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thekrawra · 4 years

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why the dabi reveal is amazing: foreshadowing and predictability

2020 is really determined to die with a bang.

of course what else could any of us really expect. it finally happened. after years of painstakingly collecting the clues, fan theory and basically accepting it as canon before it was confirmed, we got the confirmation we've been longing for.

after blacked out speech bubbles, examining eye colour and every piece of related dialogue we could get our hands on, we've made it.

dabi is o f f i c i a l l y a todoroki.

and the excitement that follows: storytellers take note.

the dabi reveal has been predicted for years. basically since the character was introduced. people saw a fire boy and said yep, that's a todoroki. and suspicions only rose until the fandom reached a point where it was basically accepted as canon.

and turns out: we were right! and it doesn't make bnha a predictable story, it helps make it a good one.

ah yes, predictable. the thing modern storytellers seem to fear most if some of the random shock value twists we see in popular media have anything to say about it. but there isn't anything wrong with a well executed story that might be a bit predictable -- in fact i'd even argue sometimes that predictability is a good thing: it means your story makes. sense.

you dotted your i's, crossed your t's and wrote out an actual word.

too often is "shock" value a priority in storytelling. it's gotten to the point that when an audience is getting a little too close to predicting any major plot twist, instead of following through, the answer is to throw in a shocker that doesn't make any sense.

what the dabi reveal in BNHA shows us is that that is definitely not the answer.

how satisfying is it that after all these years, we finally have that reveal. we've been rewarded with answers that are exactly the answers we wanted and it feels great!the issue with "unpredictable" twists is that they are often out of place and come out of very little. there's no foundation in them which leads to something that feels cheap, or random or simply unsatisfying.

there's nothing wrong with your fans who actively consume your content figuring a secret out. it means they are engaged in it, catching the details and are probably going to be thrilled when they are proven correct -- case in point: dabi.

i've never met a fan who is disappointed when tastefully done foreshadowing pays off, and their fan theory is proven correct. so sure we knew dabi was probably a todoroki. but the reveal has all that paying off. it's canon! it's real! we were right!

and fun fact to take notice of: we are still freaking out! just because we predicted this twist, doesn't mean we aren't estatic it's happening! predictable can mean good when something is well done. and that's the key isn't it? the dabi reveal was a fairly well executed twist. it had the build up, major stakes in the story and revealed something new about a fan favourite character.

so storytellers -- as one myself -- let's stop focusing on making our stories unpredictable and focus on just telling good stories. foreshadowing is powerful and fans are smart. it's okay if they figure things out.the excitement will still be there.

also

DABI IS A TODOROKI ITS HAPPENING ITS HAPPENED WE WERE RIGHT OH MY GOD IM CRYING I SCREAMED DABI IS A TODOROKI DABI IS A TODOROKI THAT HAIR DYE REMOVER THE WHITE HAIR THE BACKGROUND REEEEEEEI'S REACTION THIS REALLY IS JUST THE CONTINUATION OF SHOUTO'S NO GOOD VERY BAD DAY I CAN'T WAIT TO READ THE FULL OFFICIAL CHAPTER IM FREAKING OUT DABI IS A TODOROKI

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flufflepuffle296 · 4 years

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“Chloe xxx”

I really want Chloé to get another redemption arc, but not because she wants to be Queen Bee again or prove herself to anyone-but because she wants to prove to herself that she can be as awesome as she wants. Also sorry but I rambled here.

I don’t even want it to start because of something big like being rejected or glares from classmates, it could just be she’s chilling in her room and she notices her butler flinching when she calls his name, or she’s watching a show and she wants to be just as cool as the main character, or even just looking around the class and just thinking “why not?”

She then starts calling her butler’s name a little sweeter, takes Sabrina out for coffee at her favourite café this time, pushes Alya’s bag towards her when it falls off the bench. She anonymously donates money to varying charities and doesn’t tell anyone about it. She feels warm when she does it-she doesn’t know why but it almost feels kind of nice. She begins working a shift or two here and there at the hotel. She smiles at Mylene when she walks in (even if she considers that outfit a crime against fashion), and returns pens when she borrows them. Nino loses a USB and Chloé helps in the search party for it (though does it secretly at break and lunch).

Becoming nice to Marinette is harder though. She decides however, that if she wants to be an ok person, she has to give everyone a chance, so buys a yard or two of a nice fabric the girl’s been eyeing for weeks, and posts it with a note signed “-C xxx”. It kind of feels a little nice when Marinette walks in in a pale pink beaded dress that isn’t totally horrible Chloé supposes.

She later realises that saying sorry is another thing she can do to become a better person, and she always kind of wanted to but was too prideful to do so-but no more! She apologises to butler Jean, saying that she’s sorry for screaming at him, firing him, everything.

She then apologises to Sabrina, for treating her as a slave and asking if she wanted to go to that film she’s been rambling about, since they always go for her choice. She also takes all of her homework back that Sabrina was doing for her, and starts working really hard on it.

She goes to the bakery later that week, and orders a large slice of cake, reasoning that she can’t be nice to others if she’s not being nice to herself, therefore she needs this chocolate cake. She then asks Sabine if she can go up to talk to Marinette, who is rather skeptical of her and only allows her in the dining room. She apologises for bullying her all those years, and hands her an envelope signed “-C xxx”. Marinette opens it, to find it full of cash that’s tied in small bundles with labels on.

“Homework soaked-age 7” €3

“Sketchbook ruined-age 10”. €18

“Teacher’s present destroyed-age 14”. €16

Everything she’s physically destroyed or ruined is accounted for and compensated. She then apologises for all the verbal abuse and mean comments, before asking for a truce. Marinette accepts, and points out that since they have a truce, she is obliged to inform Chloé that she has buttercream on her face.

A week later she gets all her homework back: B+, B, A-, B-, A+.

Not her usual report of full marks, but she’ll take it.

She starts working every night at the hotel, from 6pm till 10pm. She refuses to look it though-she is Chloé Bourgeois after all. Her uniform is spotless, her makeup is now impeccable (blue eyeshadow with pale lips? What was she thinking?), and she never has a hair out of place. She begins living on coffee-these grades aren’t going to raise themselves after all -and constantly has an energy drink in her bottle (not that the class is allowed to know that).

Grades: B+, A-, A, B, A+

Getting better...

Once in class, Rose slammed her head on the table (delicately? She somehow slammed her head DELICATELY?), and weeped that she didn’t understand the material. Chloé scribbled an explanation on a sheet of paper, and after class slipped it in Rose’s bag.

The next day, an akuma strikes near the school. They can’t leave because some kids live far away, and Bustier isn’t taking initiative and the class rep is no where to be found. Chloé bites her lip, before standing on the desk and clapping her hands. Once she has the class’ attention, she gives out instructions.

“KIM, IVAN! Grab heavy objects and block the doors. JULEKA, NINO, NATHANAEL! You can lock the windows since you’re the tallest. EVERYONE ELSE! Clear books away and any other things that could cause bruising if knocked over, put bags away, and hide under the desks and benches!”

Everyone stares at her.

“NOW!”

Everyone scrambled to their duties, before hiding under the desks, holding their heads like Chloé instructed.

Grades: A, A-, A+, B+, A+

Nearly there...

She informs her father that she’ll be leaving for a week next month, and tells Bustier and Damocles. She books a plane ticket to New York with her money from working, as well as a hotel room. She packs her bags and leaves, giving her dad a kiss and a hug beforehand and promising that she’ll be safe. She boards her plane and then hauls her bags up to her room, before making a call.

“Who is this?”

“Your daughter, Chloé.”

“I DON’T-oh you. Why have you called me I’m in the middle of working-shouldn’t you be at pre-K?”

“I’m 15 and French ma-but anyway, is it possible if you could promote Marinette’s website-MDC-in return I’ll work for you for free.”

“Oh yes Marinette-the exceptional one. How long will you work?”

“I’m only here a week-I’ll become your assistant even! I know you hate Stephanie.”

“...Fine. I’ll drop her into conversation at an interview if you’re only here a week. Now do not call me unless it’s an emergency. You start tomorrow-8am, sharp, in a fashionable outfit-or you’re fired.”

Chloé smiles as the line goes dead. Her mother may be a dragon, but Chloé can respect that she helps those she cares about.

Even if it isn’t her...

The next day she arrives at the office at 7:45, in a white suit with gold jewellery. Audrey nods, before sending her out with rapid instructions for coffee. Chloé takes her order to the café she requested, and starts reading it out to the barister, only for him to pale and interrupt her halfway through.

“Oh God-you’re ordering for Audrey aren’t you? Oh Lord-HEY AARON! STYLE QUEEN ORDER NO. 37! QUICK!”

The other worker, Aaron, goes white, before flipping every machine on and opening every can he can find in preparation.

“You must be her new assistant-good luck with her, the last one would come in to order her coffee and then sit in the corner and cry so much we set up her own space-look!” The first one says, pointing out to a comfy area of bean bags and pillows.

Chloé cringed. “Nah, worse. I’m her daughter, if you can even call me that, that’s interning for her in exchange for a favour.”

The barister pitied her. “Yikes.”

Chloé takes the coffee being thrusted at her and nods at the two, before sprinting back to the office.

After that week of hell, she still refuses to wear anything other than heels and designer clothes, and her hotel room is immaculate. She packs the night before, and sets off back to Paris in the morning.

MDC takes off after the Style Queen reccommended it briefly in an interview, and Chloé starts helping Marinette manage and organise commission dates and social media, eventually becoming her PR person/caffeination.

She starts working not only her 6pm-10pm shifts, but also a few shifts from 4am-7am a few times a week. She does her homework at lunch and as soon as she gets back from school, even doing it during akuma attacks. She gets through a concealer a week for her bags, and sleeps all weekend.

Grades: A+, A+, A+, A+, A+.

Perfect.

...Or not...

She realises that she can’t maintain this. She can’t survive on 3 hours sleep and an unholy amount of caffeine. She cuts back on her shifts, doing 4 a week at most, and only does homework for a maximum of 2 hours a day. She starts, meditation and yoga, trying to keep her mind peaceful. She still donates to charities, and goes out with Sabrina and shops.

Grades: A, A, A, A, A.

Still pretty good, and she’s happy this time!

She begins doing things more for herself. She’s always wanted to learn Spanish after all. She hires a tutor, and starts working extremely hard to become as fluent as possible by the end of her education.

She learns conversational Spanish in about 6 months of semi-intensive learning, and decides to do something else as well. She starts learning Mandarin with Marinette, and struggles slightly more than she did with Spanish, but she’s still progressing.

She realises that she has a knack for learning languages, and picks more up more easily after she starts learning Spanish, Mandarin and later Portuguese.

One day when she’s out she comes across a homeless man, and offers him some money and brings him a hot meal. She sees others around him in the same situation, and does the same for them.

She then volunteers at the local soup kitchen, feeding hundreds of people on weekends and washing up afterwards. She connects with the homeless and a few refugees, and starts learning Arabic from one of the regulars, in return slipping her a few Euros (basically she gives her €250 every week).

She takes a shift at the bakery, manning the counter and becoming fast friends with Marinette as they practise their Mandarin on one another.

Grades: A+, A+, A+, A+, A+

AND SHE’S HAPPY!!!

She eventually starts applying for universities, listing her abilities and experiences.

• A+ Student

• Volunteer

• Interned for Audrey Bourgeois

• Works at Boulangerie Patisserie

• Works at Le Grand Paris

• Fluent in Spanish, English and Mandarin, knows conversational Arabic and Portuguese, learning Polish.

The more she writes and thinks about the past 4 years, the more she comes to the realisation of

“Holy shit, I’m awesome. I’m an ok person. I’m a good person in fact. I’ve done good things. I’ve made a good impact on society. I did it. I DID IT!!! And I’m going to keep doing it-after all, I’m awesome and people rely on me, plus it makes me feel good. I’m no longer a spoilt 14 year old. I can be good. I am good. I am a good person.”

#mlb #miraculous #miraculous ladybug #miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #chloe sugar #chloe redemption #chloe bourgeois #chloe deserves better #ml chloe #miraculous chloe #ml #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #marinette dupain cheng #bustiers class #style queen #audrey bourgeois

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moonlightstars16 · 4 years

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Under The Moonlight

Sleepover Prompt request for @c-atm

"Holding in everything doesn’t help, you know."

"give me attention."

Connie glanced at her dimmley lit phone, her entire body to the side as she laid on her bed. Covers up to her chin from the cold breeze the fan gave off. If that fan were to stay still, unmoving, then she would be hot and slightly sweaty when she woke up. Though wondering if that was a better feeling than the stress of her life at the moment. Thankfully tomorrow was a ‘break’ day from her busy schedule. Still she found ways to make that not so.

Sighing she glanced at the text her mom sent her once more. Her parents were on a weekend long vacation and just now arrived at their hotel. It was near the mountains so a nice change of pace from the beach. If she hadn’t had such a hard time to keep her straight A GPA up, then she would’ve been able to go with them. It was a sad thing, but she chose to stay and continue striving for good college admissions. Even at the cost of her own expense.

Wishing them a good night and a wonderful evening, Connie turned to lay on her other side. One with a view out the window as she watched the beautiful moon and stars shine. Glistening against the deep blue canvas that is the sky. Her parents left her alone before and knew she was responsible, but at times like these she wished she had someone with her.

Then her phone vibrated.

Without a second thought she turned it on and saw her sweet ‘Biscuit’ across the screen with a message. Smiling she unlocked her phone with a password used on multiple sites she was grateful that no one has hacked her. Not that there was anything to hack.

My sweet Strawberry, are you awake?

Inwardly laughing a bit she sighed and began to type out her reply but he seemed to be a bit to fast for her taste. ‘Ugh his diamond powers I swear...’

I’m assuming you are since I can see you read my text.

Geez

What???

At least give me time to reply.

Sorry, but I was wondering if you wanted to come and watch the moon with me. It’s beautiful tonight!

It sure is :)

Exactly- wait.....I know that typed og emoji. You can see it can you.

From my bedroom window. I have a clear view.

Well I suppose that means one thing. I have to join you there.

Okay

....Wait are you saying you want me to?

I mean why not? Parents are away and I-...I wouldn’t mind the company. Connie admitted feeling a tad sheepish as she typed it all out.

So my precious Strawberry is lonely? Sending me this ‘Give me attention’ vibes, I can fix that! Rolling her eyes she groaned from the cringe cuteness but got up and brought out an extra blanket from the closet. Not even two minutes later she heard the sound of pebbles tapping her window and onto her floor. Walking she dodged them easily and waved her hand out to stop the rest.

“You know you could’ve just texted me.”

“Yeah but I wanted to try this pebble and window idea from the movie we watched last month. It looked sweet from the film.

“Well now that you’ve got my attention, I’ll go unlock the door for you.” Connie paused from turning when his hand shot up instantly.

“Don’t worry I got it.” Letting Lion lay right beside the garage door. Steven jumped and floated through her window. Landing with his arms in the air. “Ta-da!”

“Impressive” Clapping her hands she smiled before they reached over with a hug. Soon, with the rocks picked up and shoes by her window, they snuggled under the covers. Himself right behind her, one arm resting over her middle as her hand intertwined with his. Eyes glued to the moon as it slowly moved across the sky.

“I love the glow the moon gives. Just something so peaceful you know?” Steven asked softly, finally breaking the silence.

“Yeah... it is....something....”

“Well it’s more peaceful than whatever is going through you’re mind.”

“What?” Connie turned her head to glare at him, though a bit weakly since it was also kind of true.

“Spill the tea Connie. What’s on you’re mind?”

“Well....” She paused and looked away briefly closing her eyes. Feeling him move her gently to where she was fully facing himself.

“Holding in everything doesn’t help, you know.” Placing once hand on her cheek, he smiled with a concerned yet caring gaze in his eyes. He would know that better than anyone. And she should know better instead of kinda acting hypocritical.

“I just can’t seem to keep up.” Connie confessed finally as a confused expression entered his features.

“What to you mean by ‘keep up’?”

“My education to get into a good College. Things have been escalating so much that I’m having trouble keeping the pace I’m expected to thrive in. I know the material, I understand the topics, but when it comes down to prepare a test or a project, all of a sudden it feels like I’m swarmed. Which is why even during my “off-days” I can’t really relax. There is just so much I want to get ahead in that I can’t seem to stop thinking. If I do I might loose everything and I won’t be able to get into a good college and-”

“Shhhh” Steven finally spoke as she began to ramble on. Normally he would’ve taken everything she said in. But she was growing tired and needed to give things a rest, a nice break. Besides she was beginning to tear up and he couldn’t stand to see that happen. Pulling her close he allowed her head to snuggle into his chest. Her voice breaking from the stress as her sobs came out as a sort of release from everything. Mere minutes later she was back to normal. Though they stayed in that position for a bit longer.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. However I think tomorrow I’ll kidnap you and have you spend an entire relaxing day with me. In fact I’m sure about it.”

“How are you going to get me to do that?” She mumbled through his shirt.

“Because we’re alone and I’m not leaving your side. Starting right now you are physically stuck with me. Other than certain circumstances of course but still.” Steven spoke that last part really fast as Connie began to laugh and cling to him tighter.

“I’m assuming I have no choice?”

“Well unless you want to be a zombie-fied student.”

“Stoooppppp.” She groaned at the cringe as he pulled her closer. Not long afterword they grew tired and began to fall asleep in each others embrace. Steven’s arm was already around her waist, keeping his promise to stay by her side as she cuddled in his arms a bit more. Each with a smile on their face for a relaxing day to come for them both.

#connverse one shot #30 day connverse challenge #steven universe future #steven universe #steven and connie #connie maheswaran #stevenxconnie #sleep over

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joie-university-rp · 4 years

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Dear JESSE ST. JAMES,

It is with great pleasure we invite you admission to Joie University! Welcome to the Thunderclap family!

Congratulations, ROG! Please be sure to check the New Members’ Checklist and send in your character’s account within 24 hours from now. We cannot wait to see all that you will bring to this roleplay! We love you already!

OOC INFORMATION:

Name/Alias; pronouns: Rog; they/them

Age, Timezone: 21; EST

Activity, short explanation: I’m very active, and I’ll try to be on as much as I can :D

Ships: Anything with chemistry

Anti-Ships: Forced

Triggers: RFP

Preferred photo for Character’s ID (please give a link): http://wamu.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/t185592953__jonathangroff-545x600.jpg

Anything else: Hit me up!

IC INFORMATION:

Full Name (First, Middle, Last): Jesse St. James

FC: Jonathan Groff

Age/Year at University (Freshman [1st Year], Sophomore, Junior, Senior, or Graduate Student): Graduate Student

Birth date (MONTH DAY, YEAR): June 4th, 1992

Hometown (please be sure to check the hometowns listed for characters your muse is related to!): Akron, Ohio

Gender/Pronouns: Cis male; he/him

Sexuality: Bisexual

Major(s): Theatre

Minor(s) [optional]: Music

Housing request (remember, only the president of a Greek Organization is required to live at a Greek House to be in it!): Beiste Dormitory, single

Extracurriculars (Click here for the list. Be sure to specify any executive board positions [i.e. president, secretary, etc.] If something isn’t listed, please put it here and we will add it to the masterlist!): Drama Club, Glee Club

Greek Life Affiliation [optional] (Please be sure to specify any executive board positions [i.e. president, pledge educator, etc.] or if your character is not yet a member, but plans to rush): -

CHARACTER PROFILE:

•Jesse was born into a very talented and wealthy family, every single relative was involved in the arts in one way or another. His mother was a costume designer for many well-known stars, and came from a famous line of Broadway and Hollywood stars, while his father was a successful film director, so Jesse was definitely expected to become prominent in the arts as well.

•He was told multiple times by his parents that he was their favourite, they didn’t bother keeping it a secret. This lead to some of his siblings to struggle with self-esteem and other problems. He is proud of knowing that his parents thought him most likely to succeed and become somebody important, but he still feels like the guilty one sometimes.

•Jesse had his first role in Broadway at the age of four as a minor character in a play. This was the moment in which he decided what he wanted to do with his life: dedicate it to the stage fully. Since then, he participated in plenty of productions and projects for the acting industry, and hasn’t stopped.

•His parents paid for every single thing he ever wanted, which included a lot of arts lessons. He took classes in singing, dancing, acting, and every similar thing he could find. Even though the lessons noticeably helped him, he was a natural-born performer, a fact that didn’t do much to help with his rapidly-growing ego.

•He didn’t have a lot of friends growing up. Obviously, kids didn’t want to spend recess sitting down with Jesse while he rambled on and on about his latest Broadway show, or about Queen, or just sharing what his mother had told him about how promising his future was. But he didn’t need them, or so he thought. All he needed was his own voice and a tune to sing during recess while he strolled around the playground by himself.

•Jesse comes off as an overconfident, arrogant, dismissive jerk, and while that’s not exactly a lie, he can also be caring and loving to the people close to him. His rude and conceited persona is just a facade he uses. Confidence is the key to success, those are the words he lives by, and he completely agrees with them, even if he unknowingly exaggerates sometimes.

•He can be a very good manipulator when he wants to, and he makes good use of that gift. He has used it before, and he won’t hesitate to use it when necessary.

•While Jesse is fantastic at performing, the same can’t be said about his academic skill. While his parents forced him to keep up with his schoolwork when he was a child, the habit didn’t stick to him, and that caused him to fail out of his scholarship at UCLA.

•He still keeps the care bear Rachel got him. He went back to get it and it now sits on his bed. It’s one of his best kept secrets, and he’ll be dead before he lets anyone find out about it, it’s embarrassing to him.

•His first celebrity crush wasn’t on a woman, but rather on Freddie Mercury. He had always been in awe at the man, and he reluctantly admitted his deep admiration was more of a childish crush.

•Jesse did manage to mature a bit after graduating high school. Failing at UCLA helped him get slightly humbler, as he realised that he wasn’t perfect, after all. Regardless, he is still more arrogant than average, but he’s willing to improve.

STUDENT CENSUS SURVEY:

(Please answer the following questions IN CHARACTER. Responses can be as long or short as you see fit!)

1. What made you want to attend Joie University?

Plan B. It’s definitely not UCLA, but I guess it’s good enough as a second option.

2. What are at least 3 positive or neutral and at least 3 negative traits that you believe you possess?

•I’m extremely talented and superior.

•Not to brag, but I’m probably better looking than every single one of you here.

•Is this a serious question? I’m basically a walking positive trait! Have you even seen me? Anyway, I’m pretty determined, I guess.

3. Which of your traits do you value most?

All of them. I can’t pick just one, but if I had to, it would probably be my dedication.

4. How can that trait benefit the University (or its student body) as a whole?

I can assure I won’t let anyone down. You guys need me.

5. What do you hope to gain from your experience at JU?

Well, our latest Broadway show needs some extras, so if I could make some connections with a few people, that would be great.

6. What is a quote or song lyric that describes you?

“Confidence comes naturally with success; but, success comes only to those who are confident.”

#Accepted

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thekrawra · 4 years

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why i’d be mad if todo is sidelined in this next fight (and why he absolutely shouldn’t be)

so let it be said: i love my boy shouto. love him. so much. so yes there is some bias here. but don’t get me wrong: i love all my 1a kids and am happy for anyone who gets cool moments and fights and their growth.

my problem right now is that as bakudeku run off to fight, because of course they do, they’ve left everyone else behind, and deku obviously lied about OFA — again.

now obviously nothing is set in stone: i’d actually be surprised if todoroki, uraraka and iida just leave it at that. esp. todoroki and iida after stain and in general, how both characters haven’t really hesitated to go after or stick with their friends.

it’s clear that this arc is big, and in a result of that should have some big ever lasting consequences to it when it wraps (people dying, injured, the world changing as we know it). and i’ll get to that again in a moment, but first: why i’d be upset if todoroki is left out of this big fight.

right now it’s shaping up that bakudeku are going to fight shigiraki alongside the person who is currently fighting him: endeavour.

i’d get it if it was solely a OFA/AFO fight. if shiggy was alone and not currently engaged in combat, if the pros were MIA — then it works. obviously the two characters linked closest to the OFA situation (the one with it and the one who knows about it) would go. and i’m not mad about deku and bakugou going. i think that’s a fair choice.

i just think todoroki has to follow. for a few reasons.

because this isn’t just OFA vs AFO. endeavour is there too. and endeavour isn’t connected to the OFA arc, he’s connected to the arc about him and his family, shouto and his family, the todoroki family.

and where we are at, shouto hasn’t forgiven or decided not to forgive endeavour. he’s still a little conflicted about it. but we also know that he obviously cares if his father lives or dies — i mean the panels/scene of him during the high end fight say enough about that topic.

so for anything to happen to endeavour and for todoroki not to be there to witness/react/be involved feels wrong.

beyond that: he has reason to be concerned right now!

for everyone yelling that todoroki wouldn’t follow, or have no reason to not to trust deku when he yells BRB and runs away with bakugou — i mean just because todoroki hasn’t chosen to pry or to trust the answers deku has given him doesn’t mean he doesn’t realize that something is going on here.

i mean not only do we have todoroki as one of the first to confront midoriya about a connection between him and all might (asking him about a conclusion that all things about todoroki concerned makes complete sense), but we’ve also had todoroki confronting midoriya about having two quirks, and just earlier this arc todoroki noticing something strange was up with deku.

plus it’s just a given at this point that deku is unable to keep himself out of trouble.

in addition to that: todoroki has been established as more useful fighting then helping in evacuation — look back at the provisional licensing arc. during the fight with gang orca and simultaneous evacuation, todoroki and inasa were good logical choices to fight while everyone else focused on continuing the evacuation. even if it’s a group choice, if uraraka, todoroki and iida decide to send someone, it just makes more sense for it to be todoroki. uraraka and iida are more useful helping to evacuate because their quirks are just better for it in comparison. they can move more people, faster than todoroki could, and todoroki has more natural offensive strength. i could see uraraka wanting to go but todoroki stopping her and going instead, divide and conquer logically right?

so we have a todoroki who knows his father is fighting some dangerous villain and just saw deku and bakugou going off for some reason. because let’s be clear: deku was vague and when he said why he was leaving. they are in the middle of a clearly life and death evacuation and deku is leaving to go...somewhere?

and what we know about todoroki? well he got a vague location from midoriya and went to help, when bakugou was taken it was him and kirishima who made the plan in the first place. when he can, he definitely doesn’t watch or stand back while his friends and classmates rush off to do something stupid.

and looking forward, this is a major turning point in the manga, it has to be. based on everything, it seems like someone else at least is going to figure out about OFA. endeavour’s fate could really go anywhere (fine, quirkless, dead, who knows?). and it just would not feel right too me if todoroki is sidelined.

this is his arc too. i mean it’s a culmination, a head, a climax. yes there is OFA vs AFO, but there’s also a lot more going on to.

leading up to this, bakugou and midoriya both trained with endeavour because of todoroki. the three of them did their internship together. these two are two of the people that todoroki probably considers his closest friends (even if bakugou won’t admit to being friends with him).

and don’t get me wrong: it’s too early really to tell anything one way or the other. maybe todoroki, uraraka and iida go to follow but can’t because a bunch of villains show up, maybe they do follow and we just won’t find out or know for a few chapters. but ultimately, it just doesn’t make sense to me if todoroki doesn’t play a part in the action here (especially if there’s going to be a dabi reveal — but that’s a whole other conversation).

and i also 100% don’t think bakudeku should’ve taken todoroki with them. i agree that that wouldn’t have made sense. i just don’t think todoroki, and the other members of class 1a there will let them be idiots alone. i mean bakugou and deku running off together can only mean bad things. and no member of class 1a there are idiots. and logically and thematically, todoroki makes the most sense to follow after them.

and again, i’d be really surprised if anyone actually believed deku’s reason for running off. it didn’t read as very convincing to me, and historically to my recollection, he’s never been that great of a liar. but alas i could be wrong there.

i just really hope that todoroki doesn’t get sidelined in favour of the bakudeku team up. just because he doesn’t know about OFA doesn’t seem like enough of a reason to assume that he won’t follow or be part of this fight in someway.

plus no way are bakugou and deku strong enough to deal with shigiraki on their own. they are definitely going to need a couple saves and i really really really hope one of them is shouto coming in and finally getting some real answers about OFA (and also being there and present for any endeavour/dabi/todoroki plot points)

this is really just word vomit over how i’m feeling about the most recent chapter with everything. one of my fav bnha accounts @class1akids has a bunch of really great much better worded posts about most of what’s going down so check them out.

#bnha 274 #bnha manga spoilers #bnha manga #bnha #todoroki shouto #please let todoroki help his dumbass friends #please let todoroki be involved with his own arc with endeavour #please let todoroki be involved #ramblings of a slightly educated film student #ramblings of a slightly educated storyteller

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thekrawra · 4 years

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Ricky (and Gina and Nini but mainly about Ricky): MOVING FORWARD AND BACKTRACKING (WOW OKAY SO EPISODE NINE HAPPENED)

okay.

before i get into this, my usual preface: this is all personal opinion and interpretation based on how i understand the show. ship your ships, love the characters you love, read into what you want and forget about what you don’t. no hate, just a fun love of ships.

that being said: i genuinely am not sure how this season is going to end.

ricky and nini still sees likely. but we are one episode away from the end, and nothing said convinced me that ricky and nini should be together.

that’s not saying they won’t be together...but just that no one really seemed all that enthusiastic about the idea. one of the first scenes we get in this ep is both big red and kourtney, ricky and nini’s best friends, respond negatively to the idea.

“just for a moment” is a great song for sure, and i think it nails the dynamic and joshua and olivia did an amazing job with it. and while it’s very obviously a love song: it’s literally called just for a moment. so it doesn’t really feel like a song that references and/or really embodies leading into a potential longish term relationship.

then when gina shows up, ricky first mentions he’s changed, but then corrects himself saying that maybe he’s gone back to how he was before. it’s about as direct a characterization statement you can get as far as development goes.

now this isn’t a hard and fast rule: but it’s generally a discouraged principle to backtrack on character development. character development is a huge part of writing and characterization and generally rule number one of screenwriting is that your plot and characters should move forward in some capacity. the idea of “going back to as it was before” generally is used as a tool to reminisce on the past, and occasionally juxtapose against forward change: and normally forward change wins. even in stories where the idea of going back is much more extreme (ie apocalyptic films trying to “fix the world” and revert it to how it was before, time travel, etc) normally there’s a point where the characters have to acknowledge that they have to move forward. that they can’t just go back to the way things were before.

further, to backtrack on character development makes most of what happened before seem inconsequential. again: not a hard and fast rule, but when your characters either don’t develop or go back on their development makes it feel like they didn’t come out of their experiences with anything to show for it. it’s normally a tactic used to imply some sort of negative connotation with the character - that they can’t process what’s happened/that they are beginning to hit a downward spiral that they don’t think they can deal with/that it’s too much/that they are scared to move forward. rarely is the backtrack in character meant to imply something good.

by having ricky admit that maybe he’s gone “back” implies that he’s probably been seeking out the regular, and admitting that he hasn’t been moving forward. it’s an interesting choice to have especially this close to the ending because normally, when a character becomes aware they are going “back” something happens that then pushes them forward.

then there’s the fact that now that todd has shown up, ricky now has to deal with an issue that has been pushing his arc (his parents splitting and change) in his mentality of having gone back to how things were in the summer (before the summer even).

there’s no right or wrong answer on how that will play out, and what makes sense to me might not be what writers will go with because no two people would tell the story the same. so this is just what i get from the scenes and what makes sense to me with my style of storytelling.

gina’s return forced ricky to on some level realize that while she’s been gone he’s gone back to “before” (in this case who we were introduced to in the beginning of the series). this isn’t saying that gina and ricky are definitely going to get together but it’s also not encouraging that ricky and nini are going to get together.

then everything happens and todd shows up and all of it mirrors and parallels to the rest of the season. here’s ricky who did the musical originally to impress nini, deals with change and his parents splitting up, grows close with gina and finds a home in the musical (reshapes his support system in a way), and when gina leaves, he focuses back on nini. when she comes back, he admits to having gone back to “”how he always had been...back to the summer”. then, with this mindset and realization, he’s once again faced with dealing with a situation with his parents, and he freezes, and he knows how much this means to nini so he’s giving it up to ej for her (echoing back to: “if you really cared about me, you’d let someone who wants this part play it”). again, i think him doing this 100% shows he cares about nini, but i don’t think it is a good sign for them romantically. he’s ready to give up everything he’s spent the season working towards for nini -- a give and take that really isn’t healthy for him (just look at how happy and how good he was going performing before he saw his mom). point is he’s conflicted, he’s confused, and he’s defaulting. rather than pushing forward, he’s withdrawing and moving back (and before anyone says anything - i can admit this point is super subjective on how you read relationships and ricky. more than anything i think his actions are more about ricky than helping to support any particular relationship, but i thought it was big enough that i’d address my thoughts on it anyway)

all that being said though...

to be honest, i really can’t figure this show out. it either has really great writing or really okay? bad? mediocre? inconsistent? writing and it’s entirely dependant on how they tie up their plot lines in episode 10. they’ve been laying a lot of seeds and have a lot of really interesting character development and its clear they are conscious of their backtracking of ricky’s character when they had gina leave. they’ve played into some sort of element of ricky and nini not being a good romantic pairing (something they honestly laid on pretty thick with a) their friends immediate reaction being hesitancy and very clearly not thinking its a good idea, b) they aren’t looking for the same things, and c) they’ve been unable to really talk to each other about any sort of romantic attraction or feelings (as in any time their romantic relationship is brought up it gets awkward/uncomfortable and they can barely look at each other)). they basically confirmed that gina did change ricky to an extent, and without her he went back to how he was before (they also basically confirmed that when she came back, it was like she’d never left, which is why ricky was as confused as he was when he spoke with her - he didn’t know how to feel because there’s two different mindsets there: who he developed into throughout the course of the series and who he was before the series/in ep 1 and when gina left, rather than continuing to move forward he went back to the second, rather than continuing to adapt)

what does any of this mean? well to me, ricky and nini just doesn't feel right at this point? and even though the pessimist in me thinks ricky and nini are going to get together next ep, i just can’t wrap my head around how it will work considering a) the acknowledgement of a lack of forward momentum with them and b) the lack of any positive connotations with them - both facts that the writers seem to be aware of if the recent episode shows for anything.

and look, there’s obviously no one way to screenwrite and most of what i’ve been talking about is based on the classes i’ve taken by the teachers i’ve had, mixed with my own personal style. so there’s no hard and fast rules. this is slightly educated speculation based on my own experiences with the craft (which aren’t necessarily how the writers feel: there’s not really any right or wrong - just stories some people like and some people don’t)

on the other hand, ricky and gina have room to grow as a couple. they’ve had connotations of moving forward, of helping each other individually and ultimately that helps them as a pair - their give and take seems more equal than the give and take that comes with ricky and nini. so season two definitely seems to lean ricky and gina for me regardless of how season one ends.

and yes, part of me still thinks that ricky and nini are season one endgame - we’ve all been prepared for it all season because it seems inevitable. but so far, the writing of the show just doesn’t seem to lean that way.

of course, there’s a lot more you could talk about in this episode. did ej get gina the plane ticket? who sent the flowers? god can we all just be pissed at ricky’s mom and todd (like come on todd, you couldn’t even show up on time?)? i’m excited for next week to see how they tie the season up.

i’m excited to see how they handle ricky’s character moving forward now that he’s acknowledged he’s moving back. i’m hoping nini realizes those words she says to gina in the sneak peek apply to her as well (that she has a chance with YAC and she should go for it! it’s an amazing opportunity). i’d love to see them talk and realize that they should probably just be friends (really good friends but friends). i’d love to see gina be the one to get ricky to do the show (probably won’t happen but man i’d love it).

point is, i’m curious, excited, and honestly don’t know how this all is going to end. i just hope the writers move their characters forward, not back.

#hsmtmts #rina #ricky bowen #character analysis #ramblings of a slightly educated film student #ricky x gina #wow i love them #ricky and nini are cool and all #but i just can't see it dudes #high school musical: the musical - the series #look there's a lot more i could talk about in this ep #but this was getting long #so i stopped #character development #i might write more later #but for now #its been fun #rina supportive #ricky x gina supportive

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thekrawra · 4 years

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Ricky, Nini, and Gina: POST EPISODE 8 DEBRIEF - plantonic vs romantic

okay so ricky and gina have stolen my heart and soul apparently and in light of the new episode here i am, talking about it again.

so first and foremost i do want to say that i think ricky and nini have potential to be a good ship, and i’m not blind to say they have no chemistry.

however - the show’s writing is painting ricky and gina in a more favourable light than ricky and nini. this was extremely evident in episode 8.

ricky and nini’s relationship has been endlessly painted in negatives for both of them. we get confirmation this episode that they were very close friends, nini was ricky’s first crush, and then they started to date. after ricky didn’t say “i love you”, they took a break, broke up, and then their friendship kinda fell with it. this is the friendliest we see nini and ricky being with each other all season, and even then it was surrounded with an awkward tension... that to me at least did read as good.

and the writing was clever for that entire part: things were awkward, uncomfortable, then ricky starts reminiscing on their past friendship starting in kindergarten and it gets less awkward and more natural and they are friendly, then ricky brings up the big “i love you” issue and it gets awkward again.

then ricky gets the message from gina, who he’s been worried about. and while being an easy prompt to lead into the next subject also reminds us that this other person ricky is very close to and potentially growing romantically closer to is still present and a factor in this situation. to fully commit to ricky and nini, it would have been more helpful to leave gina out of the conversation entirely — and it would have been easy to slip in the gina leaving a day early comment at the beginning of the ep. they didn’t HAVE to include it during the nini and ricky conversation: in doing so they allowed for a more direct comparison between the characters.

so then nini and ricky continue to talk and nini mentions the school in denver and ricky’s response is interesting because he’s happy and supportive of her. again: heavily open to interpretation, but with everything going on with his parents and with the fact that last time nini went away (during the summer) she came back with a new boyfriend, you’d think he’d at least have a mixed reaction — because yes he would want to support her, but her leaving not only a) completely ruins his chances with her and b) wrecks his support system. that being said he didn’t hesitate in supporting her.

here’s where this piece gets subjective based on my interpretation: this to me, based on what i know and understand of ricky’s character, reads as ricky has moved past nini. to an extent that i don’t think he’s consciously realized. he’s okay with her going, he doesn’t NEED her as he once did.

the entire conversation is lead by ricky reminiscing on their friendship (nini too but ricky initiated the conversation). it’s also important to note that it only gets awkward and uncomfortable when ricky brings up elements of their romantic relationship (even something with a positive connotation like having a crush on her) but they click very naturally as friends.

yes they almost kiss, but a) they don’t and b) neither seemed all that happy about it after the fact. ricky seemed almost iritated or confused - he wanted to leave as quickly as possible. and nini outright said it wouldn’t happen again. if both were still interested in getting back together in anyway, it’s a strange reaction to have.

this episode showed us a ricky and nini happy as friends, and also made sure to showcase that the romance for them just doesn’t help their relationship, in fact instead only hurts it. every time something romantic came up, they both became uncomfortable, and awkward, and could barely look at each other afterwards.

where does gina fit in? sure her or ricky haven’t really engaged in anything explicitly romantic yet, but they’ve had happy moments, and ricky spent some key moments in this episode worried about her. in an episode based around ricky and nini reminiscing on their relationship, sure she wasn’t present, but she definitely lingered as a contrast.

ricky and nini’s romantic relationship, in the writing of this series, has yet to be posed as anything but negative for the two of them. it messed up their friendship, and sure some feelings might linger but the two just have hardcore friend energy. in many technical elements of the writing: there’s not much that really pushes forward hope for a positive romantic relationship between the two of them, and it almost seems like both of them are starting to acknowledge it.

if they were just going to write gina out to have ricky and nini, they wouldn’t have mentioned gina and they wouldn’t have had ever time ricky and nini begin any sort of romantic dialogue or action have their comfort levels with each other fall entirely.

this is pretty rambly but to me, this entire episode read as very focused on proving that nini and ricky are better friends than they are romantic partners.

also that ricky is very concerned about gina and is moving past nini. she still one of his best friends, but he doesn’t read as in love with her anymore. he didn’t react positively to almost kissing her, even though she’s not dating anyone anymore, and even though she seemed to want to kiss him in the moment this time.

in fact, he lingers on their past and honestly the only interjection about the future of them is when he supports her about leaving, which inherently puts them as not together.

so you know, who knows, but a) i hope that the writing remains consistent and they continue alluding to what it seems they are alluding to. ricky and nini getting back together just doesn’t seem natural, with how negatively the idea of them being back together seems to be implied (the show hasn’t really given a reason why they should be back together other than the insulated plot arc established in episode one — but there’s no justified character reason since we haven’t seen them romantically together in a positive light and the only times they’ve been friendly have been effectively ruined by the insertion of a romantic element). as someone who has ruined friendships because of romantic feelings that didn’t play out — i’d really love to see ricky and nini realize that they are better friends than lovers before it’s too late.

and b) we’ve seen ricky and gina grow close and build up and develop around each other, each pushing the other further into their development. a romantic relationship serves to in some way help the two of them, and there’s no underlying negative connotation to the two of them being romantically linked. no friendships ruined, no disaster mistakes threatening both of their opinions and ideals concerning the relationship. gina staying and leaving the option of a potential relationship between ricky and gina leaves room for stuff in season two but also doesn’t feel like we are being forced into any relationship. id love to see gina and ricky together officially but more than anything i just want to see them happy and they seem happiest with each other.

sure a lot of this is personal interpretation, but i’d hope the the writing remains consistent and continues to defy expectation. a ricky and nini endgame just feels cheap and inconsistent at that point when so far the series has pointed to almost anything else in its implications.

#ricky bowen #rina #gina porter #ricky x gina #gimme platonic nini and ricky #rina supportive #character relationship analysis #nini salazar roberts #hsmtmts #hsmtmts episode 8 #ramblings of a slightly educated film student #no gina this ep #but like idk i can only see ricky and nini as friends #and i know a lot of people feel vice versa with only seeing ricky and gina as platonic #but like who knows

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thekrawra · 4 years

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hey my dudes, so as always i do have plans for a breakdown of the most recent episode coming but it’ll probably be a in couple days — i’m planning on rewatching the entire series because a lot of my feelings about this episode relate to tone and flow and wrapping up story threads so i want to make sure i don’t forget about anything and make real inaccurate statements...

in the mean time though: i’ve got some preliminary thoughts and ideas that i figures i’d word vomit out there.

so a) i actually didn’t hate the episode. there was one scene with what felt to me like a major tonal shift that felt a bit out of place (you know the scene i’m talking about) but i for the most part thought there was a lot of potential and nothing that they can’t fix/adjust coming into another season.

b) carlos and seb are beautiful and pure and i love them so so so so much and seb kills as sharpay and carlos as chad had my dying of laughter and man they were lovely and i’m so excited for seb to be a main role in season two and can’t wait for more content.

c) big red. big red. big red the third? i died. this guy honestly. so sweet. just out here impressing everyone with his talent. and him and ashlyn! and he sent the flowers! and all of it was amazing a real highlight — and when his parents were like “he’s never really done anything before so we’re happy he’s out here doing something” and supporting him. and like man big red and his family and big red and ashlyn, i want more, i hope they keep it at zero angst all wholesome adorable sweet love.

d) ej. so like i know ej has been a love him or hate him character with most people leaning hate. i’ve actually really enjoyed ej’s character and i think in another post i’m probably going to do a breakdown/analysis of all the characters: but man ej was a lot of comic relief to me and he’s mistakes always read more just oblivious/idiotic than with any sort of ill intention. and this ep when he said “i’m playing to lose”: that was actually such a great moment that i felt and i mean it shows that he actually does care about nini...i mean in a way he kinda did what ricky did too? stepping away to give nini the best chance/what she wants/deserves. so i thought that was really well done and him buying the ticket for gina and honestly, there’s no ej hate here.

e) a piece of nitpicky criticism: there should have been a nini/kourtney scene after the show about the school? like should have at least been kourtney comforting nini/nini saying she wants to be alone/something because like the two of them are close and besties and i know that realistically kourtney would be the first there to comfort her and if nini felt how she told ricky she did she wouldn’t have let kourtney worry so like ?? as i said nitpicky but like i just know if that happened to my best friend she’d have a hard time getting rid of me until she 100% reassured me she was alright.

f) let’s talk ricky’s mom because why not? “i didn’t want to throw you off”? there’s so much about that line: there’s the fact that to some extent she obviously knew having todd there would throw ricky off, the fact that somehow she assumed it would be better to have him just show up mid show and give ricky NO time to consider it — as ricky pointed out. it’s that she just obviously so out of tune with her son that she doesn’t know him, and doesn’t seem to get that everything she thought was wrong and was a bad idea. and that she was like where were you and ricky was like “check your messages” and man i felt that because i’ve done that when i don’t want to talk to people and if they don’t get the message man honestly it just makes the situation worse so get out of here lynne until your like actually going to make an effort to like know/listen to your son.

g) on the other hand, ricky’s dad!!! he barely even did anything but you can just feel his support of ricky. like he tries, and he’s there and don’t get me wrong i LOVED the ricky/gina scene but i kinda wished his dad had come out and spoken to him — id love to see a heart to heart between the two of them and i think 100% they should talk because ricky is way more likely to listen to his dad than his mom.

h) alright i’ll stop delaying the inevitable: ricky and nini. personally i wasn’t feeling it. i thought the individual pieces were there as a climax of their relationship — i thought it was written fine and executed fine in the context of THIS EPISODE. but it felt almost out of place to me. a lot of this has to do with the fact that i hadn’t been sold on the relationship, i personally don’t feel like they are a good fit and idk i feel like the show’s main lacking point was that they didn’t really push them as positive? and even leading up to the ricky/nini moments the tone still felt off? like ricky’s mom said the thing about relationships sometimes not working? for me: it just didn’t fit. it didn’t have the right build up to sell me which overall affected how i felt about the scenes, no matter how well performed they were? that being said, i do have hope leading into season two...i think they have a couple things they need to come to terms with still, i think white i ship ricky/gina depending on how they handle season two maybe they work? but maybe they don’t? they didn’t dismiss the ricky/gina connection, and ej redeemed himself a bit/showed he obviously still cares for nini, plus nini got the offer to the school so who knows honestly... i’ll talk about it more in another post though — point is it just felt off for me.

i) gina moving in with ashlyn!!! i’m happy gina’s probably coming back, and am excited to see how they work it out.

and my final two thoughts:

j) nini getting the offer. i’m happy she got the offer and i’m interested to see how it plays into the next season. i just really hope they don’t go for: im staying here for the boy — that’s like an awful message, and in a world where schools and jobs are so competitive, like take your chances if it’s what you want — so if she doesn’t go, i’m just praying that it’s for a better reason then :( i just got back with this guy.

and last but definitely not least k) ricky’s story. okay so i have semi conflicted feelings about how ricky’s season one story wrapped because i really felt it didn’t. he got to say “i love you” which is great and all, but there’s so much else going on with him...obviously it means there’s a lot more to talk about in season two but my biggest thing is that none of his BIG problems got resolved and while yes he said “i love you” to nini, i felt like he didn’t really come out of the season learning anything? and this is just in regards to my own personal feelings about his character: having him fulfill the “winning back the girl” arc just feels like it takes away from all the dealing with change, finding his support and all his character development. like i love ricky so much and i’m happy he was able to say i love you cause that’s huge, but i felt like he didn’t come away from the season as strongly as some of the others character did in the finale.

but as i said, these are mainly just initial thoughts. i’m going to rewatch everything and will probably have a couple posts coming out about the individual characters/more cohesive thoughts on the season finale.

but nonetheless, the agonizing wait for season two begins, i wish everyone the best of luck.

#hsmtmts #ricky bowen #gina porter #big red #ashlyn hsmtmts #ashlyn caswell #ej caswell #nini salazar roberts #hsmtmts episode 10 #ramblings of a slightly educated film student #i didnt hate the ep #but i didnt love it either #so im confused #anyway #see you dudes next time

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thekrawra · 4 years

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I was reading through your post about episode 8 and I agree with almost everything you said, but I honestly think rini will get together by the end of this season. Josh and Olivia wrote a song for Ricky and nini that’s supposed to be in the next episode and with all the promotional pictures it just feels like there’s going to be a very Disney-esque ending where Ricky and nini kiss and make up. I do think if they get together it won’t last long into season 2 though

i totally agree. a lot of what i wrote about episode 8 is at least stuff that i think might be considered way down the line. from episode one it’s been pretty clear at least this season is going to be a ricky and nini endgame of sorts (but i’d be super impressed if they try to subvert expectations and i’d be super into it)

i do agree that they’ll probably get together at the end of season one, but i think now that we have a season two: i don’t think they’ll be endgame endgame (mainly for reason i listed in the post)

this post was mainly coming out of just my interpretations of their relationship and also my wishful thinking that maybe the unexpected might happen — but it’s all in good fun!

i’m looking forward to seeing how they wrap up the season and even if they don’t defy any expectations, it’s going to be interesting to see how they wrap up the themes and motives they’ve been using this season into at least a temporary (or permanent who knows) ricky/nini endgame.

that being said: wishful thinking, i’m still holding out hope for ricky and gina just for the hell of it 😂💜

#hsmtmts #ricky bowen #nini salazar roberts #hsmtmts theories #hsmtmts analysis #ramblings of a slightly educated film student

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thekrawra · 4 years

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ok so I read your thoughts on ep8 rini/rina and while I agree on most of it, one bit I didn't. yes Ricky was supportive of nini going, but did you see his face when she mentioned it was in Denver? that soft "oh"? I guess you could chalk it up to the fact that Ricky is not good at change and this is a big one, but I don't think he's quite over nini yet. would love to hear your thoughts?

hi!

so a lot of my thoughts on all of it are based entirely on interpretation. there’s so few facts that we have about the situation, that the scene can be read a million and one different ways depending on the viewers interpretation of plantonic/romantic relationships, personal preferences and experiences, and general character.

to me: ricky reads as a character who while generally encouraging to the people he cares about, goes to great lengths to keep his important people close to him.

a lot of this thought comes from how ricky reacts to changes and people leaving him.

look at his parents: he’s supportive of his dad, but his dad is the one that’s staying. he’s less supportive of his mom/has a harder time coming to grasp with the situation, probably mainly because she’s leaving.

he doesn’t always necessarily support nini. sure he does a lot of the time, but there’s been a few points where he doesn’t necessarily back nini. part of which lies in 100% crashing the musical to try and get back with her.

this is kind of important to my reading of the scene because it’s one of the moments that we really see ricky act outrigtly selfish. nini wasn’t necessarily wrong when she said “if you really cared about me, you’d let someone who wants to play this part play it.”

ricky wasn’t exactly being noble auditioning for the musical and it was pointed out a few times in the first episode that he didn’t really love musicals. it’s pretty much fact that he auditioned solely to impress/try and talk to nini with the hopes of getting back together with her. so it’s safe to say while yes he 100% supported her and thought she’d get the role of gabriella, he was also willing to act somewhat selfishly in an attempt to stay close to her. and even after he’s thinking of quitting: he stays to impress nini. and sure he’s grown from that point, but it doesn’t change that we’ve been told that until episode three, maybe even episode 4 we really didn’t get many hints that he was really in the musical for a reason other than nini.

in episode eight, all we see is support. sure there’s the small little “oh” and the moment of hesitation, but he doesn’t even consider suggesting maybe she wouldn’t go/or seem to upset that she might. he’s not happy about it i don’t think, but he’s also not as distressed as it would seem he should be? based on what we know about ricky, it just seems more likely that he’s have a response closer aligning to kourtney’s — initially upset and needing a bit to wrap his head around it, but eventually accepting and supporting it because it’s best for her. it just seems like it should have taken him a bit longer to get there. and i think a few episodes ago it would have gone down like that.

so that leaves me with how i read the scene: while he might not be “over” nini necessarily (i do think there’s some lingering feelings and in general they are very close so he’s not necessarily over her) but i do think he’s been able to move on somewhat — at least in regards to where he was at the start of the series.

the read i get from ricky’s actions knowing what we do about him, was part of the reason he felt so determined to get nini back was because she was a) who he turned to for advice and b) one of the major pillars in his life — he didn’t have much else, he had nini, his parents and big red. so with his mom gone, losing nini would have been a huge hit. so he was clinging to her and trying to win her back. now he has the musical, and some other friends, so he doesn’t necessarily need her as much as he once did. the general reminiscent feel of this episode kind of added to that for me. and the fact that at this point, ricky and nini both have very different wants and needs.

so yeah, i think ricky’s moved on somewhat, even if he’s no consciously aware he has. i think nini is the same. but that’s just how i see it. with the information we have, literally it all could mean anything and the only people who really know anything are the writers.

this got fairly long and really rambly but i hope some of it kinda makes sense...thanks for the ask though!

#hsmtmts #hsmtmts analysis #ricky bowen #nini salazar roberts #i could literally talk about this show all day and i feel no shame about it #ramblings of a slightly educated film student

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