn’t weak either. He never was.

Deku vs. Kacchan Part 2: Deku finally corrects him about the whole looking-down-on-him thing, and Bakugou is informed that Deku’s selflessness is in fact the reason All Might chose him. Since Bakugou had been in search of what he himself was “doing wrong” for All Might to favor Deku over him, he now has to reconcile the fact that selflessness is a heroic trait, and moreover something he lacks. This is also possibly the first time Bakugou is able to see his past actions toward Deku as bullying since he previously thought it was more mutual. Additionally, Bakugou can now link Deku’s selfless behavior to what he perceived as pity/contempt, and realize that Deku has been giving him A LOT of grace. Maybe too much. Maybe more than Bakugou deserves, and definitely more than Deku should have to. Holy heck- now Bakugou has to figure out how to live up to all the faith that’s been placed in him.

Subtextually, we can see Bakugou’s feelings about atonement reflected in the Todoroki family:

1, Shouto is another example of Deku growing a friendship using his selflessness (since their fight in the sports festival) and their relationship is being acknowledged here where it hasn’t been in Bakugou’s situation. Perhaps Bakugou is wishing it could be so simple for him, to be able to thank him for being his friend like that. Deku saying the pleasure is all his also probably calls to mind how a mere apology from Bakugou would probably be dismissed because that’s just the kind of accommodating person Deku is. Bakugou has to operate more quietly in order to actually make up for their past. I personally don’t interpret this scene as Bakugou being jealous of Deku and Shouto’s friendship, exactly, just the lack of emotional baggage. Side note, Deku and Fuyumi are kinda similar in their desire to repair relationships. I like that she’s the one to give him some credit.

2, With the common terminology, this can be interpreted as Bakugou receiving a model for atonement, one that is about action, and nothing to do with receiving favor or forgiveness. It’s a sense of duty.

Many of the above sentiments are repeated in the flashback conversation between All Might and Bakugou right before Bakugou’s sacrifice.

Bakugou acknowledges his bullying and that it happened because of his own insecurities, but aside from that, it’s interesting he neither confirms nor denies All Might’s suggestion that he’s trying to atone, or that Deku doesn’t see it that way. All Might is a bit of an unreliable mentor sometimes, but I don’t think he’s misreading here. Rather, Bakugou is displaying his tendency to hold back when talking about things that would make him really emotional. Besides, admitting to what he’s doing kind of defeats the purpose. He isn’t seeking acknowledgement. All Might has gotten to the crux of the issue here when pointing out that Deku doesn’t recognize the atonement, likely because Deku doesn't think Bakugou even needs to atone. Am I reading into it too much to say Bakugou looks wistful at this? It’s kinda frustrating sometimes trying to interpret Bakugou’s actions because he’s so paradoxical. Loud and in your face, but also extremely reserved. Sometimes I feel like I’m grasping at thin air, but hey, being hard to figure out is part of his intrigue as a character. The simplest way to look at him is to assume that unless he’s really showing vulnerability, he’s probably deflecting and hiding something.

Speaking of Bakugou’s tendency to to hold back emotional stuff, there’s his apparent lack of issue with Deku calling him Kacchan. Maybe to begin with, in his warped perception of things where he thought they hated each other, Bakugou saw it as Deku’s way of getting back at him for calling him “useless,” and didn't dare give any indication that it actually bothered him. However... consider how betrayed Bakugou has appeared when he was noticeably thinking Deku was looking down on him- the bridge scene, and the beginning of their first year at UA when he thought Deku was hiding a quirk all along. He looks shocked and hurt. That kind of emotion couldn’t be invoked by someone Bakugou didn’t actually care about his relationship with. “Kacchan” comes from a long time ago, before their relationship was strained, so it’s connotations are pure. Maybe somewhere deep down, Bakugou has always been hoping that Deku’s continued use of the nickname was not simply a matter of habit or teasing, but a vestige of friendship they’re both clinging to, and Bakugou himself was too afraid to admit to himself that he felt this way about it, so he mostly ignored it. (These are not original thoughts I am having here lol, this is a common interpretation. I’m just laying everything out like I said.)

And now we turn to the current situation. Personally, I’ve been looking frantically back and forth between them wondering who’s going to break down first (Deku vs. Kacchan Part 3, this time it’s just a fight to get the other person to cry? ha.) Both have looked like they’re approaching a breaking point for some time. Also, I’ve addressed this before, but I think it’s significant that Bakugou is no longer wearing his mask with his hero costume, in contrast to Deku recently donning his own. It feels symbolic of Bakugou about to be upfront about how he feels.

The question is, what is it going to take to get Deku to accept help? If you ask me, Deku has dug himself so deeply into the I’m-doing-this-for-everyone-else’s-safety-and-smiles hole, no common sense argument can possibly reach him. By the end of 320, Deku’s mask is off, and we can see how desperate he truly is. But he has not cried, yet. I predict we’re going to see a bit more of his defiance, this time on full display on his face as the remaining class members and his other friends take their turns. But then I think Bakugou has to be the one to break down so Deku can witness his actions having the opposite effect he intended. People have been pointing out that Deku is currently ignoring Bakugou, and oof, that’s gotta be intentional. Regardless of what Bakugou says, it’s going to be wrapped up not only in his understanding of Deku’s self-sacrifice, but also the betrayal Bakugou feels at being ignored/left behind that ironically echoes his previous perception of being looked down on, as well as a need to express how much he cares about Deku before it’s too late. He must show that the two of them are inseparable because they both act to save each other without thinking, and both feel like losing the other would be like dying themselves. All Might may have been right when he told them they could learn from each other after Deku vs. Kacchan Part 2, but he didn’t fully realize that idea by making sure they stuck by each other for support and balance.

I can’t wait to see what it’ll be like when they do finally get to that point, totally in synch and in tune with each other. They’ll be a powerful force no one is quite prepared for. Who knows when that will be, or even which chapter will be their big showdown, but I know the day is coming.

To speculate even further, I think the 2nd user is going to be really important really soon. And no I don’t mean to suggest that the 2nd user is Bakugou. But I do think their resemblance is key. Okay this is gonna be convoluted...

See how 2nd is the only one still standing? I think that’s symbolic of him withholding his quirk. Deku may not even know what it is at this point, let alone have unlocked it. Given that 2nd approves of Deku’s strategy at this point, it seems odd for him to withhold his quirk based on lack of faith. I think if his quirk was something that would help Deku in combat, he would have shown it to him already like the others did. So what if those gauntlets of his are support items that are meant to make up for his lack of a combat-oriented quirk, rather than to augment it? Mind you, I still have no idea what his mysterious power might be, but I’m dead set on it not being explosion-y. Regardless, I think 2nd looking like Bakugou is more about aiding some grand visual parallel, so! You know how 2nd and 3rd were probably intending to do away with Yoichi but 2nd changed his mind as soon as they made eye contact? This is really a long shot, but I wonder if 2nd’s quirk has something to do with that exchange. Maybe it’s something psychological, or some 6th sense about people he meets. So... in that way 2nd’s quirk could play a role in bkdk reaching a deeper understanding? Idk! But it could be significant at least that 2nd left Yoichi’s question about why he reached out to him unanswered.

One more thing- while I was gathering screenshots I found this. I think “you’re the last one I’m telling” might be foreshadowing for Bakugou revealing his hero name to Deku and it being a Big Deal:

As for other lingering threads in the overall plot right now, such as the UA traitor, Stain, whatever Tsuyu is apparently about to do, All Might’s car maybe in the background of the last page of 320... man I have no idea. All I know is there’s literally 320 chapters’ worth of build-up to this confrontation that can’t be interrupted.

See you next week <3

#phew that was a lot #I just wanted to show how things are aligning #I know a lot of this has been said #bnha manga spoilers #bnha 320 #bnha 321 #mha #bakudeku #bkdk #bakugou katsuki #midoriya izuku #bnha meta #lin speaks

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copperpieceharlot · 3 years

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Bud I’m sorry to swing into your inbox uninvited like this but my soul is having an OOTS renaissance thanks to your content in the tag and did you say Leverage AU

haha holy SHIT this got Long. but yes. i’ve been. Thinking. (also literally Never feel like you have to apologize for sending me messages. i was Hoping someone would ask me about this. now i have an Excuse to share EVERYTHING ive written abt it :3)

Obviously, Roy is the leader/brains of the outfit. He grew up having some Strong Opinions abt what’s Legal versus what’s Right due to tragic backstory involving the death of his little brother which was definitely SOMEONE’S fault for negligence but since there technically wasn’t any illegal behavior, there were no consequences for it. Also he’s still angry at his dad bc he thinks his dad is also partly culpable (and also also just a dick). He’s the Moral Backbone of the team (alongside Durkon, more on that later) in basically the same way Nate was in og Leverage. He’s actually not the best at figuring out what people want (that’s Haley and, shockingly, occasionally Elan), but once he has that info, he is the absolute best at figuring out the ideal plan of attack to use in any given case.

Haley is still a thief. I mean she maps to Parker almost PERFECTLY. Her dad was a thief & a conman, her mom wasn’t but knew about it and mostly accepted it, but she died tragically in a mugging gone wrong or smth, which made Ian crank the paranoia WAY up and taught Haley to do the same in the name of “safety”. Let’s keep the “Ian is in Trouble and Haley needs money, Fast” which is why she signs on to the first job in the first place. She’s less acrobatic than Parker, tending towards finding (or making) weak spots in security, but she can still make a tumble check when she needs to.

Elan is the grifter who is somehow an Idiot but also not???? It baffles everyone. When he’s playing a part for a con, he’s FLAWLESS, but then the rest of the time he’s just. No Thoughts Head Empty. He probably gets lured in initially because he’s decided to try his hand at being part of a full team, rather than the two-man cons he’s been running that invariably end w his partner conning him as well and stealing half of his take. Also he likes the idea of being Crime Friends. He’s that tweet where it’s like, Roy: “after the heist is over, we split up and never communicate again” / Elan: [about to unveil his Crime Buddies Forever Friendship Quilt Puppets]: “never?”

Vaarsuvius is the hacker/gadget person. They have a Vaguely Snobby Yet Unidentifiable accent, dyed(?) purple hair (nobody has ever seen their roots) and nobody knows who they “really” are or where they came from, but they’re good at what they do so everyone just accepts the mystery. They probably got suckered into the team by their initial employer (who I’ll get to Eventually, lol) framing it as a challenge to their intellect, like, “oh, I see, you’re not smart enough to make this team work for you...” to which they were like Fucking Watch Me and also melted his computer. Anyways. They are joined (digitally) by their Intrepid Friend And Co-Conspirator (his words, not theirs), a fellow hacker known only as Blackwing, or, on certain forums, Blackwing_Bird. (In the first season, V only occasionally references him when saying they’re “calling in extra help” or smth for a particularly complex hack job. He starts showing up a little more in s2 and eventually by the start of s4 is a regular & established presence, but only appears as actions in a computer interface or output.) Elan is convinced he’s an AI, Belkar doesn’t think he actually exists, Haley pretends she doesn’t think he exists, and Durkon and Roy try not to think about it too hard, as long as B and V still get the job done.

Belkar is the hitter. He is on the team bc their initial employer got him out of jail for it. He doesn’t have a tragic backstory, he just likes doing violent crimes. As the series progresses, he grows some empathy & stuff, but really only for people who actually deserve it. Assholes still get decked. It’s all very touching. (Also he has dwarfism caused by achondroplasia. It doesn’t actually bother him and is useful in fights bc his opponents frequently have no fucking clue how to approach him, but he likes Pretending to take offense at stupid things just to see how far he can go with it.)

Aaaand last but not least, Durkon is the least involved member of the team. He’s actually a career criminal and Roy’s mentor, and wasn’t a member of the initial team that [redacted, I’ll tell you later, PROMISE] put together for a couple of reasons, the main one being that he’s Officially retired in order to spend more time with his family, which consists of his mom, his friend (not girlfriend) Hilgya, baby Kudzu, and a truly stunning number of aunts, uncles, and cousins. Roy frequently calls or visits him for advice and he Occasionally shows up to help out on local jobs, but generally he avoids doing crime if he can (as part of a deal with Hilgya, who is also a career criminal; basically, they’ve both cut back on the crime in order to provide a more stable home environment for Kudzu. But sometimes, you gotta do a little crime, and in those cases, Sigdi enjoys spending time w her grandson.)

NOW. THE BIG REVEAL YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR. Who got the team together in the first place?!

The answer: Lord Shojo (or whatever Normal Person Name you want to assign him). Now this is where it gets tricky: he had them do a thing that they thought was good, THEN they thought it was BAD, but then when they confronted him he revealed that it Appearing to be bad was actually a test of character and would they consider working as basically internal investigators for him? But then he had a heart attack, so, rip. But THEN it turned out that he’d left them a bunch of money anyway and they were all feeling kind of Inspired so they formed the Order of the Stick, LLC (which, no, i am not coming up with a new name, actually, because I just don’t care. someone else can come up w a justification for that name, tho, i’m sure it’s possible). Also Miko was there and was unhappy abt their actions, and also their general existence.

Moving on. Villains!

Redcloak is the Sterling replacement, because that DEEPLY amuses me.

Xykon is a season-long main villain, probably one that Redcloak finds himself working for but then “teams up with” (read: blackmails) the Order to bring him down bc even Redcloak finds Xykon distasteful. That’s season 3, let’s say.

Tarquin is another season villain, say season 2. Nale probably shows up pretty early in s1, actually, as another recurring antagonist like Sterling but uh. Less good at it. Anyways the s2 final 3 eps deal with them (accidentally) discovering that Tarquin runs some Evil Empire Company, then trying to outplay him and take him down. Idk if Nale still dies in this version tbh.

Tsukiko is a one-off s1 villain who returns briefly in s4 alongside Miko, who has gone well and truly off the rails.

Season 1 finale has to do w Roy finally getting Vengeance for his little brother.

The vampire squad is the s4 finale villain who do smth terrible to Durkon and then get the Mother Of All Revenge served up to them by the Order.

I envision the show as being 5 seasons (like og Leverage) but I’m not going to sketch out s5 because I think it should be based off whatever happens in the current story arc, possibly involving some legacy of the OotSquiggle.

Other stuff!

The Order of the Squiggle is a legendary criminal team from the 60s who stole a BUNCH of famous shit & then proceeded to legendarily implode. This has no bearing on the plot I’ve sketched out, I just think it’s fun.

The Sapphire Guard members should probably be reworked as FBI. I don’t care about most of them but I do think that Lien and O-Chul could be like, FBI agents who Choose to look the other way while the Order does their very-much-not-legal-but-still-fair Justice Crime, and maybe even help them out on occasion.

So, the Final season-by-season outline, based on everything I’ve written so far:

s1 e1: getting the team together, doing a con for Shojo, then at the end he dies and the gang is like “dang what now?" and intend to split up except then they Don’t.

mid-s1: Nale shows up and tries to trick the Order, but then gets beat like a drum.

late s1: Tsukiko is an underling of the Villain Of The Week, winds up in police custody. But She’ll Be Back.

s1 finale: Roy’s Vengeance: The Vengeaning. also we meet Redcloak as an antagonist.

s2 e1: the truth abt Haley’s father comes out

early s2: The Two Live Crews Job but it’s the Order vs the Linear Guild and the Linear Guild ARE all bad guys.

mid-s2: Redcloak returns. ugh.

late s2: the sapphire guard FBI makes its first appearance, hello O-Chul and Lien.

s2 pre-finale: once again they’re in conflict w Nale over smth, he spends the whole episodes making Cryptic Remarks, they basically beat him (like a drum!) but then the stinger at the end is that Tarquin reveals himself and Elan is like “Dad?!”, roll credits.

s2 finale, part 1: Elan is hanging out w Tarquin bc he’s DEEP in Denial, the Rest of the team tries to take Tarquin down, but it doesn’t work.

s2 finale, part 2: Elan finally gets a clue and they manage to beat Tarquin. still haven’t decided if Nale dies or not, but I’m leaning towards yes. also they rescue Haley’s dad.

s3 e1: fuck dude idk.

early s3: Redcloak shows up, AGAIN, everyone groans. he has blackmail on them, he wants them to take Xykon down.

mid s3: The Rashomon Job but it’s about stealing the Talisman of Dorukan and it turns out that Nale was there too (“oh!” Elan says. “I was wondering why I looked so weird in all those mirrors! But it wasn’t my reflection, it was Nale’s!” “Sweetie, that wasn’t Nale’s reflection,” says Haley. “Huh,” says Elan, “so the mirrors were broken?”, cue eye rolling from everyone else.), and the Successful thief was Hilgya, who’d nabbed it from the owner before it even went on display.

s3 finale: they beat Xykon, actually factually, because he deserves to get his ass Thoroughly kicked, even if only in AU form. Lien and O-Chul are there, so are some other less helpful FBI people. There’s a bit where O-Chul Exact Wordses his way out of telling his superiors about the Order’s less legal activities without technically lying. King shit.

s4 e1: doesn’t really matter. maybe smth to do w some legacy of Tarquin’s company to set up the drama w Malack & Durkon later.

early s4: Durkon gets SENT TO PRISON. Malack approaches the Order abt this because sure they have Different Ethics but they’re still Friends. (Roy is surprised and a little hurt that he’s never heard of Malack, but he ignores that in favor of Let’s Get Whatever Fuckers Did This To Our Friend.)

immediately after that: Miko and Tsukiko return as a Team, preventing the Order from working on the Durkon situation

mid s4: Redcloak makes another unexpected & unwelcome appearance but he’s maybe a little less of a dick? the Order collaborates with Malack & his Crime Buddies (hello, Vector Legion) to pull one over on him tho, because “less of a dick” does not mean “a pleasant or decent person”, and also he was mean abt Durkon being in jail, so he totally deserved it. he still gets whatever he wanted tho, just takes a blow to his pride. also prevents the Order from helping Durkon. they’re having a LOT of setbacks wonder why that could be, not to make sure the season fills its whole length or anything, no sirree

s4 finale: something something taking down the organization, headed by Hel (yes that’s her real name), which framed Durkon for their Big Crime. Durkon goes free and Extra Firmly retires, For Good, He Swears, but says he “met someone new” who might be an asset.

s5 e1: minrah joins the team! and the episode is set in like, somewhere really snowy. that’s all i got.

the rest of s5: don’t know, don’t care, it’s open-ended until the comic finishes up.

#mine #ask #corvidcorgi #order of the stick #oots #leverage #leverage au #oots au #au #outline #haha this thing clocks in at 1.9k words because i am LITERALLY incapable of shutting up #hope u enjoy it bc i spent Way Too Much Mental Effort mapping out how the OotS plotlines might play out in a leverage setting #and then promptly ignored Most of that in favor of making it funnier & dumber & more villain-of-the-week #(bc lbr the comic is Good but it's got an overarching plot form that the Leverage story style does Not jive with)#i'm not tagging all these characters lol

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dappercritter · 3 years

Note

She-Ra for the ask meme! (Maybe a bad time with the final season so close, you can save this until after if you like.)

(Based on this meme.)

Well, did I save this for later or what?

The first character I first fell in love with: Entrapta. Aside from her colour scheme—I do love a good purple girl, to say the least—I adore her for her enthusiastic, inquisitive, compassionate, and rather eccentric personality. Not to mention her design is an absolute joy to watch in action; from the goggles to the prehensile hair, is creative and adorable. She steals every scene she’s in with her loveably manic energy. The fact that she’s a scientist, who specializes in advanced technology no less, makes her an important character in a magic-driven fantasy setting—her design helps her stand out among the more traditional looking princesses, too! The fact that she’s some of the most effectively authentic examples of autistic representation in children’s fiction only enhances her likeability, in addition to the most interesting and sympathetic examples of morally grey characters that I’ve seen. Her wonderful chemistry with the rest of the Horde adds both to her charm, and really helped lighten things up on the villain’s side for the first 2-3 seasons, and her relationship with Hordak… Well, I’ll get to that shortly! 😉

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: Madame Razz. I figured Razz was going to be a fun mentor character, but I could have never suspected she’d be the best mentor I and Adora could ask for! I’m not familiar with her original counterpart, but whatever they had to work with, I applaud the crew for taking the silliest looking character in the original line-up and turning her into this charming little old lady whose equal parts Yoda and Ghibli grandma. (Or at least that’s how I describe her.) Her design gets special mention, too, for just how dang cute she is! The big glasses, the raggedy dress, big fluffy hair with moths flying around, and her witch broom all come together so well. Out of all Adora’s mentors, she’s the best— having no ulterior motives, agendas, or any manipulative or toxic behaviour laced into her teaching style, offers the best life advice she can to someone who clearly needs it out of kindness. And because she bears a certain resemblance to someone she once knew in a similar position.

The character everyone else loves that I don’t: Catra. Shocking right? Look, I know that she had an awful time growing up in the Fright Zone and by the end of the show she became more well-rounded and likeable. Any grief I have with her is pretty much over done with. Problem is though… it is pretty hard to forget everything she did. Now, I know it’s all in the past and a lot of people haven’t forgotten what she did either, and that some of it has to do with the ugliness of the Catradora vs. Entrapdak dynamic discourse and I don’t want to go into that. I really don’t. But put as simply as possible, she was a toxic friend, especially in regards to Adora (the Season 1 and 2/3 finales in particular) and Entrapta (who she betrayed, left to die after lying about her to her lover/best friend, and the offering the bare minimum of an apology), and escalated a war just to get back at Adora. After she tried to destroy REALITY to get back at her. I’m glad she changed but it still feels like too little too late.

The character I love that everyone else hates: Swift Wind. Sure, he’s a talking horse with a design that can wander a good ways into the uncanny valley, and who tries too hard too hard to be funny, but in spite of that I think he’s got a good heart behind that strange face of his. He does his best to be a good friend to Adora, supporting her both as herself and when she’s She-Ra, as well as doing his best to support Adora’s other friends as well (see “Boy’s Night Out”). Chiefly by trying to make light of Adora’s duties as She-Ra by trying help her find the fun and excitement in it. Of course, he doesn’t just try to keep the energy up, he shows genuine concern for Adora and all her friends, not hesitating to rush to their protection or point out when a situation seems especially dire. (see “Beast Island” and “Failsafe”). But I think my favourite example is from “Hero” where he casually reveals that he regularly checks in on Madame Razz because, as he says, “You gotta check up on old ladies alone in the woods.” What a horse!

The character I used to love but don’t any longer: Glimmer. I used to love her personality and her design. A peppy rebel who lived for adventure and a good friend to Adora and Bow. Even if she had her flaws like her impulsiveness and her stubbornness, she was still pretty likeable. But then she called her mom a coward for acting as a strategist and looking after Bright Moon, which ended up convincing her to sacrifice herself to close the rift at the end of S3. Alright, fair enough, some things can’t be avoided. Then she took over as queen, and I can understand there was A LOT of factors that were in play—namely grief and Double Trouble deliberately playing on her strained friendship with Adora and Bow as part of one of Catra’s plots—but boy howdy, did she start showing a pretty unsavory side what with her increasingly ruthless demeanor, trusting Adora’s abuser (hi Shadow Weaver, be with you in minute) over her, choosing to leave Entrapta in very real peril on Beast Island, and willingly using a weapon she knew could destroy all of Etheria to win a war. Perhaps I wouldn’t have minded as much if season 5 didn’t rush through her apologies and redemption so quickly, but the fact remains that Glimmer’s character took an awfully dark turn that’s not quite going to be so easily forgotten.

The character I would totally smooch: In a dark future where Entrapta never found love with Hordak, for one terrible reason or another, I would totally give her a smooch. I’ve said it before and say it again: Mad scientist princess is best princess! The character I’d want to be like: Bow. In some capacity I’m already like him, namely being super emotional and doing his damnedest to be a good friend even when things are tough, as well as being the voice of reason and a tinkerer (what? Tinkering with artsy stuff counts!). But I’d like to follow his example of being more level-headed, softer, optimistic, but also more assertive as opposed to my impulsive, harsher, cynical, and reserved current self.

The character I’d slap: Shadow Weaver. Need I explain? No, and anyway I can’t slap her anyways because she pulled the most manipulative heroic sacrifice I’ve ever seen. Dammit it, Shadow Weaver! (I really wanted to say Horde Prime but I feel like he wasn’t developed quite enough to be as hateable as he could be. Not to say that he isn’t an absolute piece of trash who deserved what he had coming already, but we didn’t get to spend three whole seasons getting to know the depths of his manipulative depravity while simultaneously weaseling his way into a twisted version of a redemption arc, unlike someone else I just talked about.)

A pairing that I love: Entrapdak. In case, it wasn’t already obvious. To summarize, in spite of all the drama that surrounds them and their actions, they honestly have the sweetest, most affectionate, and quite possibly the most healthy and engaging pair of the entire show (next to Spinnerella and Netossa, of course). Shoot, if it weren’t for these two and my hopes to see them reunite again, I would have left the fandom entirely at this point! (No seriously, I’m getting tired, folks.)

A pairing that I despise: Hordak X Horde Prime, but I think that’s the point, since most people use it to explore toxic relationships from a distance. Anyways, I really do not want to talk about abusive alien selfcest.

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revchainsaw · 3 years

Text

Buffy: the Vampire Slayer (1997)

Season 1

Hello and Welcome back my creepy congregation! We will be taking todays service from the Big Screen into your living room for our first Personal Devotional. That's Right! We're reviewing full seasons of television series now and what better way to bring the spirit of the genre film to the idiots lantern that with the 90s Television sensation and all around love letter to the horror genre, Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

The Message

Regardless of how one may feel about Mr. Whedon we can't deny how much we love Buffy Summers and the Kids who live and die in Sunnydale! Season one of Buffy was a spin off/reboot of the earlier film and an attempt by Whedon to course correct the franchise by breathing a little charm and attention into the subject matter.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Season 1) focuses on Buffy Summers, a not so typical California high school student who, due to the events of the movie, has been relocated to Sunnydale High. Buffy is not just a cute, athletic, teenage girl looking to enjoy the prime of her life, though she is those things, she is also the Slayer, an anointed warrior who has been reincarnated throughout the generations to protect our vulnerable weak human world from the forces of evil; particularly Vampires. Buffy is a sort of supernatural Captain America, that is a peak human being, but instead of Nazi Science she was born with her powers.

Joining Buffy are; High School outcasts Willow and Xander (a nerd and a nice guy respectively), The ridiculously sexy librarian Rupert Giles (her mentor, guardian, high school librarian, and all around precious papa bear), Jenny Calendar (a technopagan computer teacher armed with all the mystery an ignorant 90s boomer could attribute to the internet), Angel (Spoiler: He's a Vampire, but he's a good guy. A hunky, broody, good guy vampire love interest), and her loving but entirely oblivious mother. The Scoobies as they have come to be called aid Buffy in her quest to protect Sunnydale from Dark Forces.

And Speaking of those Dark Forces, they are primarily vampires, led by the Master; an ancient vampire who resembles to some degree Nosferatu and a Bat, a look that Guillermo Del Toro would later perfect in his own series the Strain. The Master seeks to fulfill an ancient prophecy that would open the Hellmouth (a portal to hell, exactly what it sounds like) and free him in order that he and his kind should conquer the world.

The first season is fairly short consisting of the following adventures.

1. Welcome to the Hellmouth - Buffy moves to Sunnydale seeking to leave her Vampire ways behind, but the vampires just won't let her catch a break.

2. The Harvest - Vampire Shenanigans continues. Buffy learns of the Master.

3. Witch - A fellow Cheerleader is possessed by her witchy mom.

4. Teachers Pet - Buffy vs Giant Mantis

5. Never Kill a Boy on the First Date - Buffy vs the Anointed One (Not Really)

6. The Pack - Buffy vs Hyena Possessed High School Bullies

7. Angel - Buffy vs Angel but actually Darla

8. I, Robot ... you, Jane - Buffy vs Internet Demon

9. The Puppet Show - Buffy and Sid the Dummy vs Organ Harvesting Demon

10. Nightmares - Buffy has bad dreams

11. Out of Mind, Out of Sight - Buffy vs Invisible Nerd

12. Prophecy Girl - Buffy vs The Master (also Buffy Dies)

Overall the short season, while not allowing for too much world building, kept the show to a format that allowed very little filler. So although we mostly only get vampires as villains, we don't have enough time to really be bored of it. Some of the shows dynamics and cultural concerns definitely date the series but overall Season 1 of Buffy is definitely not a difficult watch, and can be enjoyed over and over again.

Let's get to the Benediction:

Best Character: Slay Girl, Slay!

As far as season one goes the titular Buffy Summers is the best character. Sarah Michelle Gellar is absolutely charismatic in the lead role and though at times she may seem selfish or reckless it makes perfect sense for the character. The character is allowed to be weak, to be selfish, and to be unlikeable. She avoids the foibles of a Luke Skywalker or a Harry Potter. She joins the ranks of primary protagonists who are not constantly outshined by their supporting cast. I believe when Buffy is sad, I believe when she throws a punch, I believe she struggles with her destiny. The only thing I don't believe is how ditsy she let's on.

Best Actor: Head's Up!

Anthony Stewart Head. Head as Giles is just fantastic. His balance of frustration with Buffy and genuinely parental concern is heartwarming and absolutely makes Giles one of the warmest father figures in television history.

Best Episode: A 'Master'ful Finale

It all builds up to Prophecy Girl and for good reason. Television shows often have mini-finale's at the end of their first seasons because the teams behind the series are not sure they will have a chance to tell more of their story. For that reason you can see just the first season of most television series and feel like you've heard the whole deal. I wish this habit was kept up in other seasons as we wouldn't still be wondering what the hell happened to Joel at the end of the Santa Clarita Diet. Buffy is no exception to this phenomenon and therefor attempted to tie up much of it's narrative in Prophecy Girl. While that often means big bads will be dispatched, I think it's a small price to pay for not winding up in a cliff hanger. Buffy and Giles just shine in this episode, Angel is given a more heroic role, Willow finally values herself as she should and Xander stops being a fucking horrible human being for once. This episode really satisfies in all areas.

Best Villain: Sweet, Sweetheart Killer

It's such a shame that Darla was killed so early on in the franchise. She is such a great presence on the screen that she overshadows all the villains that play alongside her, even the Master. I would have loved to have seen an alternate season where she offs the old coot and assumes the role of big bad much like Spike does in Season 2. Lucky for everyone that Darla is featured throughout the show in flashbacks and I hear she is even resurrected in Angel. Also, for Scott Pilgrim fans I feel like she and Envy Adams are very much sympatico. Maybe if they reboot Buffy all my dreams will come true.

I'd also like to take this time to recommend the song Angels and Darlas by Say Hi! It's pretty good.

Best Monster Design: Internet Troll!

While I can't speak for where the money in Season 1 of Buffy went, I can say that at least some decent cash was spent on both the forms of Moloch the Corruptor from the Episode "I, Robot ... You, Jane". Moloch was pretty wicked looking as a machine toward the end of the episode, he looked like a Mortal Kombat villain, but it's the green scales and ram horns the actor is sporting at the beginning of the episode that really catches the eye. In fact, I'm feeling compelled to hunt down any Moloch the Corruptor merch that may be out there on the internet. It's certainly no mystery why the demon's face is featured prominently in the theme song. It just looks great! Good job to the make up department there.

Most WTF moment: "Pack"s a Punch on Principle

While not the greatest episode in season one "the Pack" is certainly worth the watch if for no other reason than the horror is kicked up when a group of high school students under the influence of a malevolent Hyena God, decide that the School Mascot is not enough to satisfy their bloodlust turn on the principal, and yes, THEY EAT HIM. I remember being completely caught of guard the first time I saw that scene, and it kickstarted the running gag of Sunnydale high principles meeting their demise in horrific ways.

Worst Character: No More Mr. Nice Guy

When I was in college I often felt bad for Xander. The funny guy who just had no luck with women. He was sarcastic but had a big heart, and used a horny gimmick to mask his loneliness, or so I thought. But now I am older, I am wiser, I have known the touch of another human being and I have to say that Xander Harris is a really scummy fellow. I don't remember thinking so poorly and I wonder if the character develops a more nuanced view of women as the show goes on. As it stands there's barely a point in the series that Xander does not view the female cast as objects for him to enjoy or be embittered towards for one reason or another. It's not charming, it's foul. Xander Harris of season one is absolutely a terrorist attack waiting to happen, if Buffy had happened today it would be much more concerning to see someone so embittered, horny, and entitled to womens time and energy as Xander Harris. Dude is one step away from pulling an Elliot Rogers. Calm down buddy and maybe actually listen to a woman and you may find you aren't as much of a 'nice guy' as you think.

Worst Episode(s): If you're not first ...

It's a toss up on this one. Season One of Buffy is actually so short and concise that the 'Monster of the Week' episodes will have to be up for grabs as the worst episode by default, but even they are pretty watchable and don't warrant the vitriol a "worst" dub usually entails. I'd say there is not a worst episode of season one, just some episodes that aren't as good as the rest. In that vain, take your pick from "Witch", "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", or "The Puppet Show". However, I'd be doing a disservice to those episodes not to mention that each one of them takes what could just be a basic Buffy Vs (insert Villain), and does something unique and interesting with the idea. The villain of "Witch" actually turns out to be a has been cheerleader actually possessing the body of her innocent daughter to relive her glory years, The Invisible Girl is actually the victim of social cruelty, her peers disinterest in her manifesting in her condition becoming quite literal and she is picked up by the military in the end, then the Puppet show, well, it's just about the stupidest most absurd thing that could possibly happen and it's completely unafraid of that fact.

Summary:

Buffy The Vampire Slayer (Season 1) is not the most groundbreaking TV, but it is absolutely evident why the show was such a phenomenon. Season 1 is particularly rewatchable. It does not demand too much investment or attention, but it will get it from you, especially on a first viewing. It's not afraid to take itself absolutely seriously or to plant it's tongue firmly in it's cheeks. It is to a degree a product of it's time, but in many other aspects feels timeless.

Overall Grade: B

#Buffy #Buffy the Vampire Slayer #Vampire #Horror #Television #Series #TV #television series #Grade B #B #90s #1990s #1997 #wilde 1997 #buffy btvs #Moloch #Demon #Monster of the Week #Season 1 #(B)

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princess-of-the-corner · 4 years

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So I’m doing this 100% for fun but like

Remember I mentioned a dream I had after reading to many of those salty “AU where Marinette’s sort of adopted and her bio parent(s) is rich/famous/powerful” of an mlp crossover where Mari’s bio moms are Twilight and Rarity from mlp? Yeah let’s expand on that a little!

Also, while this is kinda salty and has salty origins, this ends up being pretty sugary because that’s the nature of mlp stuff.

So like there’s some interdimensional fuckery.

A little over 10 years prior to Canon the Equestria and the ML world kinda connected.

Twilight Sparkle, as Princess of Friendship, was sent as an ambassador to the new dimension.

Of course Earth sent someone to Equestria but whatever they’re not important.

Also involved is Twilights wife, Rarity, and lil baby Marinette pony.

Side note: while in Equestria they’re ponies, but interdimensional travel turns them Human in the ML world. Kinda like EQG but they have normal human skin tones.

Anyway! Mari is a lil pink Unicorn, but in the Human world she looks Human. She ends up wearing a lot of pink clothes because she misses her pony coat.

Because of several things, like wanting Mari to have a normal childhood and also some political stuff that her moms want to protect her from, she ends up being taken care of by Tom and Sabine.

I’m gonna say that Twi and Rares met Tom and Sabine through Pinkie, who has a habit of getting low-key adopted by bakers, and had met them through wanting to learn about Earth cuisine (and T&S wanted to learn Equestria cuisine, so it was a win-win).

When Twi and Rares are thinking about this plan, T&S are trying for a kid and haven’t had much luck.

Mari lives with Tom and Sabine for the day-to-day, but Twilight and Rarity visit as often as they can, spending plenty of weekends with their daughter, even if it’s low-key to keep her safe.

As far as Mari is concerned, she has four parents. Twilight=Mom, Rarity=Mommy, Sabine=Maman, and Tom=Papa.

Other than visits with her moms and trips to Equestria, there’s only a couple differences to Mari’s childhood.

First is that she gets visits from other mlp characters too. They don’t cause too many issues because

1.) they know how to not blow her cover and

2.) the ones who would do it accidentally can be reined in.

By that I mean that if Discord starts to act up Mari just says “I’ll tell Auntie Fluttershy” and he nopes the fuck out.

Mari’s classmates think she just has a lot of aunts and uncles with weird names and haircolors, not connecting them to the Pony stuff.

The other thing is that Marinette is a little more confident and somehow even more forgiving. Like, this is shown best in her interaction with Chloé.

Marinette stands up to Chloé from day 1 and doesn’t take her shit. She protects others and shuts down any of her petty schemes. Etc.

But she also doesn’t write Chloé off entirely. Marinette constantly offers her friendship, because she’s grown up with stories about her various aunts and uncles who were like Chloé or far worse, and that they eventually reformed. When she sees Chloé try to change, Marinette welcomes her with open arms and works with her to help her be a better person.

Anyway one more thing for Mari’s childhood before Ladybug: her Cutie Mark!

Marinette’s special talent is her eye for detail. Mostly she uses this to be a designer just like mommy(Rares is so proud!!), but it helps her be an expert at planning and organizing like her mom(Twi is also very proud!!).

Her actual Cutie Mark is an image of a Ladybug threading a needle.

Onto the Canon Timeline!!

Okay! So! Origins happens and Marinette gets the Ladybug Miraculous.

Mari is paranoid that it was given to her because someone found out about her being a Unicorn Princess. So she interrogated the hell out of Tikki.

Tikki’s like “okay I didn’t know that. I knew you had powerful Magic and that explains it but no. You were chosen for general compatibility with it!”

Ladybug’s secret identity lasts until Twi and Rares visit because they’re like “honey why are your earrings a powerful magic artifact???”

“Our little girl is all grown up and using Magic jewelry to save the world! Just like her moms!!”

So the whole family knows. Tikki does say that it breaks the rules, but there’s not much that can be done because of the circumstances.

Mari’s parents all kinda debate on whether or not she should try and figure out Chat Noir’s identity.

Twilight and Sabine argue that they would feel better if they knew who the boy was so that they could trust him. Twi’s reasoning is more “while you trust him now, your teamwork will grow stronger as you learn more about each other!” while Sabine’s is more “I want to make sure he’s not some creep/entitled dudebro.”

Rarity and Tom are okay with the mystery. Tom because obviously whoever chose Chat Noir to be a hero saw the same things in him that they saw in Marinette when making her Ladybug, so of course he must be a good guy. Rares just loves the drama of the whole thing! Secret identities! Romance! Etc.

Tikki is the deciding vote on that, saying it’s supposed to be secret.

That also doesn’t last long. Because Mari tells Rares about the crush on Adrien. And naturally Rares has to meet the boy! And they notice his ring and yeah…

She tries to keep the secret but as much as she loves the drama, the fact that her daughter is actually sad thinking Adrien isn’t interested in her when he absolutely is just breaks her heart.

Whoops the lovesquare is solved real early! Like, ‘sometime in Season 1 early’.

Of course they bring Adrien into the whole ‘secret royal horse family’ thing.

Mari’s a little scared on that because species difference.

Like, in Equestria interspecies relationship isn’t an issue because it goes by the basic ‘Harkness Test’ rules. So her interest in Adrien is normal to her.

But some Humans get weirded out by the idea so she didn’t know how Adrien would react.

It throws him for a loop but he’s cool with it!

This also involves telling Gabriel about the horse girlfriend.

Lucky for him, he decided to leave the Butterfly Miraculous upstairs during dinner or else he would’ve been found out too.

Anyway, the whole ‘royal horse princess’ thing is definitely enough to make Marinette a good candidate for dating Adrien. So Gabriel is okay with the relationship.

It also helps that Gabriel and Rarity actually somehow get along. She’s used to stuck up rich people so she can play his games without getting frustrated, and she can discuss fashion with him!

They get into a long discussion about Equestria fashion vs. Earth fashion, and Mari is sitting there taking notes because her goal is to make a fashion line that incorporates both dimensions!

Gabriel is kinda low-key thinking about how they’d make powerful Akumas, but tbh… magic horses are things he doesn’t want to risk messing with. Yeah they’d be powerful, but if they go rogue or have issues with merging the different types of Magic… it could be a bad time.

That said, he does try to low-key find out if Twilight and Rarity know of any Magics that might help him save Emilie other than the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous. He doesn’t ask outright as he doesn’t want to tip his hand, but he feigns curiosity in some subjects.

They don’t tell Gabriel about the superhero thing because Adrien begs them not to, knowing that he’d try to stop him if he found out.

One more thing that changes is Mari and Adrien’s relationship with Master Fu as a mentor!

Because of Twilight’s experience with Celestia as her mentor, Marinette is encourage to question Fu’s decisions.

They quickly realize that yeah, Fu’s not always right. In fact, he’s fucking up a lot.

Fu and Twilight can get along as ‘protectors of Magical Artifacts that could either save the world or cause doomsday’. They debate about methods, and while Twilight agrees with Fu’s logic, she can also to get him to see the flaws in it.

So. Outside of occasional pony stuff and various shenanigans involving the ‘aunts and uncles’, and the fact that Adrienette is canon, not much changes. I’ve written outlines for other AUs where Adrienette was Canon early on, so y’all can go dig those up. And I can’t think of specific instances where weird Pony stuff happens outside of like, Marinette’s birthday or something.

But this did start from a salty dream so we gotta get to Lila being a fuck.

Lila comes in and does her usual shit.

She lies about knowing Ladybug and various other celebrities. Of course.

She tries to flirt with Adrien. He turns her down as soon as he realizes because he’s in love with Mari. This gets Mari on her radar.

Between that, and Mari calling her out on her lies, Lila decides to try an ruin her.

So, Mari and Adrien’s responses to this are a little different than Canon.

Marinette feels comfortable telling Adrien that Lila threatened her. So he’s not going to sit by and be quiet since he knows this is a threat, not just a girl lying for attention.

Despite the threats, both are too soft and sweet to write off Lila completely. Especially Mari, oddly enough. As I said. She grew up with stories about her aunts and uncles that changed for the better. So the two of them think that they might be able to be friends with Lila.

That said, they don’t put up with her shit. They call her out when she lies, and don’t tolerate her lying and manipulating people. It doesn’t usually work because Lila is good at thinking up more lies and turning it around, but they try.

The idea that Marinette hates Lila out of jealousy over Adrien is slightly more believable, because the classmates never saw Marinette be jealous before.

Chloé stopped ‘flirting’ with Adrien as soon as he and Mari got together because she respects Adrien as a friend. She makes it clear that they’re just friends and her flirting is mostly joking/possessiveness, and the relationship itself is the first thing that helps Chloé want to change so she can not lose Adrien over being mean to Mari.

Kagami was a little interested in Adrien, but shut it down as soon as she found out that he was dating Marinette, so she and Mari never got off on the wrong foot with jealousy, becoming friends rather quickly. (Mari might have tried to set her up with Luka after she rejected him but you know.)

Mari is usually nice to Adrien’s fangirls, barring any creepy actions.

So this is the first time the class is seeing her react to a ‘legitimate threat’ to the relationship.

Now, while I like salt stuff, I don’t go full ‘the classmates durn into worse bullies than Chloé ever was because they’re convinced Mari is bullying Lila and believe Lila’s word like gospel’ thing.

I could go on a hell of a rant about how that’s a lot of victim blaming but that’s for another time.

Anyway, the classmates are still friendly with Marinette, but they are frustrated at her fighting with Lila. And Lila is lying, manipulating, orchestrating events to make it look like Mari attacked her, etc. It would take a decent amount of manipulation and gaslighting the class to get them to think Mari’s actually horrible, so this is a long-term plan.

One of the biggest things she does in the meantime, is try to isolate Marinette. If she sees someone talking to her, suddenly Lila needs their help with something! She tries to schedule hanging out with the class on days that Mari’s busy. Or just says she’s uncomfortable with Mari being at a hang out, so don’t invite her to this one(it works on smaller hangouts and ones where they’re at someone’s home, but big groups don’t work.). If she is forced to interact with Marinette directly, she starts a fight and blames Mari.

There’s a lot of tension. But Marinette learned from the Princess of Friendship herself. This can be mended, once they figure it out.

This all comes to a head when it comes time for the Class Trip.

The class gets permission to go out of the country, and Marinette suggests Equestria!

Her thought process is

1.) they can help mend things by learning about Equestria’s history and importance of Friendship.

2.) Despite the recent hiccups in their friendship, Marinette loves and trusts most of the class enough to tell them about the ‘I’m secretly a Pony Princess’ thing. And taking them to see Equestria is a good idea to help hammer it in and really wow them!

The school board is hesitant at first, because Equestria is technically another Dimension and all. But they tell her ‘if you send a letter to the Equestrian Government and they say yes, then okay’.

So Mari just calls up her mom and asks. Twilight is immediately planning the trip’s itinerary!

When Marinette announces it to the class, they’re all estatic.

Lila, of course, lies about stuff.

She claims that she went to Equestria before and when turned into a Pony by dimensional Magic stuff, she was totally an Alicorn!

Mari calls so much bullshit on that.

Because the only ways to be an Alicorn are either being born one, which means she’d have to be related to the Royal Family and that’s impossible, or Ascending, which is so goddamn rare.

Not to mention that even if a Human who crossed over became an Alicorn legitimately, that would’ve been major news.

Thankfully most of the stuff Lila lies about regarding culture/celebrities in Equestria/etc are either things Mari can spin as ‘actually that’s a misconception’ and redirect the class to real facts, or something that is coincidentally true, just fuckin buck wild.

When it comes time for the actual trip, Twilight and Rarity show up personally! Partly because they have to, as the link between Earth and Equestria, but also to see Mari and dote on her, glad to formally meet all her friends!!

The class begins to notice things when they are actually transported to Equestria.

First, they notice that Mari seems way too friendly with Twi and Rares. Like, yeah she’s a friendly person, but this is excessive.

They also notice that Marinette is a bit… too used to walking around as a Pony and using Magic, while everyone else is like ‘fuck how do hooves work???’.

There’s, like, a half second after they first go through the portal and are transformed where it seems like Lila wasn’t lying, as she looks like an Alicorn.

But then Twilight recognizes ‘Oh. You’re not an Alicorn. You’re a Changeling. I understand the disguise, as some Ponies are still a bit wary of Changelings, but you shouldn’t go around as an Alicorn as that will get you some unwanted attention and cause a lot of issues!’.

Everyone asks about that, and Twi happily explains that Changelings are shapeshifters!

So like, the excuse here is that Lila didn’t lie about going to Equestria before. She did once a few years ago with her mom. But she was a Changeling, not an Alicorn. She’d hoped that she’d be able to trick the classmates, and possibly even Twilight, but didn’t count on being called out so soon!

Unfortunately, everyone believes the reason Twilight accidently gave instead of the ‘Lila’s a dick’ thing. Mari’s frustrated because ‘damn it mom!’ but you know.

Side notes: What kind of Pony everyone is and their Cutie Marks!

Marinette: Pink Unicorn. Cutie Mark is a Ladybug threading a needle.

Adrien: pastel green Pegasus. Cutie Mark is a fencing saber with a neon green pawprint behind it.

Chloé: Black with white markings Crystal Pony. Cutie Mark is a golden crown, but with honeycomb shapes. (Basically imagine Diamond Tiara’s Cutie Mark, but gold and with hexagons instead of circles on the ends)

Alya: orange Unicorn, Cutie Mark is a Wifi signal with a foxtail

Nino: Deep green Earth Pony, Cutie Mark is headphones with a turtle shell

Juleka: Purpleish-black Unicorn, Cutie Mark is a mirror with claw marks behind it/

Rose: pink Earth Pony, Cutie Mark is a rose but the stem is real curly

Nathaniel: lavender Earth Pony, Cutie Mark is a tablet pen and a feather quill (Ya boi has so much trouble attempting to draw!!)

Alix: light blue Pegasus, Cutie Mark is a pocketwatch with wings

Mylene: tan Pegasus, Cutie Mark is a mouse-like theatre mask

Ivan: dark blue Earth Pony, Cutie Mark crossed drumsticks with a pair of ox horns above it.

Kim: red Pegasus, Cutie Mark is a star with a staff weapon in front of it.

Max: brown Unicorn, Cutie Mark is a computer screen in a horseshoe.

Sabrina: Turquoise Earth Pony, Cutie Mark is a dark turquoise notebook with a purple diamond on it.

Lila: orange Changeling. No Cutie Mark. Uses a foxtail design when transformed to look like a regular pony.

So, as I said, the class is realizing that Marinette is a little too comfortable in Equestria. They eventually ask.

Marinette explains the whole ‘Okay, so didn’t tell you because I didn’t know to trust you guys, and then after I did trust you I wasn’t sure how to tell you but actually…’.

She goes over the whole ‘Twi and Rares are the bio moms, Tom and Sabine are her sort-of-adoptive parents but all four are parents to her’ thing.

Everyone’s like ‘Wait… you’re actually a Pony???’ then they’re like ‘HOLD HE FUCK UP YOU’RE A PRINCESS???’

Lila does kinda try and spin the whole ‘oh she didn’t tell you guys’ thing, but Twi and Rares explain the whole thing was about keeping Mari safe. And if certain people found out about her, it’d be bad.

Time for a little bit of the trip itinerary!

The first few days are spent in Ponyville, with the class staying in Twilight’s Castle.

I feel like I should mention that the last couple seasons of mlp aren’t canon to this timeline but whatever.

While they’re enjoying the sights and learning about Equestria, a chunk of the time is spent learning about how to be Ponies. How to walk on four legs and function with hooves, and how to use their various Magics. Nothing too wild. Just flight lessons for Pegasai, controlling strength for Earth Ponies, and basic spell casting for the Unicorns (along with control so they don’t blast something.).

Lila already knows how to use her Changeling spell stuff, unfortunately.

Marinette does discuss Lila with Twi and Rares.

They go into mom mode and are ready to throw down, but don’t.

Twilight asks them to just keep an eye on what Lila says, correct her if she lies, and maybe also ban her from shapeshifting?

Thankfully, Twilight is smart. She knows that banning Lila from shapeshifting altogether might end badly because there’s have to be questions of why. But she can subtly tag Lila with a specific ban.

Basically, Lila’s Magic will malfunction if she tries to shapeshift into Marinette, any of the classmates, or some of the more important Ponies. Lila won’t know about it unless she tries to do that specifically and finds she can’t.

Lila does, of course, try exactly that. She attempted to change into Marinette and be a jerk, but didn’t even get that far.

When she complains, Twilight just handles it by saying that it’s standard that Changelings nearby Royals and such have that ban.

Other highlights of the trip:

They hit some major cities in Equestria. Like the Crystal Empire, Manehattan(Which annoys Chloé a little because ‘I got to go to Manehattan before Manhattan fuck you mom!), Cloudsdale. And eventually, Canterlot!

Meeting various Royals is a trip in itself. I mean, this is Magic Pony Royalty!! But they’re also absolute dorks.

Adrien gets heckled by all of Marinette’s Aunts and Uncles and he’s a little terrified but loves her.

Diamon Tiara attempts to adopt Chloé somehow. Spike reminds her that Chloé does technically have parents back home, but Diamond’s like ‘no! she reminds me of me so much!!!’.

They get to see a Wonderbolts show in Cloudsdale, and a play on Bridleway.

As usual with me and ML fics, Chloé figures out that Mari and Adrien are LB and Chat. She had some strong suspicions before the trip, but after seeing the Cutie Marks of both them and other suspected Heroes, she’s like ‘you motherfuckers!!’.

Later on once they’ve gotten used to being Ponies, they get to go to the old Castle in the Everfree Forest, which is currently half archeological study, and half ‘training for all those bullshit Indiana Jones-like traps that Pony Archeologists have to deal with’. Which means it’s basically an obstacle course!

The final MANE event is an invitation to the Grand Galloping Gala!! With Rarity making all their outfits because she’s GENEROUS like that!!

Last plot point: Lila.

Of course Lila’s lies will be revealed somehow. But tbh…. Since this is a mlp crossover, I sort of want to try giving her some kinda redemption.

I think the best way to do that is to be able to feel the emotions. I mean, Changelings are empaths, basically. She can now physically feel what others feel about one another.

I mentioned in TMOLR that Lila’s lies are part of a cycle. She lies to make people love her, but they don’t love her, just the lies. So she continues the lie to keep the love.

With her empathy powers, she can feel that the love aimed at her is no different than the love they aim at each other. And at first, she brushes it off as her fooling them too well.

It’s actually only once the lies are exposed that she begins to realize that, despite the anger and betrayal her classmates feel, they still care. They still, on some basic level, love her.

She’s not going to be free of consequences, but she might be able to turn it around.

Legit though, I think a mlp crossover is the only time I can genuinely think of having a Lila Redemption because of the kind of bullshit the Ponies have done with redemptions.

#Friendship is Miraculous #ml salt #kinda #it started salty but gets sugary very fast because this is an mlp crossover #idk why the formatting on this post is so weird but I can't fix it so I'll blame Tumblr itself

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mysterylover123 · 4 years

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Todoroki’s Relationships Analysis: Part 2: Chapters 21-44 (Sports Festival

Onward to the Sports Fest

Chapter 22-23: Midoriya

Todoroki first takes notice of Midoriya when he overhears Iida and Uraraka gossiping about Deku’s connection with All Might. This indicates that Todoroki sees Deku as a rival initially because of his connection with the #1. As Inasa later points out, Shoto at this point in his life seems to be always looking away to something he hates in the distance. He only sees the chance to hurt his Dad, and nothing else.

Right before the Sports Festival starts, in the prep room, Shoto walks up to Midoriya and tells him he’s better than him, but that since All Might has his eyes on Midoriya, Todoroki intends to beat him. “I feel no need to pry into that” indicates that Shoto isn’t interested in Midoriya himself at this point, but only in the prestige of defeating All Might’s protege.

He certainly isn’t.

Midoriya accepts his challenge and Shoto’s response is hard to describe...he’s basically just calmly accepting.

In the first event, Shoto instantly gets ahead of the crowd. Momo and Bakugou both reprimand him for his arrogance in thinking he could beat them all so easily, as both of them are able to escape his trap right away.

Cont below the cut

Todoroki probably expected them to escape - as established before, he has respect for Momo and Katsuki’s skills.

His gaze is still focused on Endeavor. He also froze the robots on purpose to take people out, showing a disregard for other peoples’ safety.

He takes the time to notice Bakugou catching up to him; Bakugou then proceeds to pass him and tell him he declared war on the wrong person. Shoto looks like he may be considering that possibility - remember, at this point he has expressed respect for Bakugou’s abilities, outside of any mentor figure or connection, but not for Midoriya’s on his own.

Like in the Provisional License Exam Arc, Shoto gets distracted by a petty fight with a potential rival and leaves himself open to fail, focusing more on his angry and resentment than on trying to win.

And then gets taken down from behind, by someone he stopped paying attention to. When Midoriya surpasses him (and Bakugou stays ahead of him) he looks annoyed, even angry.

And as he continues to tie with the other two, he looks a little nervous.

When he does in fact lose, his initial response isn’t shown, but his image in the results is almost in shock. While Shoto does have a tendency to come in second (the entrance exam, the Quirk Apprehension test), he directly challenged Midoriya, and then lost to him in the first event. He probably was not expecting to actually lose to Deku in the first round. Deku surprises him here.

CAVALRY BATTLE:

Kirishima mentions that Todoroki assembled his team pretty quickly. We already know that Shoto respects Yaoyorozu’s capabilities.

It’s possible, however, that he only picked these three, as he said later on, because they would ‘make the strongest possible combination’. He’s definitely buying into his own assertion about not being there to make friends.

He admits to Iida that he has a vow not to use his heat side, the first time we see him admit this to someone.

His target is Midoriya, like most of the other teams. Deku has 10 million points, so he basically has no choice. He also probably wants to surpass him after losing to him in the first round.

He tells Midoriya firmly that he’ll “be taking that”, challenging him about halfway through with a carefully thought out plan.

We see that Shoto generally works well with Yaoyorozu. However, as she puts it later, she mostly just follows his orders here. He’s the boss, she’s the secondary teammate (as are Kaminari and Iida), the subordinate to his state of being in charge.

Todoroki is kept at bay for almost the entire Cavalry Battle thanks to Midoriya exploiting his weakness. This really pisses Shoto off. He calls Deku a “bastard” for exploiting his weakness here - another sign of Shoto effectively

His response to Deku coming at him with his fire power is one of real terror. He reflexively activates his fire side in this fit of terror. (OFA full power can bring down a building, he’s not wrong).

He’s horrified that he let his left side activate, and looks nearly traumatized afterwards. He blames Midoriya for cornering him, and corners him before lunch to explain why he won’t use his fire side.

BACKSTORY TIME

So Midoriya is the only person Todoroki has so far given the details of his backstory to. I’ve always found the question of confidence to be an important one in determining who to pair up, becuase it indicates who the character feels they can talk to about their personal problems. So far, though, Shoto hasn’t shown much warmth or fondness for Midoriya, so confiding in him here feels differently from Ochaco confiding her backstory in Iida and Deku, or Deku telling Kacchan about OFA, or even Bakugou crying in front of Midoriya on several occasions. As shown above, he begins this confidence glaring at Izuku with a “cold” sort of intimidation.

He explains his own reasoning for why he used his flame side and makes a reasonable guess, but not a correct one, about Izuku’s origin story.

He tends to be looking away from Deku in this scene as he tells him about his origin. Looking off, as always, into the distance, at something not immediately before him.

Here, he finally gets a little emotional and admits something tragic and uncomfortable, ending with his complete pledge. Izuku declares war right back at him, and Todoroki says basically nothing. He has no response.

Honestly, I’m not really sure why Todoroki chooses to tell Deku his backstory. My best guess is that it’s his way of justifying holding back against him. He has an inkling that maybe that’s the wrong thing to do, but he needs to reaffirm that his tactic is correct.

DEKU VS TODOROKI

Todoroki in general here seems genuinely scared of Deku’s power.

He’s rightfully horrified at how far Deku is willing to go (this translation is so weird). Todoroki genuinely doesn’t seem to understand at this point why anyone would go this far to win. It’s hard for him to empathize with this mindset, because he’s used to being the best and winning pretty easily.

He is not without empathy for how much pain Deku is in, of course. He apologizes for hurting him, which Deku probably interprets as condescending to him. He feels bad that his own power is hurting someone - his usual ‘apologies’ catchphrase indicating that he’s apologizing for his op-ness.

Deku calls Todoroki out for refusing to actually look at his opponent and fixating on some offscreen foe.

He still can’t seem to understand why Midoriya would do this. To someone like Todoroki, who’s used to being able to win without having to take any real damage himself, the idea of breaking your own body to win an exhibition match is probably completely incomprehensible.

The only way he can explain it to himself is by assuming Endeavor rigged the match, once again fixating on his old man at the expense of everything else.

As Deku gets crazier and crazier Shoto flashes back to his recital of his ‘trivial’ motivation. Deku then starts bawling Shoto out for refusing to give it his all.

Shoto’s response to this is to tell him to Shut up and start flashing back to his own traumatic backstory. He’s overwhelmed by his ice side and starts falling apart, afraid to use his fire and aware that that might be the only way he can win. As I mentioned in my meta on his ‘Shipping Problem’, this is an issue between Deku and Shoto: Deku is very argumentative and confrontational, Shoto is not.

It isn’t until Deku says something constructive that everything changes. This reminds Shoto of something All Might said, and something his mother said. This prompts him to use his fire for the first time.

This smile (the first time we see Shoto smile) can be read in a number of ways. Mainly, of course, a feeling of freedom, of being able to let loose. Fighting Sero earlier saw Shoto essentially just cut loose with his ice powers and nearly hurt someone. Shoto’s core fear seems to be becoming like his father and harming those around him with his power. But there is an argument that quirks demand to be used, that people need to be able to utilize their abilities. Freeing Shoto up to do so means that Izuku saves him from feeling torn about this. Even the most dangerous and terrifying powers demand their use (ie, Toga’s backstory) and repressing them mentally hurts people in BNHA.

He starts crying about unleashing his powers this way, as Endeavor screams his name at him and yells at him that he’s “living up to the reason he created him”. So, now that Izuku has given Shoto the words he needed to make better use of his quirk, what does he think of Deku now?

Well he’s not wrong. But it does seem that Shoto thinks Midoriya is crazy. Something about him just unsettles him and he can’t seem to understand what motivates Izuku to act like he does.

However, he’s still grateful to him for his support.

He’s borderline stunned when he wins and left deeply conflicted about what to do next. He can only say that Deku distracted him from Endeavor enough that he “forgot about him”. Deku made him use his left side in order to win. He doesn’t use his fire against Iida and seems back, almost, to his old ways - winning fast with only ice and a quietly mumbled “apologies”.

Now we come back to Bakugou. Now, Todoroki, as established before, does have some respect for Bakugou’s abilities. He isn’t completely dismissive of him. He’s not afraid of him (his face when challenging him is never as scared as he looks fighting OFA Deku), and he generally just kind of stays calm around him.

While preparing for his match, Todoroki is thinking about Midoriya’s words. He has probably been considering tactics and that he might need to use his fire to beat Bakugou, which would have led him back to considering what Deku said and his conflict with his mom.

When Bakugou bursts in, Shoto looks a little surprised but immediately goes back to contemplating his hands. Bakugou doesn’t like this and, like Deku, demands “Where are you looking?” A moment of continuity between the two rivals.

Shoto asks Bakugou all about Deku, showing some interest in learning more about the guy and maybe even some guilt for how Deku went out.

Bakugou kicks the table over and demands that Todoroki pay attention to HIM, not his family problems or Deku or anything. This is a Shoto analysis post, not a Bakugou one, so I won’t go into Bakugou’s motives here. Shoto looks annoyed with him after he says this and even a little angry.

He starts his match with a very all out ice attack. To quote from my friend ido100, about Todoroki’s fights here “Against Sero, I think the "apology" was meant to say something like "I need to flip the bastard off, and I'm sorry I have to release the rage on you".Against Bakugo, I think when what went through his mind when Midoriya encouraged him was "Why am I holding back? Endeavor doesn't matter. I'll show him. The only thing that matters is the battle!" Retaliation- "But... It's... not right. Is it?"And during the battle against Bakugo, the comment of the ice being more focused indicates his mind was cleared more into the battle. “

Shoto conitnues to try fighting with only ice, enraging Bakugou when he refuses to fight him with fire.

Aizawa points out that he’s basically lost his energy after fighting Deku. He’s not sure of anything anymore, not sure whether he should use only ice or use both. Before he was unstoppable because he had a clear goal. Now he’s had to compromise his plans and he just can’t go all out either way.

This line is really interesting - Todoroki didn’t feel guilty about not giving Midoriya an all out fight at first, even though both demanded as much from him. His mindset has changed. He doesn’t suspect Bakugou of being paid off by Endeavor. Instead, he feels bad about hurting him.

Midoriya cheers him on from the stands and for a moment Todoroki decides to go all out and use his fire. However, the flashbacks to his past return and in the end he puts the fire out and loses, devastating Bakugou. A part of it may indeed be just as Bakugou fears, that Todoroki doesn’t think he’s a big enough threat to merit an all out fight - after all, he’s a LOT more intimidated by MIdoriya, despite Bakugou throwing freaking Howitzer impact at him.

Afterwards, he’s still thinking about Deku and why All Might took notice of him. Based on Deku’s...advice?...he decides to go make peace with his mom so he can be a better hero in the future.

Sports Fest Shoto starts off madly resolved on winning with just his ice side. He notices Midoriya as All Might’s protege and challenges him, he acknowledges Momo and Bakugou’s strength to some degree, but he’s mostly preoccupied with screwing over Endeavor. He’s forced out of that sort of fog when Deku starts going crazy and berating him. He feels free to let loose for a little while, but remains conflicted and ends up hurting Bakugou’s feelings. The arc leaves him in a state of confusion and ambivalence.

#shoto todoroki #tododeku #todobaku #todomomo #bnha sports festival #sports festival arc

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psyga315 · 4 years

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Fixing RWBY Volume 5

Well, here we are. Volume 5. The hot mess that helped spark a new generation of critics. Sure, Volume 6 also had its share, but it was more focused on Adam and the Bees. Volume 5 destroyed a lot of things and caused people to voice their complaints. It was so bad, RT had to literally appease the public by giving them exactly what they want. You ever wondered why Ruby suddenly gained prominence as a character in Volume 6 or the sudden focus on Blake and Yang’s relationship or even Penny’s return?

But why is Volume 5 so bad? Well, I made a lengthy post about it, but the long story short of it is that a combination of RT’s over ambitiousness of RWBY, its lack of resource management, and the writers clearly having no idea how to pace scenes out led to a Volume that felt more like the writers just wanted to get it over with and failed to live up to its core theme. I brought this up time and time again with my tweaks that each of the volumes carried with it a certain theme.

Volume 1 was about beginnings and friendship, Volume 2 was about stepping into danger, Volume 3 was the theme of falling, Volume 4 was the theme of picking yourself back up, Volume 6 was outgrowing your mentor’s advice, and Volume 7 was about trust and fear. What’s Volume 5’s theme? Well, from the interviews mentioned in the Reddit post and the opening song, the theme revolves around solving problems on your own and, most importantly for this rewrite, shouting “We’re not done here!”, which, if you’ve seen Volume 5, went more like this:

“Let’s wait until the bad guys call us to fight them. Then we’ll cry about how things aren’t going our way until this guy goes about feeling up- I mean, healing up this girl.”

Obviously, this needs to be changed. Unlike the other tweaks where I change one or two major elements of a Volume and mostly shuffle things around for better coherency, this is just gonna outright be a full rewrite, since while I mostly let things go as they are, the problem with Volume 5 is that nothing should go as they are.

In fact, all the tweaking I did is basically building up for Volume 5. All the bits where Ozpin is untrustworthy? To better sell Yang getting all pissy about BIRDS. Hazel’s appearance? To make him a much more prominent character. Everything in regards to Adam and the White Fang? To set up a better closure for the White Fang subplot. It’s all been to try and fix Volume 5. If Volume 3 is the lynchpin for which all other Volumes try to imitate, then Volume 5 is the lynchpin for which all other Volumes try to avoid being. Like I said, RT had to basically give viewers a shit ton of cookies just to make up for how bad Volume 5 was.

So, instead of going by this arc by arc, I’m gonna go the more traditional route and rewrite the Volume episode by episode. My obligatory recommendation is a mishmash of Volume 5 rewrites that Unicorn of War made. I mean, he made about 3? 4? I lost count.

Episode 0 (Trailers)

Okay, these need to be changed. The point of a character short is to highlight the character’s strong points. Not make them weak or focus on someone else. Ruby’s character short did this, Adam’s character short did this, the original trailers did this, so why the hell did they drop the ball with Weiss losing to common undead mooks and Blake listening to a backstory that isn’t even in the show proper?

So, we’re going to change all this. Weiss’s character short has her fighting against the Beowovles and she manages to win. Winter comes by, but points out how sloppy she was and reveals that she held back. She then gives a foreshadowing line of “if this were a real battle, you’d most likely be bleeding out from that last blow.”

Blake’s character short goes more into detail of what happened to Ghira. Namely him getting gunned down by random humans and in a later scene, Blake fighting them to get revenge, only to stop herself. Adam steps in and personally finishes off the humans, which causes Blake to realize just how much of an asshole Adam is.

Yang’s character short is somewhat the same, but drop the stupid plotline of Ruby learning hand to hand, since RT wants to pretend it never existed to begin with. Also, let’s not have Yang’s aura flicker and tell the Audience she has no aura when you literally just explained a day or so ago that no aura means no semblance.

Alright, now let’s finally get into it:

Episode 1

We open right where the stinger of Volume 4 leaves off with Jaune and co visiting Pyrrha’s mom and dad and dropping off a spare shield that RT joked about in an interview that forever scarred the Floof Artist and blurred the lines of if RWBY should be an anime or a cartooooooooooon. It’s meant to set the tone for this Volume as we get a brief bit where Ruby and Qrow explore the rest of Mistral and not just look at mat paintings. Also, show that it’s in a state of chaos instead of two people with some bamboo heart plant thing.

We also have bits that catch up with our cast. Weiss hears a distress signal and much to Pilot Boi’s demands, she commandeers the ship and flies to them. Blake and Ilia meet for the first time since the fight and Blake argues with her on why she’s vouching so much for Adam. Ilia only warns her to leave Menagerie before she gets hurt and leaves before Blake asks for details. Yang and Heather gang up and get Not!Bakugou to drag them to the bandits.

RNJR and Qrow meet up with Lionheart, who fills them in on the crisis as Qrow tells him that he had to explain the Relics since Ozpin is no longer with them. Namely, Mistral has tons of Grimm going around, not helped by bandits who are making bad matters worse. When Qrow mentions that the Spring Maiden is among the bandits, he nearly has a heart attack. “Bandits are one thing but magical bandits!?”

He also answers Jaune’s question with the same response: “Nothing but lies and forgeries.”, which makes Jaune angry and openly complains about it before Ruby tries to help him. “Hey! We may not have gotten what we wanted, but people here need our help.” When Ruby says this, Qrow decides to inform the group about the possible home base of Raven’s tribe. Note that he does not mention that she’s Yang’s mom nor do they know. Lionheart is a little startled and warns that they only have one shot at this and if they fail, Raven’s tribe will scatter into parts unknown, if they haven’t already. He tries to get them to stay, but Ruby is insistent to stop Raven at the very least, with securing the Spring Maiden being a secondary mission, not asking why she’s important, since she kinda got the idea from Jaune when he recounted how Ozpin forced the Maiden powers onto Pyrrha.

As they leave, Lionheart sighs and warns Watts about it, only for him to say that this game of chess was out of his hand to begin with. The most Lionheart can do is provide the team with the one Huntsman who is at his Academy…

Later that evening, Qrow goes for a drink while RNJR prepare for their mission. He is approached by Oscar and Lionheart. Lionheart says that Oscar had arrived at Haven days ago and refused to leave when he’s told that school’s out for the summer. He leaves Oscar to Qrow while saying how “a day out in the field is worth a week in school.”

As Oscar is alone with Qrow, he asks for his cane in a voice that is not his. Ending the episode there.

Episode 2

Lionheart informs Salem about RNJR arriving at Haven with Qrow and that they’re on their way to retrieve the Spring Maiden. He advises Salem to act quickly, but Salem hushes him (no, she does not strangle him) and says that she’s got the situation under control. She then advises Watts that he is no longer needed at Mistral and is to return to Evernight before the others find him. Watts uses the Seer to teleport and he and Cinder have a bit of a snarkfest now that Cinder can talk before Watts leaves to make Tyrian’s tail.

Cinder then asks Salem to personally be the one that kills Ruby, only to be warned that Ruby’s Silver Eyes are a hazard to her. “She is merely a novice with the Silver Eyes and yet put you on death’s door… I don’t want you to get hurt again.” Cinder just flares up and goes “I. Won’t.” And storms off.

Weiss battles with Lancer Wasps like in the original, but she’s acting on initiative so people are being saved. Battle proceeds like normal, but when Weiss crashes the plan, she and Pilot Boi survive before being kidnapped by Raven.

We cut to Adam and Sienna doing their usual talk, but instead of Sienna going out like a bitch, she actually has a battle with Adam because I assume in this universe, RT knows better than to fuck up like this. I’d compare it to Maul vs. Vizsla from the Clone Wars.

Meanwhile, Ruby and co. are ready to depart before Qrow approaches them, drunk, with Oscar, who quickly informs the group that they may know him better as Ozpin… Cue Jaune becoming shocked at first… then turning into outright rage. End episode.

Episode 3

We open with Kali making a speech on Adam’s plans to destroy Haven Academy and the rest of the Menagerians hesitant to step forward. One of the guards approaches Kali, then stabs her. In the chaos, the guard runs off, then appears through the crowd, shedding her disguise and revealing herself to the audience as Ilia, who gives her whole “Now is the time to side with Adam” speech and also reveals how her parents died in the dust mines. This goes into a brief scuffle between Sun and Ilia that Ilia gets out of by disguising herself as Blake when Blake joins the fight. This is where you can do that Blake slaps Sun bit, but instead, it’s Ilia who slaps Sun.

We then cut to Jaune slamming Oscar against the wall and shouting: “YOU BASTARD! HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE!?” Ruby tries to pull Jaune away, but he won’t budge. Oscar, still in Ozpin’s voice, gives the explanation that he is able to reincarnate but hides why or how he can do this. In fact, he hides that his “reincarnation” actually means his soul becomes linked to another’s, much to Oscar’s chagrin. He explains that Lionheart has been very sketchy and warns not to listen to what he says. He then advises that they should move quickly. Note that he doesn’t say that they need to train, since the training arc goes nowhere and we need to not only streamline this but make it a lot more entertaining. Ozpin then de-possesses Oscar, who cries about his hurt back, immediately bringing Ozpin’s methods into question for Ruby for the first time.

Weiss awakes to find herself in a cage next to Pilot Boi, who just gives her a comedic calling out just before Vernal and her troops come in and drag out Pilot Boi. Vernal looks to Weiss and tells the bandits “she’s important. Leave her be.” Weiss asks what’s going on as Vernal tells Weiss about how she’s going to be used as a bartering chip. For what, we don’t know yet, but it’s clarified that she’s not being ransomed back to her father. Vernal then explains that Pilot Boi is merely a spare and that they can do what they want. As she says that, she goes to Pilot Boi as he is held down in front of Raven. Vernal approaches Pilot Boi as Weiss looks on in worry. We then end the episode with a crash of lightning.

Episode 4

Heather and Yang get ambushed, but beat up the gang with ease, then enter the tribe, though not without seeing Pilot Boi’s charred corpse crucified outside the gates as a warning for intruders. Heather and Yang get their weapons ready.

We cut to RNJR, Oscar, and Qrow, who are walking to Raven’s camp. Along the way, Oscar is given a lecture from Qrow on Aura, namely on how to activate it. He then asks Ruby, as she’s the youngest of the group, if fighting is as easy as huntsmen make it out to be. Ruby gives the naïve answer of “of course!” though Jaune brings up how inexperience is discouraged. As Oscar grows afraid of Jaune, Jaune sighs and apologizes. “Sorry, I’m not entirely sure what’s going on with you and Oz right now… I don’t hate you… Just the voice inside you.”

“I know… I hate it too…”

Qrow stops them and tells them they’ve arrived.

Cut to the tribe letting Yang and Heather in where they confront Raven… Heather questions if she’s the one responsible for not just the destruction of several villages, but also the disappearance of huntsmen too. Already, this should send warning flags, but Yang decides to ignore them.

Yang: Take off that mask, Raven.

Raven: Is that anyway to treat your mother? {Heather gives a WTF look}

Yang: My mother is dead and you know it.

Raven: {sneers} Regardless. You’ve proven yourself by coming out to find me. I guess you grew tired of Ozpin’s teachings and wanted to join the winning side.

Yang: That’s not why I’m here.

Raven: Then why are you here?

Yang: For my sister.

Raven: Well, hate to disappoint you, but she’s not here.

Yang: That’s why you’re going to bring me there with your Semblance. It can create portals with you and a close bond, right?

Raven: So… you know about that. Well, unfortunately for you, I don’t respect that brat enough to make a portal.

Yang: {eyes go red} Don’t talk about my sister that way!

Raven: What’s so important about her anyways? From her eyes, she’s already a lost cause for that Ozpin.

Yang: What do you know about Ozpin? You got kicked out the moment he saw that you’re using his teachings to kill innocent people!

Raven: Is that what Taiyang told you? Foolish. Simply foolish. I didn’t get kicked out of STRQ. I left STRQ. I’d rather use those teachings for better things than what Ozpin had in store. He turned my brother and your ‘mother’ into his personal attack dogs and put one of them down when they got too gabby.

Yang: {about to go into a frenzy} You shut your mouth!

Vernal: Are we going to have a problem?

Yang: {sees she has Myrtenaster} W-where did you find that?

Raven: {nods to Vernal, who goes over to reveal a caged Weiss} We had anticipated your arrival since you stepped foot on Anima. The fact that one of your friends just so happened to be close by gave us the perfect bargaining chip.

Yang: What are you going to do to her?

Raven: Nothing, if you join us. {Weiss looks at Raven, having suddenly figured out that’s what Vernal meant}

Yang: And if I refuse?

Raven then signals Vernal to execute Weiss. Just then, Ruby intervenes and speed blitzes her. Weiss then breaks out of the prison with her summon as JNROQ come in. The group is surrounded by bandits as everyone quickly finds out that Raven is Yang’s mom. Ren is the first to attack, seeing Vernal and believing her to be the child he made friends with back in Kuroyuri. This begins a massive clash that is sure to sate the appetites of those who want to say “RWBY’s about four girls who kick ass” and give a taste of what’s to come.

The group have little time to figure out what’s going on. Just that Ren, Weiss and Nora are fighting Vernal (this is where you have Weiss trying to summon only to get shot by Vernal), Jaune is battling some bandits with Oscar and Heather, and Ruby and Yang try to fight Raven, only for Qrow to interfere and say that Raven’s on a whole different level. Raven retreats and after battling some bandits for quite a bit, Hazel comes out of the tent. Turns out that Fort Castle (the place where Adam fought Sienna) was not too far from Raven’s base. Ruby and Hazel reunite briefly before Hazel apologizes and enters the fray. He makes everyone his bitch and that’s without the Dust Crystals. Heather and Qrow are the only ones to give him an even fight, but he quickly overwhelms them too thanks to his Semblance.

While the group manages to fend off the bandits, it’s clear that with Hazel, Raven, and Vernal, they need to make a retreat, especially since Raven asks Hazel to bring in “that Adam boy”, making Yang go full PTSD mode. However, before they could leave, Hazel defeats Heather. Ruby protests that he shouldn’t kill her, but her pleas fall on deaf ears as he finishes Heather off. Ruby begins to cry and asks why he killed her. Hazel just replies “She made her choice.” The group retreat back to Mistral as we end the episode with Raven going back into the camp as we see that a Seer Grimm is inside her tent.

This reveals a rather big twist: Raven is also in league with Salem’s crew, acting as Huntsmen removal instead of Tyrian and Hazel (since they were too busy with their stuff in Volume 4) and it also explains why Salem and the others aren’t as hard-pressed about the Spring Maiden as they should be. They already have her in their grasps and, were it not for Cinder getting Silver-Eye’d, Cinder would have immediately gained the Spring Maiden powers.

Episode 5

After that rollercoaster of an episode, the story relaxes with Sun trying (comedically) to get people to join in the battle for Haven, only for Blake to stop him and tell him that it’s futile. She just visited her mom, who is currently recovering in the house, and tells Sun that they should just give up and leave. Sun refuses, since he wants to give Adam a thing or two about giving Faunus like him a bad name. Were I to completely redo Sun’s character, I’d definitely see him as Claude from Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

Blake then explains to Sun who Ilia is, complete with a Burning the Candle-like flashback. This is where her backstory comes in. She then explains who Adam is. We don’t get a flashback and even so, she knows little about him. Just that he came to the White Fang one day, asserted himself, then when Ghira was assassinated, took the reins of the White Fang, leaving Sienna Khan to be a puppet leader. As such, Blake believes that she’s the one who made Adam the monster he is, when audience members can obviously tell that’s not the case. It’s just Blake putting herself down and Sun points out how this is probably something Adam said to her to make her feel small. If you’re not getting it by now, Sun is basically where Blake learns a lot of Adam’s tactics from and eventually, she becomes a much better person at handling Adam’s BS. The reason why he knows all this is from his own personal experience. To ensure there’s no “mystery box” element, I’m gonna nip it in the bud and say his father’s the RWBY version of King Louie… Which given how he sings about wanting “man’s red flower” and how people compare Adam to Mowgli because he killed Sienna Khan…

Oooooooh, this could be really cool but this is a tweak, not a fanfic. FOCUS! … I want to say that Adam was an experiment by Vacuan scientists (read: shamans who prefer using Dust as science) before being dumped to the Schnees as part of a deal and that’s how we got his Semblance being as weird as it is.

Back at Haven’s dorm, RWYJNR are shaken up from the battle, not to mention Ruby having personally seen her friend’s father murder someone before her eyes. Oscar himself is rather shaken up. Qrow is the only person unfazed, but that’s because he’s always drunk instead. While everyone takes their time in recovering, Ruby and Oscar talk about the future, as Heather was an experienced Huntress. This is where the infamous speech comes in, but Ruby doesn’t blame Salem for killing Penny and Pyrrha, rather she blames Cinder, then mentions how she’s a pawn of Salem and expresses doubt if they could beat her.

Cut to the Albains. They have no communications with Adam and so they have to move on their own. One of them decides “let’s kill Kali!” and the other’s like “uh, isn’t that going to cause people to turn against us?” “No, no, it’s okay dude, they can trust us!” all while Ilia is like “… wtf?” and Yuma’s like “only here for a few minutes, use me effectively.”

Episode 6

Qrow investigates and finds that all the other Huntsmen have met unfortunate ends and all assigned to the same quest: stop the bandits. He mutters about how Raven could do such a thing, only to find a young girl crying and asking for her mother. It’s made clear that this is Heather’s kid and Qrow, for the first time in a longass while, begins to feel remorse, if only because he mistook her for Ruby.

We cut to Raven as she has a meeting with Vernal, Hazel, and Adam. It’s clear that RWYJNR are gonna try and return and rather than prepare for a rematch, Raven proposes to nip it in the bud. She also dotes on Adam a bit, saying how he is better than Yang in every way possible. We don’t know the full extent of what she means just yet, but we’ll find out later.

Ren and Yang have a chat about Raven. Ren’s absolutely pissed that Yang’s mother is the person who torched his town and stole his friend (he assumes she’s kidnapped and is being forced to fight against her will) while Yang is just as irritated that Raven tried to use her friend as leverage. Weiss copes with having seen someone die in front of her and Nora comforts her, casually joking that, if Vernal tried that on her, she’d be sorry. Ruby, Oscar and Jaune discuss on what to do going forward, having Ozpin come out so that they can get some sort of advice, much to Jaune’s chagrin.

Ozpin, however, refuses to speak. Before Jaune could get upset with Oz, he cites that even walls have ears. Cut to Yang as she sees a red-eyed raven outside her house. She quickly remembers the red-eyed raven from Patch, both the one that screamed at Ruby and the one that was there when she lost her arm. She instantly goes on the defensive as the bird flies through the window and changes to Raven. Yang asks how she can do that and she merely says “Oz did this to me.” End of episode.

Episode 7

Everyone rushes in as Raven brings in her proposition: Surrender Yang and she’ll spare the rest of the group. Refuse and they will have the fight come to them. Ozpin interjects and offers Yang in trade for the Spring Maiden, to which everyone, Qrow included, goes “WHAT THE ACTUAL F, DUDE!?” The two have a little back and forth as Ozpin makes clear that she chose to have these powers and points out that if she was salty about being able to turn into a bird at free will without any drawbacks, he could gladly take them back by force. This casual threat is enough to make Raven back off, only to warn the others that a storm is coming.

With that, Ozpin is forced to explain quite a bit. This, unfortunately, is where we can’t mince the scene, since Ozpin has to explain what’s going on. I guess the only way to make it more effective is a little back and forth where the characters share what they do know about Ozpin’s magic and Ozpin fills them in on what they don’t. First and foremost, Yang is not upset about Ozpin and BIRDS. The person being upset is Jaune, especially since Ozpin reveals that not only did he create the Maidens in the first place, but also that by “reincarnate” he meant inhabit the body of a young boy. This is made worse when he reveals accidentally that he is able to reincarnate earlier than intended if he chooses to die instead of being killed.

This sets Jaune off since, as far as he can tell, Ozpin is responsible for Pyrrha’s death more than Cinder. Cinder may have killed her, but it’s Ozpin who not only put Pyrrha in that position, but also paved the way for Cinder to overpower her. Before they could get into a tussle, Yang shouts and has Ozpin promise “no more lies, no more half truths”. He obviously lies about promising that and Qrow can see the crossed fingers behind his back.

We then end with Cinder and co arriving to make negotiations with Raven.

Episode 8

The beginning actually stays the same, all things considered. The only massive change is that Yang is not easily convinced to want Blake back because Weiss told her “lol, my mummy was drunk so shut it”. In fact, we see the others talk about Blake and Jaune is the most bitter, even more than Yang, because Blake was a White Fang member and refused to share any information regarding them, which could have led to an easier time dealing with the Fall.

Ruby puts her foot down and tells Jaune to stop being so salty over Pyrrha’s death, but is quickly outvoted since Ren and Nora are also upset that Pyrrha died. She’s frustrated and goes to interrupt Qrow and Ozpin discussing what to do regarding Raven. She asks Ozpin what he knows about the Silver Eyes, saying how it’s the only thing that might incapacitate Vernal. Ozpin tells her he doesn’t know too much about Silver Eyes, as he did not have any himself, but reassures her that the Silver Eyes would have no impact on a Maiden.

Raven and Cinder chat and Cinder makes it clear that it’s time for the Spring Maiden to relinquish her powers to her, reassuring Vernal that she can make it quick and painless. Raven stops Cinder and says that Ruby and the others have set their sights on the Spring Maiden and that if she were to take them now, she’d have a target on her back, reminding Cinder of the Silver Eyes. She then makes a proposal. Salem has given them a blank check on how Haven falls since they have all the cards on the table, so why not kill two birds with one stone… Or rather, kill one crow and seven kids with one army?

Blake’s bit with Ilia stays the same as well, but the difference is that Ilia wants to keep Blake for herself instead of sending her to Adam, saying how she can keep her safe. Yes, this edges her more into the Psycho Lesbian route, but unintentionally. She genuinely cares for Blake’s well-being and not in some sort of yandere bit. Sun intervenes and the group runs back to the house while the guards have a war with the White Fang.

Episode 9

We instantly kick off the Battle of Menagerie instead of a long, drawn out sequence of Raven talking with Cinder. It mostly stays the same, but how the house catches fire is different. Blake sees Ilia in the dark, shoots her and goes “rly?”, though, in the middle of this, the Albains begin to fight amongst each other.

Corsac is willing to kill the Belladonnas for the cause (“THEY’VE GIVEN US NOTHING BUT GRIEF!”) while Fennec is trying to convince him that Adam is a lost cause and they need to replace him. During this scuffle, it’s revealed that Corsac was the one who set up that roadside ambush that killed Ghira, believing that Ghira was weak and that they needed a stronger leader ready to give the Faunus much needed progress. Fennec tells him that all it’s given them is chaos.

The two clash and set the house ablaze. Ilia realizes that Blake would be in immediate danger and struggles to save her instead of seeing the assassination to the end, thus redeeming her as she nearly dies saving Blake. Sun sacrifices himself to get Kali out of the burning building, but its revealed to have been his Semblance at work. When Sun shows up, Blake finally slaps him for realises, and this time, for good reason.

Blake gives her “humans didn’t do this” speech, Ilia playing a recording of Corsac’s hand in Ghira’s death, and this motivates the crowd to fight for Haven. Fennec emerges, heavily burned and carrying his brother’s tattered cloak. He has much to atone for and offers to remain on Menagerie with Kali to establish a new White Fang, giving Blake the task to destroy the old one. Ilia, Sun, and Blake go with the Menagerian army to Haven, with their captain, having comedically been neglected all Volume, finally getting the spotlight… He’s going to steal Robyn’s line of “still here, everyone” because honestly, that has a better spot here than in the show proper.

Episode 10

Lionheart messages the crew that Raven had left Vernal at his office and they go. They know full well it’s a trap and so Qrow elects to stay behind in bird form. Lionheart instantly stammers and freaks as he sees kids and not Qrow.

Lionheart: W-where is Qrow?

Ruby: I don’t know if you’ve heard of us, but we’re Teams RWBY and JNPR. We’ve accomplished many things without an adult to save us or tell us what to do-

Weiss: Uh, technically-

Ruby: {whispers to Weiss} Ssssh! You’re ruining my groove! {speaks to Lionheart} Even though we’re incomplete, our friends are by our side. And that’s why… {she points her sniper rifle at Lionheart} We’re not going to fall for your tricks!

As she fires, a fireball comes out and there’s a large explosion as Cinder flies through the smoke. The Battle of Haven begins as, one by one, the villains enter the fray. First Cinder, then Emerald and Mercury, then Raven and Vernal, and lastly Hazel. Lionheart is reluctant to fight, but Oscar forces his hand.

Meanwhile, outside, Qrow is attacked by Adam and the two duel it out for the episode. Maybe have Qrow quip a line like “so, you’re the one who severed my niece’s arm? Well, why don’t you give me a leg?” and some joke about equivalent exchange that would be funnier if Vic had voiced Qrow in this universe.

I’m not gonna sugar coat it, the Battle of Haven, at least in the opening act, is a battle royale and one that V5 should have been. We have six people going up against six people, each of them taking turns at their opponents and switching out every now and then, the only consistent battle pairings are Qrow vs. Adam and Lionheart vs. Ozpin. By the midway point, though, the fight has been finalized to…

· Jaune vs. Cinder

· Ren vs. Raven

· Weiss vs. Vernal

· Nora vs. Emerald

· Yang vs. Mercury

· Ruby vs. Hazel

Each of them gives their own reason why they’re fighting. Jaune and Ren want to make their opponent pay, Weiss wants Vernal to give her back her weapon (yeah, she never gave it back), Yang is angry that Mercury framed her, Nora tries to help Ren but is interrupted by Emerald, and Ruby fights Hazel to reason with him.

Eventually, the battle comes to a head when Emerald uses her illusion powers and Ruby witnesses it. She quickly realizes she caused Pyrrha to dismantle Penny and goes ballistic. Before Emerald knows it, she gets speed blitzed and beaten up by Ruby’s fists. Ruby then chops off Mercury’s prosthetics as soon as she notices them, knocking both out of the fight. It then becomes a little one-sided as Nora helps Ren fight Raven and Yang helps Ruby fight Hazel, where Ruby gives her “I’m angry” line.

Jaune nearly getting killed by Cinder, along with Weiss’s aura running out and screaming in pain, causes Ruby’s Silver Eyes to go off as it begins to burn Cinder. Cinder gives her a fireball to the chest in desperation, destroying Ruby’s aura and leaving her venerable for a hit. Jaune swings his sword and, while he misses like in the original, gives Cinder a deep cut on her cheek, right below where the burn is. Qrow’s fight with Adam knocks him into the room and Adam waltzes in, giving Yang the PTSD trip of a lifetime, not helped by Adam gloating…

“I didn’t realize that when we fought at Beacon, I was facing Raven’s own daughter… Now I know what she means when she said I was the superior child!”

Boom! Plot twist! Adam’s Raven’s son! Well, adopted son. But still!

Also, Cinder decides to make Jaune’s life a living hell by trying to stab Weiss… But Ruby runs and takes the blow for her, ending the episode.

Episode 11

The episode starts off rather similarly, with the exception of Ruby being the one that’s mortally wounded. Jaune cries and says “we need you!”, which given what he said in Volume 4, fits better.

The major remainder of the fight is focused on fighting Hazel, Lionheart and Adam, as Emerald and Mercury are still out of commission and Cinder, Raven, and Vernal f off to the vault. The two prove to be a powerhouse, especially since Hazel powers up Adam’s Moonslices and Lionheart handing Hazel more Dust Crystals. Ruby heals up and tells Jaune “whatever you’re doing, don’t stop”, only for Jaune to go “then don’t take my hands off the wound!”

Pretty standard battle and we have a reveal that Raven was the true Maiden.

Episode 12

The battle comes to a second head when Blake’s army arrives, forcing Adam to leave the battle and confront Blake. His fight happens like before, but Blake appears behind him instead of in the path of the blade.

Hazel, meanwhile, is not tiring out for a second. Not even a stab from a Lancer is enough to take him out. Ruby comes to and evens out the battle by speed blitzing him. Yang and Blake meet each other for the first time, but as Yang tries to reconcile with Blake, not only is she reminded of the bitter words she gave her in V3, but Adam’s presence makes it a hard-emotional hurdle to break. As soon as Oscar warns Yang that the Relic of Knowledge should not fall in to the wrong hands (during this, he explains what’s so important about the Vault), Yang goes after Raven, Cinder, and Vernal, much to Ruby’s dismay. She ends up losing her arm from Mercury grabbing it.

The Battle of the Bitches remains unchanged because it is GOAT.

Episode 13

The final episode of the Volume (because Volumes 6 & 7 are also 13 episodes long) has Blake defeating Adam, with Sun breaking off one of his horns because Monkey King. Sun gives chase, only for Adam to almost kill him were it not for Ilia saving Sun. You can have it so that Ilia is killed by Adam here.

Blake joins in and we have a fight scene with Hazel & Lionheart vs RWBJNROQ. It’s short, but everyone gets a hit in. Ruby realizes that there’s only one way to stop Hazel. She flies over and aims her sniper rifle at the Dust Crystals on Hazel’s arms. Weiss and Blake hold Hazel down with Glyphs and Shadows as Hazel looks at Ruby. He quickly realizes what she’s doing and asks:

Hazel: What do you think you’re doing!? What would Gretchen think of this?!

Ruby: … You made your choice.

BANG! As the sniper rifle hits the crystal, it triggers a chain reaction that causes Hazel to explode, killing him in the process.

Cut to Yang and Raven. The two have a stand off as Yang begins to piece everything together. We have a flashback of the fall of Kuroyuri, this time from the little girl’s perspective. She’s upset since she brought the Bandits to the place and caused enough havoc to have it be destroyed by Grimm. She protests this to Raven who, having run out of patience for her, stabs her and says how she’ll use her powers in ways she can never imagine, mirroring how Cinder killed Pyrrha.

Yang bitterly calls out Raven for murdering a child and Raven claims it was mercy. They get into a heated argument, but no one wishes to move. It becomes apparent that, with Raven out of aura and Yang without an arm and also having very low aura, this battle will not only be quick, but deadly. And yet, the battle lasts for a good chunk of time as the two try to avoid getting hit, Yang out maneuvering Raven while Raven uses her magic. It ends with Yang delivering a fatal punch to Raven’s gut as Raven lays dying in her arms. Raven warns her that, should she take the Relic, Salem will hunt her down. As such, she refuses to give her the Maiden Powers and dies without Yang in her thoughts. Yang goes to get the Relic, then begins to cry.

Emerald awakens from the sound of the explosion and finds that she is out numbered. She goes all “CINDER WILL TAKE ALL OF YOU OUT!” before Yang comes up and devastates Emerald so much, she makes the Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Salem. However, this isn’t a jump scare. Rather, it’s a full-on boss battle as RWBY try to face it like in the opening. While they realize it’s a hallucination, their mind makes it so real that one hit from it is enough to knock Yang out.

Lionheart sees this and, deciding to be brave for the first (and last) time in a long while, stockpiles the remaining Dust Crystals he has and tells the others to get out as he deals with the illusion. Before they do, he tells Oscar to tell the others about his betrayal. Although he was brave in this final moment, he wants everyone to know he was always a coward. He then sets the crystals into overdrive and explodes, taking both him and the illusion out, but also collapsing Haven’s main hall down and with it, the entrance to the Vault.

The group are confronted with police and concerned Faunus… Cut to a few days later as Menagerian Faunus are welcomed with open arms and news of Lionheart’s heroic sacrifice makes headlines. A manhunt is put out for Adam, Emerald, and Mercury, with Cinder being presumed dead.

After having rested for a bit, Ruby confronts Jaune about wanting to kill Cinder and tells him that she doesn’t feel anything good when she hurt Emerald and Mercury and even feels horrible for having killed Hazel. Nora and Ren join in and tell Jaune not to doubt himself for a second. Basically, that bit in V7 is here. RNJR disbands, but not without a tearjerking remark from Jaune where he says that “at least one team is back together”… Not bitterly, surprisingly enough. Oscar joins in and asks Jaune if he’s willing to take him in. Jaune asks for his name so they can figure out how to name themselves and when he hears that it’s Oscar Pine, he just chuckles and says “Well, there’s always JNPR…”

Blake and Yang are clearly shown to not be back together, but Yang is willing to let Blake stay for now because that’s all that matters. Weiss and Ruby talk about Ruby sacrificing herself for Weiss and she chews her out in a rather sweet way. Qrow, meanwhile, pours one out for Raven. She may have been a bitch, but she was still his sister. Oscar comes and calls for a meeting. With the vault no longer accessible for the time being and the Spring Maiden having gone to someone random, they have no choice but to leave for Atlas. There’s a pause before Weiss goes “WHAT THE FU-”

Roll credits.

DVD Exclusive Episode

This is where we have the STRQ flashback episode now that one of the core members is dead. It is a simple how they formed and how they eventually left, with Raven leaving STRQ on her own terms soon after she’s inducted into the shadow war, Summer leaving on her final mission assigned by Ozpin, and Taiyang retiring as a Huntsman. Qrow, the last one, laments on how everyone he loves is gone and is driven to drink more, foreshadowing to his alcoholism spike in V6. Ozpin comes to him and gives him a rather heartwarming speech about how time heals all wounds, using RWBY and JNPR as examples of this.

As he ends the speech, we end on a small girl in the middle of Shion village, now going through a rebuilding, before her eyes flare up and she begins to use gusts of wind to help clean up the debris.

And that’s how you tweak Volume 5. Granted, a lot of stuff has been changed and makes at least one hole in the V6 Tweak, namely the DVD exclusive episode for that. To which I say… Make it an extended look at the beginnings of Remnant 2.0. Apparently, there was a lot more information RT couldn’t squeeze into The Lost Fable, so do that.

With that, the Tweaking Series is finally done. I don’t think I’ll do V8 unless it proves to be just as problematic as V7, V6, or V5. This has been a rather entertaining ride and I hope you guys loved these entries. Adios, amigos.

#RWDE #Rewrite #RWBY #RWBY Rewrite

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aftermathdb · 5 years

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DEATH BATTLE Review: Captain Marvel vs. Shazam.

The DEATH BATTLE Curse lives on.

Two heroes, with their title and role forced upon them by a mentor now duke it out to see who is a true marvel.

Captain Marvel′s Preview.

Thanks to a certain new movie that’s pretty popular right now, we have a general idea as to who she is. Inspired by her Navy dad, she wanted to be an astronaut. In order to do this, she joined the Air Force. But, one day, she was caught in an explosion from a machine called the Psyche-Magnitron.

Since (Plot twist) her mom was actually a Kree all along, Carol wasn’t killed, but instead, she got super powers!

But it was basically like being drunk. Except, instead of driving and ending up running people over with her car, Carol’s ‘drunken’ persona was a hero. Eventually, she figured it all out, and went through a lot of names. Like Ms Marvel, Warbird, Whiz Bang…

Until one day, a dear friend passed on. Inspired by her mentor, Carol then took on the name Captain Marvel.

Captain Marvel has plenty of superhuman abilities. From your standard flight, super strength, speed, and a healing factor. She also has “precognitive awareness” that we’re just going to call a 7th Sense for the sake of this review.

But, Carol’s real power comes in form of her energy absorption. And when she gets enough of it, she basically turns into Moltres from Pokemon.

Her 7th Sense can give her an edge up on opponents too. As it lets her know what’s going to happen to her on the battlefield. And in her Binary form, she can bust up planets.

And what hero rundown would be complete without some impressive feats?

But Carol is hardly invincible. She’s got her limits on absorption, and her feats only go so far. Also, she doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to magic.

But, as an Avenger, Air force pilot, a NASA security guard and so much more, Carol’s not one to give up in the face of danger.

Shazam′s Preview.

Thanks to a certain new movie that’s pretty popular right now, we have a general idea as to who he is. Fifteen-Year old Billy Batson was an orphan kid, who didn’t really know the meaning of family. But one day, after running from some bullies, he was whisked away to the Rock of Eternity, where he was given incredible powers that he could access at the shout of a single word:

SHAZAM!

And with that, he became Captain Marvel… Okay, history lesson time.

See, Marvel kinda got a bit upset about the whole thing kinda intruding on their name. Carol came in about 20 years later than Billy there, but it’s a bit more complex than that.

See, Captain Marvel wasn’t originally made by DC, but by Fawcett Comics as a competitor to Superman (Incidentally, Fawcett is now used regularly in Shazam mythos. Whether it be the city that Billy resides in, or the school he goes to, it’s always there somewhere).

Anyways, DC wasn’t a fan of competition, and took Fawcett to court.

And they won. Meaning that Captain Marvel is now DC property.

But then Marvel got in on the game, and it got even more complex from there. Because of how copyright and trademarks worked, there was a bit of a feud of what was going on.

Long story short, Marvel owned the name, but DC owned the character. So, they battled it out in the courts until DC decided to just name the character Shazam.

As Shazam, Billy gains access to these powers:

For the record, Zeus once channeled enough power to destroy the shattered God, a guy who was originally broken by the original Big Bang.

Shazam also has a lot of other powers to draw from.

From a healing factor, to the ability to teleport to the Rock of Eternity, to being able to share his power with those he considers family, Billy’s got it all.

And for those of you who haven’t figured it out, like Boomstick, here’s how the word works:

With all these powers, he’s pulled off some ridiculous stuff.

Now, to match the Flash’s speed, Shazam would have to be able to match the Speed Force, which means that Shazam’s best speed would have to match up to about…

……… Still not a number that’s faster than EXE, but considering that it would be the Speed of Mercury vs. the Speed Force, I’d say that that’s a major move for the Flash.

Shazam also once did this:

Now, he once got hit by a thing called the Tessaract Bomb.

If you’re wondering what it does, then brace yourselves…

That. He survived thanks to his powers, but the fact that he survived it is impressive.

Of course, Shazam’s experience isn’t that impressive considering… He’s 15. But the fact that he’s managed to keep up with the best of them and be a true hero through and through. That’s one impressive feat for a guy who can basically be described as “The Ultimate Power Fantasy.”

The Battle Itself.

Zack is lead on animation. Terri Doty will reprise her role as Captain Marvel from before and Shazam will be voiced by Michael Kovach. Since transformation is inevitable, Billy is going to appear and will be voiced by Paige Stork (If someone could link me to her twitter, that would be great. In the meantime, that’s her Roosterteeth profile). Jerky as the sprite artist, Chris Kokkinos ob audio, and music (titled “Marvelous”) by Brandon Yates.

So the battle starts with Billy as Shazam just walking down the street messing around with his powers. Electrifying a lamp post, a car, and an ATM

An ATM that seems to be filled with… Mr Krabs’ first dollar? Since when do ATMs dispense one-dollar bills?

Anyways, Carol sees this, and since we all know how this would look to anyone without context, Shazam decides to skedaddle. But Carol gives chase, and we have a fight on our hands.

So, Shazam decides to power through the attacks, and then goes for one of his favorite go-to attacks: Flying the opponent up while grappling them to hit them with lightning.

But, since Carol’s powerset basically makes this move null, all it does is mega-evolve Carol into her Binary form.

And since Carol retains the properties of the energy she absorbs, she can magic Billy back to his original form.

Caught off-guard (Because there’s no way anyone could see that coming without knowledge of Billy’s origin), Billy transforms back into his Super-Hero persona.

So, Carol’s kinda mad about the fact that a fifteen-year old kid has been kicking her butt, so she’s done playing games as she charges

(For the record, this line is way more hammy than the screenshot makes it look. Speaking of, I’m thinking of shrinking the dialogue a bit and adding a background color to it to make the dialogue more visible but hopefully not interfere with the visuals).

So, after crashing underground for like… three seconds (How deep would that have to be for that to work?), Carol and Shazam exit at a subway station.

So Shazam brings it back to where it all began.

Right to deep space. So after tossing Carol through three other space rocks

Shazam gears up for a finishing blow.

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

Boom!

… How is it that no matter how badly you annihilate one of these hero-types, some shred of their uniforms somehow always manages to remain intact?

(Shout-out to anyone who knows that line)

Verdict + Explanation.

So, Carol holding her own against the likes of the Phoenix force and other cosmic beings certainly meant that she could hold her own against Shazam’s strength, she kinda fell short in a good chunk of the other categories.

Take speed, for instance. While Carol’s Binary form could reach the speed of light,

Shazam could use only a fraction of that to outpace her in that area.

Experience sorta went to Carol, but the Wisdom of Solomon would certainly close the gap a lot more. It’s really overpowered, to say the least.

But most importantly, Carol simply didn’t have the means to really take Shazam down in terms of strength.

Now, for the record, when Shazam punched a black hole into existence, he was giant at the time.

Now, judging by the size of the hole, we can determine the Schwarzchild Radius.

From there, we can determine the mass of the black hole.

And then we can figure out how much force it would take to make something like that.

And in case you’re wondering, a single foe is basically…

(We still haven’t broken EXE’s record of highest number ever recorded).

And this isn’t some weird outlier either. Zeus was able to destroy the shattered god.

While he had help from other gods that he was channeling energy through, this still means he has a fraction of that same power. Even if there were a thousand gods helping him out, Zeus’ power would still be, at minimum…

That level of power.

Credit where it’s due, though…

Overall impression.

Personal opinions aside, the fight was really well-animated, the dialogue was on-the-nose, and the results are what you’d expect. While I still find the comparisons to be shallow at best, the fight’s entertaining.

This isn’t a unique scenario like Flash vs. Quicksilver, nor is it a scenario with deeper comparisons like Venom vs. Bane, this is basically like a horse with a broken leg vs. a farmer with a tank… A tank that’s powered by a nuke!

7.0/10. It’s blatantly one-sided with no unique things about the scenario to make it feel like it was worth it. Outside of the music and animation, the scenario is still a straight fight. It’s not a death race. There’s no real deeper comparisons to be made. It’s just a fight. It’s a good fight, but not a unique one.

Next Time…

Huh… Well, time to see if the tier lists are lore complicit.

If we’re going off of Smash tier lists, then Wario takes it.

Is there a fight that you want me to review? - Send an ask/request, and I’ll look into it!

Do you want to read my fanfic based around DEATH BATTLE itself? click here!

Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next time for…

King vs Waa!

#review #Death Battle #Deathbattle #screwattack

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jewelleighanna · 6 years

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Percent likelihood of characters dying in season 5 of The 100

Who I think is most likely to die on The 100 Season 5, from least likely to most likely. I try to base this on possible character arcs and patterns from past seasons, but ultimately, this is a game of guesses and odds. What’s your bet? Unlikely: .1% - Clarke .2% - Bellamy 2% - Raven 2% - Monty 8% - Murphy

Neutral: 15% - Jackson 20% - Kane 20% - Madi 30% - Emori 35% - Niylah 40% - Zeke 40% - Indra 45% - Miller 50% - Ethan 50% - Harper 50% - Gaia

At risk: 40% - Abby 45% - Octavia 60% - Echo 70% - Charmaine 95% - Kara Cooper 95% - McCreary 100% - Jaha Unlikely: These characters are unlikely to die. I can only see it happening if one the actors wants to leave or there’s a crazy twist at the end of the season.

Neutral: If the writers need an impactful death (without going so far as a main character), it will be someone or more than one someone from this list. These are all guest stars whom the audience has grown attached to. The writers have no obligation to keep them (and actors have no obligation to stay), so there is always a higher risk for them dying. The only non guest star on this list is Kane (see my thoughts on him below).

Madi and Ethan In the neutral category but not for the same reasons as the rest, so I wanted to talk about these two in particular. I think Ethan is in danger; Madi less so. Here’s why: over the seasons we have gotten multiple leaders who have had a preteen/young teen in their care or under their mentorship (Anya, Lexa, Luna, Clarke, Octavia). Aside from Anya, the younger person hasn’t technically been their “second” nor has the relationship been strictly parent/child (the younger person is always half a generation or an average of 10 years younger than the older one). In some of the cases, there is a strong level of care, but the thing that ALL of them have in common is that involves the older person teaching the younger one. The fate of the younger person is tied to older person’s leadership and fall.

Tris dying was the beginning of the end of Anya’s leadership. Aden (and the rest of nightbloods) dying represented the end of the commanders. Adria dying represented the end of Luna’s people and of Luna’s hope. I don’t know if this counts because the structure is different, but even Charlotte dying represented the end of “whatever the hell we want” leadership. I can see Ethan following this path, as his death could represent the end of Wonkru and/or be a wake-up call for Octavia, if it is her actions that cause his death. Madi, of course, could follow the same path but less likely because Clarke is the hero of the story. Not to mean that this rewards Clarke, but because Clarke is likely to learns from her own and other’s mistakes, which saves Madi. Keeping Madi safe is Clarke main goal this season; if she fails at that, then her entire arc for the season fails (unless her story is meant to be a tragedy, which as of now, I don’t see that. Octavia is set up more on a tragic path, if anyone.) That said, as of the start of season 5, Clarke is definitely on a dangerous path, bringing Madi to open fire, kill at any cost. If Clarke won’t change, that can’t end well, but more likely, Clarke will learn, that’s her arc for the season, finding another way, which will ultimately be what protects Madi.

Abby - (and Kane) I can’t think of a reason that Abby should be at-risk. I wrote her down instinctively, but the fact that I have no data to back me up, I wonder if it’s my own fears + fandom rubbing off on me. I lowered her percent down; but I want to talk about her anyway. Perhaps she is instinctively “at risk” because of the Abby/Clarke/Madi relationships. If we expect Clarke to loose someone this season, it’s more likely to be Abby than Madi. Perhaps there’s an internalized trope as well -- the belief that for Clarke to truly be a mom, she has to loose her mom, which of course, is rubbish. If the writers followed tropes -- with the idea that character can’t be an adult until they looses their mentor (translate to Clarke loosing her mom), then Abby would have died in season 1. That aside, we do know that there’s going to be a theme of found vs biological family. If Clarke has to choose, she will choose her found family, Madi. Abby chose her found family Kane over Clarke in 5.04 (though Kane was the only one whose life was in danger. If it was the reverse, no doubt she would choose Clarke). Anyway, Abby’s pill addiction is a concern. If she can’t give that up, it will lead to her end. Not by the pills themselves (at least I doubt it), but the addiction. Her addiction has already led to her making choices she wouldn’t otherwise do - stealing, which led to Kane nearly being killed. She can only be rescued so many times - she will have to be the one to choose to give it up. Symbolically choose life again, including the pain that goes with it. If by some chance Abby dies, then it increases the chance of Kane dying. Their stories are so intertwined, it would be difficult to separate them in a satisfying way. They aren’t just romantically connected, but their arcs and goals each season have always been connected. Kane and Abby are the only characters whose odds of dying increase with the other one dying. Conversely, that means, one living means the other more likely to live. In Kane’s case, though it would be a poetic parallel reversal if he has to be the one to let her go after telling her that... without Abby, his interactions are limited. He doesn’t have connections with very many people. Indra. Bellamy. Clarke. He’s never going to be a delinquent, so he is limited there. I suppose he could “pull a Jaha” and go wander the desert with Murphy. Only half-joking. There’s a world to explore there, and he could use the break. Kane dying and Abby living is less likely. Too much like Jake parallels and the same would be true afterwards. Abby would survive Kane dying because she had Clarke -- but Abby and Clarke’s stories are so separate at this point, it would hinder both characters for them to have to start worrying about one another to the realistic degree that outcome would bring.

Octavia Of main characters, Octavia is at risk, though I wouldn’t write her off at this point. The writers wrote a whole episode so we would understood where she was coming from, that she didn’t want this. The question is what she has done but who she will be going forward. It seems like Octavia will be antagonistic this season. If she is in direct opposition with our protagonists, that puts her in danger. With a tagline of #NoHeroes, a certain level of non-heroics is acceptable. Still, she is in a precarious place. If she gets to the point where all she is wiling to do is kill and destroy, that will be her end. Not only that, but she is danger of leading her people to their end as well. There’s a pattern of this in the show (Cage and Mt Weather only being willing to kill rather than look for alternatives being the most extreme example. Wonkru is the new Mt Weather and the question is have they lost their humanity? Doubtful that Wonkru will go extinct but can Octavia do what is needed to save them?). In order for Octavia to live, she has to a) change/adapt and b) reflect/look back at her mistakes. Right now, she is unwilling to do either. She could have a negative arc which ends with her unwilling to change or she could have a tragic story, where she tries but too late and sacrifices herself to save everyone. Either of those could wrap up her character. On the other hand, she doesn’t have to die -- she could reach her breaking point, either willingly helping our heroes or alternatively being “defeated,” signaling the end Wonkru. In most cases the end of a society has meant death of the leader, but the writers could take a chance to explore the “after” of a leader. Does she try to get her power back or accept her fate? She could also have a metaphorical death, where she is taken to Eligius III or something like that where she is given space to reflect and come back with new perspective (this alternative seems particularly likely if the actress has a multi-season contract and the writers still need her “death.” This also works with the Christ imagery on the posters, although we could also read actual death into that).

Echo - If the writers want an impactful death without reaching into characters that have been here since season 1, it will be her. And... the writers are aware of how a character is perceived - I could write a whole meta on the patterns of previous main character deaths, but one aspect is this: killing Octavia runs the risk of loosing viewership, killing Echo does not. Purely on that, Echo is more at risk. Her situation as newly promoted to main character is precarious too (consider Roan). If the writers aren’t committed to a storyline already in place for the next season, they will kill her off (not as a slight to Tasya -- most likely if this is the case, they already knew it ahead of time... in which case she would be promoted specifically to have the character have more screen time). Also, Echo’s arc, as a character, could easily lead to her death. She’s struggling to feel like she is part of the family, which could lead to her making a big move or sacrifice. If we consider her past, there’s also opportunity for her to slip into old patterns... either leading to her death or leading to her making amends which leads to her death. Not to say her death is inevitable. She’s had scenes with multiple characters already, so there’s plenty of ways for that to expand next season. Charmaine - Charmaine could go either way. In a typical story of good and evil, our heroes would have to defeat her (in a show like this, kill her). However, Octavia isn’t a “hero,” so it’s possible this season will be different and Octavia will fail. It’s also possible that McCreary will kill her and he will ultimately be the one our main characters have to death with. So whether Charmaine dies will depend on her actions and where they are taking the story next season. I’m leaning to towards yes, she will die because of the typical archetypes, but I would love to be wrong just to shake up the expected.

Kara Copper - I’m not sure exactly what her role will be but we know that she is loyal to Octavia. I could see Kara as being the character to demonstrate the brutality of Wonkru (and Skaikru). In her first episode, she tried to kill 1100 people in a more gruesome way than any other death on the show, and she unhesitantly killed all the people in her conclave, even her own people. If we talk about lines being crossed, she has crossed them already. I don’t think that’s why she will die... I think she will die because this path that they are on will have inevitable consequences. And she was created this season (unlike, say, Miller or Indra, who could die if this war is tragic enough, but they have had roles before this season, so could just as easily have roles after.). What would Kara’s after be? McCreary - McCreary has been described as the “most evil character since Cage” (not an exact quote). While the story is “no good guys, just survivors,” it still does follow the archetypes of protagonist/antagonist. And when characters cross certain lines, it always ends in death. I see McCreary being the Cage or Pike of the season - not well liked and also not relevant enough to see another season. Jaha - Enough said.

#the 100 #the 100 meta #Clarke Griffin #Octavia Blake #Kabby #meta

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recentanimenews · 3 years

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FEATURE SERIES: My Favorite One Piece Arc with RogersBase

I love One Piece and I love talking to people who love One Piece. And with the series going on 23 years now, there is a whole lot to talk about. As the series is about to publish its 1000th chapter, a true feat in and of itself, we thought we should reflect upon the high-seas adventure and sit down with some notable names in the One Piece fan community and chat about the arcs they found to be especially important, or just ones they really, really liked.

Welcome to the inaugural article in the series "My Favorite One Piece Arc!"

My first guest in this series is RogersBase, a Nintendo Brand Ambassador. For my chat with him, he chose the Zou arc, in which Luffy and his crew head to an ancient civilization that sits upon the back of a giant elephant.

A note on spoilers: If you haven't seen the Zou arc yet, this interview does contain major plot points. Watch the Zou arc starting RIGHT HERE if you'd like to catch up or rewatch!

Dan Dockery: In one sentence, could you sell me on Zou?

RogersBase: Okay, here we go — Mystery, romance, and a little bit of the Mammoth Boyz. I think that’s the perfect way to describe the best story arc in the post time skip era of One Piece.

The best? Really?

Yeah, by far. For me, at least.

Yeah, I feel like post time skip has been a certainly interesting array of storylines. I think my personal favorite is Whole Cake. So much of the back half of it as soon as the wedding goes awry is great, and the entire Katakuri fight is a masterpiece.

I think Whole Cake is a totally reasonable answer, and I think you probably like it for the same reasons that I like Zou: the characterization and the drama that isn’t centered around the characters saving a kingdom. The kingdom of Zou has already been destroyed. There’s no saving it at this point. The only thing they want to save is Raizo. So you don’t have to deal with the villain hierarchies and families of say Dressrosa or Wano. And the nice thing about it is that since it’s a shorter, condensed story arc, it really hammers home the motivations of the characters and gives us this terrifying villain that’s not even present for most of the arc.

I really like Jack. He only appears in a flashback for the most part and he’s a scourge of the kingdom. And then he comes back, only to be hit by that elephant. And that’s one of those things at the beginning of the arc, when I saw this massive thing, I thought “Aw, man. I wanna see what that elephant can do. I hope it hits something” and then IT DOES. I flipped out. It was so satisfying. Did you know that Zou would be your favorite when you finished it?

Yeah, I think I did. All the arcs up to that point had really high highs, but some of it just didn’t land with me. So to have Oda move away from these long story arcs that end in big one on one fights and go to this shorter, mystery-focused arc: What’s going on with these minks? What’s atop this elephant? Is Raizo still alive? What is The Voice of All Things? What connection does Luffy have to these giant creatures? And with so many great designs and characters, too, with the Minks. It’s really fascinating, and you have bits and pieces that lead up to it, but there’s so much here.

I feel like the Minks might be Oda’s purest expression of side characters because he’s playing with all of these animal figures that are both interesting to look at and emotionally evocative. It’s him flexing his muscles as a character artist. And the landscape of Zou as well - It’s beautiful to behold.

Especially when you think about the amount of content that’s there in a short amount of chapters or episodes. There’s so much that’s told about the overall world, the Road Poneglyphs, the relationship between the Minks and the Kozuki Family, the Beast Pirates, so much gets touched upon that will expand in later story arcs. There’s beautiful, immediate payoff there and later.

It has such a comparatively goofy start, too. They’re climbing this giant elephant on the back of a cartoon dragon that Robin thinks is adorable. And I’m glad she gets a little bit of focus here because, with the Poneglyphs, Zou is a really big set-up arc for Robin. So her role in One Piece’s endgame has exponentially increased.

Also, the focus on characterization. In earlier, post timeskip arcs, you have these epic clashes that take down kingdoms, but here you get a cute moment with Robin. It’s so refreshing to see her in a natural element where she’s comfortable.

What did you think of the Mink tribe’s living situation? The giant white whale tree and the treehouses and all. Do you have any favorite parts of Oda’s worldbuilding here? Not just as a story designer, but as someone who crafts actual places where races and species can live.

It’s cool to see the animals he chooses for the Minks, and how he constructs the power structure and who controls the land at what time, with the dog during the day and the cat at night. The big pineapple trees and the ruins that you see in the Jack flashback, he created a full-blown, believable civilization. It’s always a pleasure to see Oda working in jungle vegetation-type areas. He really excels in this in Skypiea and in his color spreads. So it seems like Zou is something that he’s wanted to do for a while. And how much effort he puts into it is why you feel so attached to the Minks at the end.

That’s really cool. There are a ton of anime side character animals, like Kakashi’s pet dogs and the little animals that hang out with Goku and pals, but Oda really lets loose here with a whole species. And as you said, we should’ve kinda seen it coming with all the work he’s done with anthropomorphic animals. But then, you have the big Jack flashback. And the stereotype of the One Piece flashback is “Oh boy, it’s ‘bout to get sad.” But Zou’s feels like an epic piece of mythology, and Jack is just this being of pure cruelty without any kind of sad backstory. How did you feel about it? Did it surpass your expectations?

Oh, absolutely! To see a character as violent and ruthless as Jack was something needed, I think. He’s an overall threat, not goofy. And his Devil Fruit is fascinating, as you finally see the return of the Prehistoric Zoan type fruit after you last saw it with Drake turning into an Allosaurus. So it’s cool to not only see that Jack can turn into a Woolly Mammoth, but it’s a Woolly Mammoth fighting on top of a giant elephant. And with the way he gets teased leading up to his appearance in the flashback, I remember thinking “How cool would it be if there was a Woolly Mammoth fruit!” and sure enough, there it is! Jack feels like a fulfillment of the promise of the New World — It’s not going to be a cakewalk. Your opponents will be devastating and Jack is so determined, coming because he knows Raizo’s there and then coming back because he STILL KNOWS Raizo is there. He’s like “You can tell me all you want that he’s not here, but I know, and I will crucify you and cut off your limbs. I don’t know why you’re trying to defend this one ninja, but I know he’s here.”

Zou is kind of a double feature. We have Raizo and the Minks and the lore, but we also have the stuff that leads to Whole Cake with Sanj and Capone. Now, I see Sanji’s whole arc here sometimes referred to as Robin 2.0, because it’s a lot like Enies Lobby on the surface. Guy gets taken by the bad guys and is like “Don’t follow me because they’ll kill you, etc.” That’s always felt a little hollow to me because Sanji is not Robin and they don’t have the same motivation.

No, absolutely. And I’m glad you mentioned it because it’s phenomenal how well Zou has aged. They manage to give these characterization moments to Robin and Sanji and the crew while introducing all this stuff and managing to make us care about all of it. There are people that are like “I can’t wait for Carrot to officially join the crew,” and it all stems from this story arc.

In terms of characters that get done so well that even though their time with you is brief, they still stick with you for a long time, I think a good example is Pedro. He joins everyone and he’s this stoic, mentor figure, a character type that usually doesn't fare so well when it comes to surviving anime series intact. And obviously, RIP Pedro. But it’s a testament to what you’re talking about because he just joins the crew and you’re like “Yeah, sure. Gimme fifty more chapters of him.”

He’s got this cool eye patch, he has a beef with Big Mom, he knows about the world. And he’s the one who’s sort of the most hesitant to trust the Straw Hats at first after the disaster with Jack and all. But by the ending, he knows that the Straw Hats are the guys that he’s been waiting for. This is the crew that will bring upon that new dawn. And we haven’t even talked about Pekoms yet! He has those ties to Big Mom and to Bepo and to Zou and to Pedro and to Capone, who shoots him.

What do you think of the Poneglyph system? It’s both indicative of the Straw Hat endgame, but it isn’t like this magic map. What do you think of it as kind of a quest marker?

It’s great because you learn that there are a definite few that mean something and that they’re all being held at various places that are run by Emperors. So trying to find them gives you an actual reason to fight these Emperors of the Sea and heading into their territories. They don’t really need to be fighting Kaido in the grand scheme of things, but the Poneglyphs add to the direction of the series.

ONE PIECE LIGHTNING ROUND!

Favorite character?

Trafalgar D. Water Law.

Favorite Straw Hat?

I go back and forth between three, but Sanji.

Favorite villain?

Doflamingo.

If you could live on any One Piece island, where would you call home?

Dressrosa without Doflamingo would actually be pretty nice.

Favorite One Piece fight?

Luffy vs Lucci.

One Piece moment that made you sob the most?

“Raizo is safe!” I was so overwhelmed with emotion, seeing the resolve of the Minks.

One Piece moment that made you cheer the loudest?

Sabo getting the Flare-Flare Fruit in Dressrosa.

Stay tuned for the next installment of "My Favorite One Piece Arc" as we speak with Official One Piece Columnist for Shueisha and Toei Greg Warner about his favorite One Piece arc: Arlong Park!!

Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter!

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features.

By: Daniel Dockery

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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ruinedbygaysstylinson · 6 years

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hi there! i'm still somewhat new to this fandom but i'm familiar with bg and everything so i'm just wondering why people believe that liam is also stunting with cheryl? is he believed to be gay as well and this relationship with her and his baby is just another cover up? like i understand why people believe louis isn't really a dad but i don't see as much regarding liam? can you try and explain this??

Hi Nonnie!

First of all, welcome to the fandom. It’s a mess, but it’s our mess lol

I’m gonna be honest, when I first got this ask I had no clue where to start explaining just how fake Chiam is, and I wish I had a textbook answer for you. The best way I can put it is that literally everything about it makes no sense logically. None of it. Prepare for a lot of rambling.

Not sure how into the fandom you are, but if you’ve heard of RBB/SBB, they foreshadowed Chiam on Liam’s bday in 2015 at a show, using toothpaste labeled “Colegate” which is a nod to her first marriage, and the original babygate which had been labeled a couple months earlier.

As far as timelines go, Sophiam ended late October 2015. Charcole actually got married for the second time in mid 2014, and while her and her husband seperated in late 2015, they both wore their wedding rings into 2016, despite the fact that later it was hinted that Chiam began at the XF final in 2015. Chiam was announced in the exact same way every other stunt is: via an exclusive to Dick Wattpad from the Sun. Baby rumors started a couple months later, nearly 2 full months before the date Charcole supposedly conceived. During this time, Chiam made a few public appearances, all staged red carpets or pap walks, and they were never spotted together by fans outside of these. Charcole had a baby bump months before she was pregnant, and baited the media by putting her hand over her stomach in multiple events. After she became “pregnant”, Liam basically moved to LA and lived there for her entire pregnancy. He began partying, worked on his album, and acted like a single guy for the duration with no care in the world for Charcole. What a normal thing for a dad-to-be to do. They never officially announced the pregnancy, she just turned up obviously pregnant in December 2016, and then posed for Loreal with a massive bump on a campaign released in February. Her bump changed in sizes and height throughout the pregnancy, but she went into hiding so it was difficult to actual tell what was going on, which was 100% the point. The birth was announced via a single photo of Liam with a baby, despite the fact that usually moms pose with their baby. To this day, we’ve never seen the baby’s face, and Charcole has yet to show off her pride and joy. Privacy is one thing, but this is another thing entirely. If it wasn’t for Liam babbling on, you’d have no clue she had a kid.

So what are my issues with Chiam? First of all, her association with Satan Cowbell. They are besties. Judges together on XF, and recently I found out that she’s also an executive producer. Chiam was used to promote XF in late October with probably the cringiest moment they’ve had yet. If you hate Satan because of what he did to Louis/Harry, you better be concerned that Liam “willingly” shacked up with one of his friends.

Secondly, timing. Liam was planning a solo career. It’s been his dream for over 10 years. Why on earth would he decide to settle down in the middle of trying to launch his solo career, just months after ended a long term relationship? Basically this stunt forced him to “choose” between his career and his kid, which is NOT something that a loving partner would put you through. Charcole was also married until late 2016. If she was so desperate for a baby, wouldn’t it make more sense to have it with your husband rather than a guy 10 years her junior in a completely different stage of life? She’s old but she still has time. Literally everything about this relationship was set up to fail. Also, what exactly do they have in common? They moved so quickly that Liam never had to talk about her/why they are even dating. To me, the only things they have in common are that they were both in a band (with very different experiences..) and they have a kid together. Nice.

Thirdly, Charcole’s presence in his promo. In 2014 she released an album that flopped pretty badly because she really can’t sing at all her. Her fame came from her very public relationship drama and her association with XF when it was at the height of it’s fame. Her career is pretty much over and she’s most likely desperate for anything to reverse this progression. What better way to find new fans than to try and tap into one of the largest fandoms out there? Of course, she didn’t take into account the fact that we aren’t 13 year old girls with no brains, and therefore aren’t going to blindly stan her like people did with Sofa and Elk in the past. She’s ridiculously problematic as a person (she punched a woman in the face for doing her job and got convicted for assault, admitted to attacking her ex husband, dodged taxes via a shady company that closed in 2014 right when she turned up suddenly married to JB. The list goes on and on), and from what I’ve seen her personality stinks, so why would we support her? For the most part, people either dislike her or just don’t care at all. Bummer. Liam’s promo was the only way for her to get positive news out there about herself without her doing all the talking. Unfortunately for her, Liam went overboard and now people hate her just as much, if not more, than they did before this stunt. Just to be clear: normal celebs don’t launch their careers by constantly telling stories about their kid, s/o and hyping up their accomplishments from 8 years ago.

Fourthly, body language. This is a big one. Liam’s eyes in the very first selfie of them scared me to death because he looked so upset and resigned. Literally screaming for help with his facial expression. All along, the lack of intimacy between Chiam is pretty hard to dispute. They are not comfortable together at all, and I know some media sites called them out for faking affection on red carpets when they are distant in private in May 2016. Liam was a lot better at faking it last year as well, because he’s nothing if not professional. At XF this year, it was literally painful to watch them interact, and I made a post about that when it happened. Basically, as a couple they don’t have the familiarity that they should have considering all they’ve squeezed into less than two years. Liam also doesn’t talk about her fondly at all. If you pay attention, a lot of his comments just about her are negative: she scolds him, nags him, rolls her eyes at him, dresses him (in hideous pants, someone burn those), makes all the decisions about the baby, critcizes his music, etc, but at least she was famous back when he was 15 eh? (Them meeting at 14/24 when she was married for years is just another nasty aspect. She was in a mentor role and I’m disgusted she was okay with this stunt. It’s so wrong on so many levels.) Overall she sounds pretty awful to me, and that’s just based off of the picture Liam is painting.

And finally, the saga of Conchobear. The difference between actual celebrities having babies (think Beyoncé), vs Charcole is hilarious. No one ever saw her stomach when pregnant, she hid for months before and after the birth, and low and behold she popped back up with a new face! That’s the second 1D mom to get extensive plastic surgery when she should be caring for an infant. I seriously doubt she actually was pregnant, but that’s not something I’ll go into here. Liam was out working on his career a month after the announcement, and has been travelling pretty consistently since. He’s missed multiple important holidays; for example, on Father’s Day he flew from the US to Italy for a fashion show, and then back to the US. On Conchobear’s 6 month bday, Liam went out and did interviews. Do you really think that if Liam was an actual dad, he wouldn’t make every effort and move mountains to spend as much time as possible with his firstborn son? It just doesn’t make sense with what we know about Liam’s personality. He’s responsible, and he wouldn’t put himself in this situation. What he says, what we are fed, what he does, and what we know about him as a person don’t line up at all. Liam sounds like an amazing involved dad with his tales, but he lacks a basis in basic human development; his stories are cute and so unrealistic. Thus, Liam hasn’t spent any significant time with a baby. The entire stunt has been setting up single mom!Charcole, but Liam’s team has made sure to prevent her from calling him a deadbeat via the stories. It’s hard to say he was never around when he’s gushing about the kid in every interview. He’s also gotten worse at lying recently, and I get the feeling he’s tired.

So yeah, basically every aspect of this relationship is messed up in one way or another, and I’m expecting to see Chiam end sooner rather than later. If they are both out working on material, they won’t be able to hold it together imo. There’s definitely stuff I’ve missed and if any of my mutuals/followers want to add to this feel free. This is just stuff I thought of off the top of my head.

For specific examples of some of what I’ve mentioned you can check out the Twitter thread I linked below. It has some great resources and that account in general is amazing at breaking down stunt events. I’m also gonna reblog a post comparing Chiam to Zigi (another dead fauxmance) and Hiddleswift that is pretty interesting for you to look over.

https://twitter.com/EndBabygates/status/856439540831195137

Enjoy your stay in the fandom Nonnie. If you have any specific questions or need recommendations for who to follow, shoot me a message!

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sybilofthestars · 7 years

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A Sound Horizon: MoiraxFinal Fantasy VS XIII/XV AU idea

Elefseus (AKA Elef) - Noctis

Artemisia (AKA Misia) - Stella

Orion - Prompto

Leontius - Ravus

Alexandra - Aranea

Sophia - Luna

Phylis - Gentiana

Thanatos - Etro

Scorpius - Ardyn

Moira - Eos

Isadora - Sylva

Dimitrius - Regis

Polydeuces - Cor

Elfina - Maria (if no one remembers her, she’s that old-looking lady that Noctis can speak to in Tenebrae and then we see a flash back of Luna and Ravus)

Milos - Ignis

Nestor - Iedolas

If no one is familiar with Moira, you can watch the concerts in order here. It’s subbed in English too! <3 Anyhoo, cuz I’m a big nerd for Sound Horizon (SanHora) and some friends of mine are starting to get me back into it a bit after a bajillion years, I’ve been wanting to come up with some kind of SHxFF VS XIII/XV AU, because why not If everyone can make up other FF AUs, then I should be allowed as well! <3 Maybe I’ll come up with an IdoIdo/MarchenxFF VS XIII/XV AU eventually too. I’m still thinking about it.~

This is not some kind of event thing or a PSA. It’s just an AU idea I’d like to share with y’all. If you guys are interested or just want to save this post for future reference or whatnot, feel free to reblog this.

WARNING: Content will contain mentions of death, slavery, prostitution, and rape. Because those stuff actually happened in Moira. This is also super long. My grammar also kind of sucks, but please try to bare. I apologize if I make no sense.

These are in no order from what happens in Moira (or in this MoiraxFF VS XIII/XV AU). Just thoughts and whatnot. I have put them as a numbered list in case anybody wanted to look into a particular interest as they are skimming reading through.

Elefseus and Artemisia are twin siblings that were born on the same day of an eclipse (I think. I don’t remember. It’s been a while, but if I’m wrong, feel free to correct me). It was considered bad luck for twins to be born on the same day of a solar eclipse, so they’ve both been forced to be away from their kingdom and Polydeuces and Elfina raised them on a mountain village or something. However in this AU case, Noctis and Stella were childhood friends who were actually born on the same day as if they were twins. They’re not related at all, but it was fate for them to have been born on the same day and for both of them to eventually die together to fulfill a prophecy. They were both born on the day of a solar eclipse and were blessed with Etro’s power to foresee death. It was considered bad luck for two nobles to be born on the same day of a solar eclipse as well as being “blessed” with the ability to foresee death, so on the day the two were born, they were forced to be sent away from their kingdoms (as much as Regis and Sylva didn’t want that, but at the same time were afraid of the whole prophecy thing, so they followed it, apparently). Cor and Maria take Noctis and Stella elsewhere to live a casual and normal life in a country village and raise them.

Thanatos is the God of the Underworld, Hades. Everyone fears him because he takes the souls of those who were fated to die. He tends to be portrayed as a neutral guy, so he’s not bad but not good either. All he wants is to kill Moira tbh, I think. Moira is Thanatos’ mother. She’s the Goddess of Fate, and Elef and Thanatos see her as the main enemy. Meanwhile in this AU case, Etro is the Goddess of Death; a Reaper Goddess. She rules the Underworld and chooses to take the life of someone who is fated to die, or spare them another life if she likes the person in her own way. If Etro doesn’t take the life of someone who is fated to die, a new fate will come and someone else will just die instead of the person who was fated to die. Eos is her sister. She’s the goddess who creates someone’s fate, and hence she is called the Goddess of Fate/Destiny. She and Etro do not get along because of their differences. Eos wants some people to fulfill a prophecy that she created. Etro either follows the prophecy or breaks it, but most of the time she breaks it and then someone else ends up dying.

One day Elefseus and Artemisia come home to their little house on the mountains, and there they see Scorpius with his dudes. Scorpius wants them to be captured to become slaves. Polydeuces tells Elfina to go and run with the two kiddos, and Scorpius tells his dudes to capture them. Noctis and Stella came home to their country village after they were done playing out somewhere. Ardyn sees the two and wants them captured, so he tells his soldiers to go capture them. Cor tells Maria to take Noctis and Stella and go run away. Eventually Maria is killed, and Noctis and Stella have been captured to be slaves.

Leontius is the Prince of Arcadia. He’s actually the older brother of Elef and Misia, but Elef and Misia don’t know that because the two were taken someplace elsehwere in the mountains with Polydeuces and Elfina. Isadora is Leontius, Elef and Misia’s mother. Elef and Misia don’t know that either. Same reason as to how they do not know anything about their relation to Leontius (or do they even know him at all). Dimitrius is Leontius, Elef and Misia’s dad. Elef and Misia don’t know that. Same reason as to how they don’t know who Leon and Isadora are. Scorpius is I think Leontius’ brother and Elef and Misia’s half-brother (correct me if I’m wrong). Elef and Misia do not know that either, of course. Ravus is Stella’s older brother (as I like to headcanon in general). Stella doesn’t know that because she was a baby who was taken someplace elsewhere with Maria and Cor as well as baby Noctis. Sylva is Ravus and Stella’s mom. Stella doesn’t know that. Same reason as to how she doesn’t know who Ravus is. For Regis, he’s of course Noctis’ dad, but Noctis doesn’t know that. Same reason as to how Stella doesn’t know who Ravus is.

Elefseus and Artemisia gets taken to a slave market. Elefseus gets taken to become a slave, and Artemisia gets taken to become a hetaera (AKA a prostitute/courtesan/mistress). Both of them become separated from each other. Noctis and Stella get taken to a slave town/facility (Niflheim, probably). Both get taken as slaves, but they get separated from each other too.

Orion is a boy that Elef becomes friends with in the slave town of Ilion. Both of them were slaves when they were kids. Noctis is a boy that Prompto becomes friends with in Niflheim while the two are slaves. (Prompto saw Noctis struggling, so he actually decides to boost up his confidence and go help Noctis like a good pal.)

Elef and Orion decide to sneak out to get out of Ilion, but first they go to save Misia. When they go to save Misia, Elef kills (or just leaves him injured, but not dead) the guy (Nestor) who tries to get all over her (literally, and also it was the same guy that unfortunately got all over Elef). When Elef kills Nestor, he, Misia and Orion go to escape. Orion finds a bow somewhere and while running away with Elef and Misia, he kills the guys who were coming after them with his arrows. Elef and Misia don’t even question where he found the bow and arrows. Noctis and Prompto plan out an escape plan to save Stella and for the three of them to escape Niflheim. After they planned their escape plan, Noctis and Prompto sneak into a facility where Stella was being kept at and laboring in (no, not giving birth). Once they found her in the facility’s throne room with the Emperor of Niflheim (Iedolas), Stella is trapped within Iedolas’ grasps until Noctis stabs him from behind, either leaving him injured and incapable to stand up, or left him dead. After Noctis stabs Iedolas, he and Prompto take her and the three make their way to escape Niflheim. The next thing they know, they’re being chased by some soldiers and MTs, Prompto holds them off with guns he found somewhere within the facility while also running with Noctis and Stella.

Elef, Orion and Misia make it out of Ilion to a ship. However, a storm came and caused a shipwreck for them as well as having all three of them get separated on different islands. Noctis, Prompto and Stella make it out of Niflheim. I’m still trying to think a bit “realistically” on how exactly three kids were able to escape out of Niflheim though, but in the end as they got out of Niflheim, the three of them got separated. I was thinking maybe they hopped onto an airship and kind of YOLO’d their way through it, and then eventually came a terrible storm that wiped their airship and them out, causing for all three of them to get separated from each other on different places. Prompto falls in Lucis, Stella falls in Tenebrae, and Noctis falls in Galahd. Maybe????? Feel free to share your thoughts for this part, cuz I’ve no clue how I should write this one out.

Milos is a blind poet that most likely found Elef on his island. Milos becomes like a dad to him, mentoring and guiding him through life. SPOILERS Milos dies later, most likely from old age as Elef grew. Ignis finds Noctis in Galahd. Ignis is either blind or not blind here, but I like to think he’s blind in this AU, cuz I like to make things interesting somehow. When Ignis finds Noctis, he starts to mentor and act as some sort of guidance to him for the better of his life. He teaches him how to use his 5 (or 6) senses and also teaches him that he does not need to always see things, but to feel things and be able to tell if something is good or bad by following his heart and instincts. Ignis could die or live, but I like to think he lives, but when Noctis gets older, Noctis takes off on his journey to find his friends.

Sophia is a poetess from the Isle of Lesbos (now called Lesvos lmao). Phylis is a woman who found Misia on their Island and is taken to Sophia. Misia went blind from the storm. Much like Milos, Sophia becomes Misia’s mentor and acts as a guidance for her. She also teaches Misia how to “see” (as an read) the stars, despite not being able to see. Gentiana finds Stella all washed up or something outside of a temple (I like to call it the Temple of the Oracle). She senses an ability that Stella has which is foreseeing death. When Stella wakes up, she can no longer see; she’s blind. Gentiana takes Stella to Luna, who is a servant to the Oracle Goddess. Like Ignis with Noctis in this AU, Luna mentors and guides Stella, teaching her about all things in life and whatnot. She also teaches her how to use her senses by feeling physically or mentally, and teaches her about the ability to foresee death. Stella can sense the light of souls to be/have been departed, but she can no longer see it, cuz she’s blind.

Orion most likely got washed up in the Kingdom of Arcadia where Elef and Misia were actually born. Not much is canonically known for what Orion’s been up to when he got separated from Elef and Misia, but as he grew he became the archer champion of he olympics. He also killed King Dimitrius, and Scorpius killed Orion. Prompto is found by Regis in Lucis. He takes him in and meets Ravus. What happened to Sylva? IDK. I leave it up to y’all. I was thinking she may be in Tenebrae to see Stella. Plus Sylva is the Oracle Goddess. SPOILER. Maybe???? But anyhoo, Ravus mentors and guides Prompto about life stuff. He also tells him a story about his sister who is a poetess (Luna), his mother who is actually Goddess but makes herself look like a noblewoman (Sylva), and his youngest sister that was taken someplace elsewhere because of fate (Stella). Regis mentors Prompto in combat. Prompto accidentally kills him, maybe?????

Alexandra is the Queen of the Amazons. Not a lot is known about her, but she looked pretty badass. She also got her butt whooped by Leontius when they were fighting against each other LMAO. In fanarts she tends to be portrayed as some kind of tsun/tsundere. Some people like to ship her with Leontius too and think she might have some sort of thing for him (I ship them too). IDK what Aranea would be in this AU, but I’ve been thinking maybe she could be a mercenary from Niflheim or some other region that fought against Ravus in Lucis. She’s not bad nor is she good. She probably only signed up for war cuz she was told she’d earn some good money to be able to help herself (which turns out to be true), but at the same time Aranea doesn’t wanna be involved in war anymore, but she continues to fight for money????? Maybe???? Ravus also grows on her. I like to think in a platonic way, but if y’all wanna think romantically, go ahead.

If anybody read through this really long idea, yay! Cookies for you! If you guys just skimmed though, that’s okay. I’m guilty of doing that too sometimes. Got any ideas you wanna add? Feel free to share your thoughts! Wanna draw out this AU? Go ahead! I’d love to see it! Once again this is not some kind of event or PSA post. It’s just some sort of AU I’ve been wanting to share with everyone as a Sound Horizon and Final Fantasy fanatic. I may not be invovled in the Sound Horizon fandom as much as I use to be, but I still love it to death! (no sanhora death jokes intended, because you know, sanhora is all death and misery) I think Sound Horizon is a great idea for any sort of inspiration, and well... yeah. I wanted to this this AU thought with you all <3

Thank you for reading this! Or skimming through it.

#save tag #i didn't mean to write this much OTL #i tried to make it brief but... :')))))))#sound horizon #moira #final fantasy #ffxv #versus xiii #rape mention tw #death mention tw #do i need to tag slavery and prostitution as trigger warnings too?#slave mention tw #prostitution mention tw #i was gonna post this on my rp blog but i thought it'd be better to post it here in case y'all wanted to reblog #and i didn't want my rp's activity notifs to be flooded with notes from this if it even gets that many but that's rare lmao #still tho feel free to reblog if y'all like this idea and are interested #cookies for those who make art for this au #one day i will make art for this au too #one day but not today #this is such a mess tstjsdr #but if anybody wants to share their thoughts and whatsoever feel free to!#i'd love to hear them!#just don't be an ass-butt and you're good #sanhoraxff

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