To start off this post I just wanna say, I hold mp100 dear to my heart and I say this with love, but.. I feel off put whenever people talk about the bad shit that anime usually has, and then say that. Mp100 has none of it. Because, like... sure, it has less of it than the usual, and I appreciate it for that, but that doesn't mean that it, doesn't have it at all? I mean. The transmisogynistic joke in episode 2. The fatphobia in season 2's episode 2. The lack of female main characters, Takeuchi's racist design.... don't get me wrong, the show is still great and I love it very much as I said, but you can love a show and appreciate all the things that it got right while not disregarding the things that it got wrong. You don't have to hate it for those things, you don't even have to necessarily talk about them if you don't want to. You just shouldn't deny that they exist in that media in the first place. That feels really disingenuous to me.

Pop culture reduces It's a Wonderful Life to that last half hour, and thinks the whole thing is about this guy traveling to an alternate universe where he doesn't exist and a little girl saying, "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings." A hokey, sugary fantasy. A light and fluffy story fit for Hallmark movies.

But this reading completely glosses over the fact that George Bailey is actively suicidal. He's not just standing there moping about, "My friends don't like me," like some characters do in shows that try to adapt this conceit to other settings. George's life has been destroyed. He's bankrupt and facing prison. The lifetime of struggle we've been watching for the last two hours has accomplished nothing but this crushing defeat, and he honestly believes that the best thing he can do is kill himself because he's worth more dead than alive. He would have thrown himself from a bridge had an actual angel from heaven not intervened at the last possible moment.

That's dark. The banker villain that pop culture reduces to a cartoon purposely drove a man to the brink of suicide, which only a miracle pulled him back from. And then George Bailey goes even deeper into despair. He not only believes that his future's not worth living, but that his past wasn't worth living. He thinks that every suffering he endured, every piece of good that he tried to do was not only pointless, but actively harmful, and he and the world would be better off if he had never existed at all.

This is the context that leads to the famed alternate universe of a million pastiches, and it's absolutely vital to understanding the world that George finds. It's there to specifically show him that his despondent views about his effect on the universe are wrong. His bum ear kept him from serving his country in the war--but the act that gave him that injury was what allowed his brother to grow up to become a war hero. His fight against Potter's domination of the town felt like useless tiny battles in a war that could never be won--but it turns out that even the act of fighting was enough to save the town from falling into hopeless slavery. He thought that if it weren't for him, his wife would have married Sam Wainwright and had a life of ease and luxury as a millionaire's wife, instead of suffering a painful life of penny-pinching with him. Finding out that she'd have been a spinster isn't, "Ha ha, she'd have been pathetic without you." It's showing him that she never loved Wainwright enough to marry him, and that George's existence didn't stop her from having a happier life, but saved her from having a sadder one. Everywhere he turns, he finds out that his existence wasn't a mistake, that his struggles and sufferings did accomplish something, that his painful existence wasn't a tragedy but a gift to the people around him.

Only when he realizes this does he get to come back home in wild joy over the gift of his existence. The scenes of hope and joy and love only exist because of the two hours of struggle and despair that came before. Even Zuzu's saccharine line about bells and angel wings exists, not as a sugary proverb, but as a climax to Clarence's story--showing that even George's despair had good effect, and that his newfound thankfulness for life causes not only earthly, but heavenly joy.

If this movie has light and hope, it's not because it exists in some fantasy world where everything is sunshine and rainbows, but because it fights tooth and nail to scrape every bit of hope it can from our all too dark and painful world. The light here exists, not because it ignores the dark, but because the dark makes light more precious and meaningful. The light exists in defiance of the dark, the hope in defiance of despair, and there is nothing saccharine about that. It's just about as realistic as it gets.

So. Hear 5. Nika. Loony Tunes Luffy, if you will. Tell us your thoughts on him and any potential meta? 👀 I’ve been aching to hear it from you since we first saw him go Full Silly Boy.

it's hard to answer this, because i have so many thoughts. i'm just going to try and start from the biggest points and move down.

i like gear five a lot, and i think this development feels very appropriate as a culmination of both luffy's character and the themes of one piece as a whole because of how it interacts with three extremely dominant motifs that have reoccurred throughout the story: freedom, laughter, and the sun.

from the very beginning of the story, luffy has acted, in small ways and big, as an agent of complete freedom. from his first meeting with coby to his breakout at impel down to the liberation of wano, what luffy does is destroy systems that control and oppress, if only because they are in his way. every strawhat is somehow trapped and held back from pursuing their own dreams when they meet luffy, and he frees them all, along with hundreds of others along the way, whether he's inspiring shirahoshi to venture outside or crushing yamato's manacles. his talent for this has always seemed almost preternatural.

luffy is not necessarily a benevolent person; he doesn't care much about helping people in the abstract. he's selfish. he values freedom for freedom's own sake, not because of any greater moral convictions. he doesn't think much about the negative knock-on effects of things like causing a mass breakout at impel down, and he doesn't really go around seeking out downtrodden and oppressed people to free out of a charitable or selfless instinct, nor does he really do anything because it's the right thing to do. he's dismissive of the idea that he might be a hero.

but because he is a completely uncontrollable free agent, and he doesn't really want anything but for himself and everyone he cares about to be completely free, he constantly collides with the systems of oppression that control his world, and when those collisions happen, it is the systems that fail, time and time again, because oppressive systems always do eventually. they can't withstand the light of day. and because he lives completely confidently and unapologetically, he is constantly inspiring others to do the same.

so by the time we are told about nika for the first time, we already know that what nika is said to do is what we've seen luffy doing for more than a thousand chapters: he frees people, and inspires them, and makes them laugh.

i also find luffy-as-nika to be very interesting and thematically appropriate when positioned in opposition to the various antagonists in one piece who have declared themselves to be gods, frequently some of its most tyrannical and oppressive villains- enel, the celestial dragons, doflamingo. all enslave and imprison people, robbing them of their freedom.

nika is a god of slaves, and a creature of liberation. the natural enemy, as rosinante might say, of that sort of megalomaniacal 'god.'

one piece has also consistently connected the theme of freedom, as embodied through luffy, with the sun since very early on. the sun pirates, former slaves, used the symbol of the sun to wipe away the brand of the celestial dragons. (and aren't i curious to know what jinbei might know about nika- he never did answer who's who's question about it.) the fishmen more broadly view the sun as something to be reached when they are truly free. on wano, the coming dawn is understood as the coming liberation. impel down and the florian triangle, places of indefinite imprisonment, are lightless dungeons where the sun doesn't reach. the sun is freedom.

and luffy has always been thoroughly sun associated, from the visual of his hat to his origin on dawn island in the east blue, to his ship, the thousand sunny.

finally, one piece has always placed a great deal of emphasis on smiles and laughter (laugh tale, joy boy, roger laughed, etc)- but that joy must be real. it can't be forced. we're told again and again, through koala, dressrosa's toys, and most obviously the victims of the failed SMILE fruits, that to force someone to smile, denying them the right to cry, is nothing less than an atrocity. people can't be forced to be happy- they should be happy because they're free.

luffy in gear five is laughing nigh-constantly, but it's just because he's having so much fun. unlike the victims of the SMILE fruits, his endless joy is genuine, because in this form, he is completely free- nobody can stop him, and nobody can control him. as he says himself, he can do whatever he wants.

i know that some people felt this moment was in some way a deus ex machina, but it just didn't feel that way to me, because of how well it plays on the story's established themes and trajectory, as well as concepts like devil fruit awakening having been established hundreds of chapters back.

luffy is the sun, the sun is freedom, freedom is joy. i think it makes total sense.

・ ゜ ʚɞ ゜ ゜𝖂𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖒𝖆𝖐𝖊𝖘 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖘𝖊𝖉𝖚𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖛𝖊? ♡ ・ ゜ ʚɞ ゜ ゜‎♡‧₊˚✧ ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა ✧˚₊‧♡ 18+!

♡ “𝐼𝓉’𝓈 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓁𝒾𝑔𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓂𝒾𝓍𝑒𝒹 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓁𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒾𝓃𝓃𝑜𝒸𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒, 𝒾𝓉’𝓈 𝒸𝓇𝓊𝑒𝓁𝓉𝓎 𝓂𝒾𝓍𝑒𝒹 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝒶 𝓈𝑒𝓃𝓈𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝑒𝓁𝑒𝑔𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒. 𝐼𝓉’𝓈 𝒶 𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓅 𝓈𝑒𝓉 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓈𝑒𝒹𝓊𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓈𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓅𝑒𝓇𝓈𝓊𝒶𝒹𝑒𝒹 𝒷𝓎 𝓈𝓅𝑒𝑒𝒸𝒽.”–𝒥𝑜𝓈𝑒 𝑅. 𝒞𝑜𝓇𝑜𝓃𝒶𝒹𝑜 ♡

All pictures and gifs are not mine but belong to their original artists.♡

I. -> II. -> III.

ᴍᴅɴɪ! ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴘᴀᴄ ᴅᴏᴇꜱ ɴᴏᴛ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴀɪɴ ᴇxᴘʟɪᴄɪᴛ ʟᴀɴɢᴜᴀɢᴇ ʙᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴜʙᴊᴇᴄᴛ ᴍᴀᴛᴛᴇʀ ɪꜱ ᴀᴅᴜʟᴛ. ᴛʜᴇꜱᴇ ᴇɴᴇʀɢɪᴇꜱ ᴀʀᴇ ɴᴇᴀʀʟʏ ɪᴅᴇɴᴛɪᴄᴀʟ ᴛᴏ ᴍʏ, "ᴡʜᴀᴛ'ꜱ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʙᴇᴀᴜᴛʏ ᴛʏᴘᴇ" ᴘɪᴄᴋ ᴀ ᴄᴀʀᴅ. ɪ'ᴍ ɢᴜᴇꜱꜱɪɴɢ ᴀ ʟᴏᴛ ᴏꜰ ʏᴀ'ʟʟ ᴍɪɢʀᴀᴛᴇᴅ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ? ᴏɴʟʏ 3 ᴘɪʟᴇꜱ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴘᴀᴄ. ɪ'ᴍ ᴡᴏʀᴋɪɴɢ ᴏɴ ᴀ ʙɪɢɢᴇʀ ᴘʀᴏᴊᴇᴄᴛ ʀᴇʟᴀᴛɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴇᴅᴜᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ꜰᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴜʏꜱ! ᴀʟꜱᴏ, ɪ ᴀᴘᴏʟᴏɢɪᴢᴇ ɪɴ ᴀᴅᴠᴀɴᴄᴇ ɪꜰ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ɢʀᴀᴍᴍᴀʀ ᴏʀ ᴘᴜɴᴄᴛᴜᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴍɪꜱᴛᴀᴋᴇꜱ. ᴇɴɢʟɪꜱʜ ɪꜱ ᴍʏ ꜰɪʀꜱᴛ ʟᴀɴɢᴜᴀɢᴇ. ɪ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ꜱᴜᴄᴋ ᴀᴛ ɪᴛ.

~ XOXO 💋🎀

౿૮꒰ྀི pile 1 ๑◞꒱ა

[King of Swords (rx), The Magician, 6 of wands (rx)]

Pile 1 you have a strong, silent confidence about you. Maybe some of you have Scorpio in your chart. I'm also getting Capricorn and Virgo. You may not think that you come off as intimidating, but you radiate power from within. I think your seductive powers come from the way you manipulate your energy, as in you know how to close off and open yourself to people. You have an intimidating but dominating aura, and to other people, you seem very selective with who you socialize. You may come off as someone cold and judgemental, as someone with prominent masculine energy, someone who is almost invulnerable and cloaked in mystery. You have an aura of prestige and unattainability. You like having control over situations and you always keep your head up high, like no one can disturb your peace or step up to you so easily. When you speak, you're either super charismatic or a tease, only getting people to know the surface level of you. People may assume that you have an inner rich world and there's a treasure trove of knowledge and intrigue hidden deep inside you, but you won't show it to just anyone. You may often find yourself being the one to make the first move. People view you to be irresistible, even when you act cold towards them, they can't help but feel this magnetic pull towards you. You sometimes act coy and sly to get suitors that are on the more dominant side. You definitely like to play power games. You know how to say all the right things and you even butter those people up. Maybe you don't get as much attention as you want, but only because most people don't have the confidence to approach you. They'd be quick to expect the worst and are too scared to get their feelings hurt because they expect you to be unkind with your words. I think also you have quite the ego and you choose to hide this, but in fact, you love it when people express praise and admiration to you too. You preen under the attention, and people want to give it to you because they feel that the easiest way to get closer to you is to flatter your vanity. People assume that you get offers all the time and that they have to come towards you correct and with originality to stand out from the crowd. You also have a strong enough sense of self to where even if you get rejected, you act cool and detached, and that causes people to both admire and fear your fearlessness. Even in those types of situations where you feel powerless, you appear to come out on top. There's just something dangerous about you like you invoke strong feelings of arousal and fear (think of sexy, bad-boy villains). People want to be worthy of your attention. More dominant types can either see you as a challenge or a threat, and the softer types will know not to even try it. You are an exclusive, a VIP only treat.

⊰᯽⊱┈───── ✧

౿૮꒰ྀི pile 2 ๑◞꒱ა

7 of Swords (rx), Page of pentacles, The Magician

There's so much yellow in these cards Pile 2! You're hard NOT to notice. Maybe you have a bright, yellow, or orange-colored aura. You may wear bright-colored clothes or have light hair. Yellow also makes me think of clarity/exposure, so maybe you're the type to see right through other people's gimmicks and are a clear, concise communicator. You can sense BS a mile away and very few can get one up on you. You don't sugarcoat your words and they can cut deep. You can be quite witty and sarcasm may be your favorite language, but I get the sense that you prefer to be alone. Your seductive power lies within your drive, nonchalant attitude, and ability to maximize your sex appeal. Your mind is busy, constantly racing. You may think a lot about the future and are rarely ever in the present moment, or you are so in the present moment that everything around you is just background noise and your attention is focused on what you're doing You're a busy bee and it can be hard to get your attention, and many people want your attention. The way you glamorize and dress is so enticing. It's giving me classy, 90's supermodel vibes. You are intellectual and a high achiever. People think they have to be at a certain level of success to match with you. You're ambitious, resourceful, and all about your money and career. You want stability from your relationships and nothing less; no games or empty promises. You may also be the type to get involved in deep, cerebral conversations. The way you seduce and like to be seduced is through the mind. You want to be mentally stimulated and in turn, stimulate your partners the same way ( waving hi to the sapiosexuals). Your partners have to have value and a certain level of intellect in your eye for you to give them the time of day. You don't care for shallowness or dishonesty. People know they have to go the extra mile to impress you. You already impress and intimidate the f*ck out of them. Maybe you were also attracted to Pile 1 cause I got a similar energy there. You know how to make things happen Pile 2. You are long-term material. People may even see you as a chess piece, like having someone like you on their side would be beneficial and a power move. People fantasize about being part of a power couple with you. They want you to dominate them, even control them a bit. Lol, I think a lot of people think it's sexy when you get mad. They like to rile you up and direct all that passionate energy you have towards them. You seem to have it all, and you can't accept anything but the best from other people. It's giving boss/career woman energy. It's like at the snap of your fingers things magically happen. You're like a shooting star and people will do anything to stay in your orbit.

⊰᯽⊱┈───── ✧

౿૮꒰ྀི pile 3 ๑◞꒱ა

[9 of wands (rx), 8 of Cups, The chariot, The world]

You're empaths Pile 3. Ya'll live in your heads but are worldly and experienced beings. I didn't get the Fool, but I think that would be the perfect card to describe you, as someone who is adventurous, hyperactive, and a risk-taker. You are naturally extroverted, but I'm getting for some, it's easy to be alone in a crowd, like you could socialize, but you prefer to stay in your bubble and just explore the going-ons. You have many passions and constantly carry this enthusiastic energy around you. People find this incredibly seductive. They get caught up in this energy and are quick to follow your lead thinking that what you have to offer is nothing less but happiness and adventure. You have a zest for life, a Je ne sais quoi that leaves people captivated by you. They are in awe as to where you get this excitable energy, how you're so courageous and unafraid of anything. It's easy for people to lose themselves in you like you make them forget all the bad things in their life. Some of you are frequent travelers and dream about exploring the world. Your head is in the clouds and while some people consider you to be unrealistic and naive, they envy how nothing can seem to bring you down. You make people feel like they can achieve anything, like being with you is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Around you, the sun seems brighter, colors are more saturated, and the birds are constantly chirping. You make people feel young. I think you're also natural healers like you know how to soothe and uplift people that are wounded and hurt. You know how to work them through their pain and distract them from it with something spontaneous and lighthearted. This results in people forming attachments towards you and idolizing you (for some this could be to an unhealthy degree). I think your voice is high-pitched and you talk with a hyperactive flair that people think is cute. You have an easier time forming relationships and convincing people to do things with and for you. It's easy for people to have their guard down around you because you are such a breath of fresh air. You don't attract specific types of people, but rather anyone and everyone. You're so dreamy Pile 3 that if people don't often approach you, it's because they are too busy daydreaming about you to approach. To them, you're someone that can't be tied down or fully theirs, so some prefer to fantasize rather than get their heart broken. You're a literal dream Pile 3!

⊰᯽⊱┈───── ✧

ᴀɴʏ ᴄʀɪᴛɪᴄɪꜱᴍꜱ ᴏʀ ꜰᴇᴇᴅʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴀʀᴇ ᴡᴇʟᴄᴏᴍᴇᴅ. ɪ'ᴍ ᴛᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴀ ɴᴇᴡ ᴅɪʀᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜɪꜱ ʙʟᴏɢ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀᴍ ᴏᴘᴇɴ ᴛᴏ ᴀɴʏ ᴏᴘɪɴɪᴏɴꜱ ᴀꜱ ᴛᴏ ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ɪ ᴄᴀɴ ɪᴍᴘʀᴏᴠᴇ ɪᴛ. ♡

ᴅɪꜱᴄʟᴀɪᴍᴇʀ

© lolita-bonita — Please do not plagiarize, translate, or repost any of my work on other social media platforms without my permission. This is the only platform that I post this type of content. If you see my work being posted anywhere else, please kindly report them to me. ♡

⊱┈───── ✧

✨️ᴘʟᴇᴀꜱᴇ ɴᴏᴛᴇ: Tarot is not an exact science, nor can it produce information that is factually true. All things posted are alleged and for entertainment purposes only. The future is fluid, and what may happen is based on your choices and actions, not what I and a deck of cards say. You are still the creator of your future. ✨️

⊰᯽⊱┈───── ✧

Pick a Card:

Your relationship dynamic with your fictional crush

This pick a card will try to explore what it would be like if you were in a relationship with your fictional crush.

Piles 1-4

Each pile has three parts;

-How you got together

-How you interact

-Their love language

The Messages;

PILE ONE;

Cards; 10 of cups, Queen of cups, 6 of pentacles, The Hanged One reversed.

How you got together;

Pile one this might have been an arranged marriage? The world this character lives in can be quite rigid, with a strict social order. Something along the lines of historical social classes like nobility, and some of you this fictional universe could have gods and goddesses and that person is a god/goddess? Your fictional crush is quite influencial and maybe powerful lol. I'm really getting the vibe of a noble in a historical k drama or a wuxia type of drama but with gods and goddeses( is there an exact name for this genre? 😭) Either way it has historical/fantasy elements. You ended up together because your fictional crush and other people thought that you would be a good match. So; political alliance, dating to fit societal expectations. None of you thought that you would fall madly in love and have about 10 children. I'm getting the vibe like in Bridgerton how Daphne and Simon might have looked like a good match that came together in a somewhat normal way and had a succesful marriage life but no one really knows about their secret epic love story and their trials and tribulations that strengthened their relationship.

How you two interact;

You two know exactly what amounts of energy to give each other. Your relationship is very balanced, you know each other so deeply; when to push , when to pull etc. Your love languages are so attuned to each other. It may not look like balance at first sight, it may even look like one of you is overwhelmed. I'm also getting that one of you will prefer to dominate(strongly getting that its your fictional crush)/ be submissive. One of you is wealthier/more powerful than the other and others may worry that this person could overshadow the other but you communicate quite often and clearly about whatever it is that your feeling so its never a problem between you two.

Their love language;

Pile one you really threw this character for a loop😂. They had resolved to never find love in life, or especially in your marriage so they're not quite sure how to show you love. They tend to default to what they saw growing up. Their feelings often overwhelm them and they don't know what to do lol. I guess this is why you two place alot of importance on communication. They don't like to show their true feelings in public, but may behave in a way expected of them. For example; they could know that its expected of a spouse to shower their partner in gifts, especially in public places because that's what they were told people like, but you know it's all for show. The most sincere acts of their love could happen in intimate moments when its just the two of you. Like saying something so unxpected and sweet it sweeps you off your feet.

PILE TWO;

Cards; Queen of wands reversed, The Star reversed, 2 of wands.

How you get together;

Pile 2 i feel like your fictional crush is a villain😭. You get together because you've been holding on to them for so long. I'm getting that you were the person who was always by their side throughout their journey. They may even become nasty and callous towards you but you didn't mind and put up with them. You were there from the begining and saw them at their absolute worst. For some of you this character wisened up and began to appreciate you so much so that you became their constant source of strength, for others this character never realised what they had all along till you had to go away and it became a wound that they never admit to having, or they started something with you to keep you there next to them. ( so toxic😭) This fictional universe is giving me spooky vibes, I'm getting vampires and ghosts. Nightime, full moons, something to do with the dead. Witches, sorcery and magic. Immortality too, so maybe you two were with each other for literal decades and centuries. They may be quite beautiful but narcicistic, and sensual. They have a lot of feminine energy so they might be a woman, or femminine presenting but they could be a man with a flair for the dramatics. One who's unafraid to show the depth of his emotions. Lestat from Interview with a Vampire popped into my mind.

How you interact;

This relationship could actually be toxic, pile 2. This person has a lot of trauma and they try to mask it as arrogance, confidence and flirtaciousness. They dont want to face the emotions eating away at their heart and they treat their feelings towards you the same way. They like to keep things light between you two. You might want to push towards deeper topics and a deeper connection but they just change the topic and run away. Despite this they are quite insecure regarding you and get jealous very easily.They may lash out at you in such instances or be cold and cruel. For some of you they may view you as a weakness and hate that you make them feel vulnerable. For half you in this pile they want to completely ignore and deny their feelings for you, for the other half, they acknowledge their feelings but never tell you because they feel the world is against your love(?? 😭)and pine painfully in silence.

Their love language;

Yup, they just ignore the problem and bottle up their feelings till it all explodes. So they like to act like everything is normal between you two. I'm not sure if you'll be in a relationship or not but they may never initiate it unless they're pushed to the edge. So you may remain friends and they'll just continue to love you in (obvious) silence, until something happens like your life is in danger and then theyre freaking out and threatening everyone in the vicinity. lol

PILE THREE;

Cards; 10 of swords, The Star, The Hermit, Page of swords.

How you got together;

Through a betrayal? There's a lot of mystery and intrigue between you two, a lot of escalation of feelings. You two share some bad blood or had a family rivalry of some sort but what brought you two together was hope. Hope to find a better way to live your life. You just got each other and it felt like you were soulmates from the get go. A strong connection that you both might have tried to deny but it never worked out so you wisened up and decided to give love a chance. There was a lot of angst, stress and drama that led up to you getting together. And A LOT of pining. This fictional universe feels very close to ours, with some slight differences. Could be apocalyptic/dystopian.

How you interact;

You both are quite private and mature people. You dont like to show much of your relationship to other people, or you have to keep it lowkey. For some of you it is a secret relationship. You both are very smart and emotionally mature. You two are an intellectual couple, you'll have many discussions and try to broaden your knowledge together, you might disguise your dates as research and study meetups. A lot of planning and srategising together. This might be a teacher-student relationship, or even age gap. I feel like your fictional crush could be an older brother figure/leader.

Their love language;

They may be a bit distant with you pile 3. They have a lot to do, a lot weighing on their mind and they just can't keep up with it all. They could worry a lot about their responsibilities and this could bleed into their relationship with you. Despite this they'll try their best to show you affection when they can, it'll be like you're someone that they have to take care of and they may also worry about how to keep you safe and happy. A lot of this is mental and may not translate to material gifts, words of affirmations or physical touch. You might just notice their consideration of you when you look at their plans and see that they decided to pass by the field that you love on your journey or that they made sure that you sit in certain spot because its the safest or closest to them.

PILE FOUR;

Cards; 6 of cups reversed, The fool, The Hermit reversed.

How you got together;

This is so cute. your fictional crush probably has a traumatic past that occured in their childhood. Even if not in their childhood, it still severely affected their life and development, so much so that their life can be split into a before and an after. This person sees you as someone who entered their life to bring them healing. Like you are the manifestation of the good karma that they were given after suffering so much in the past. They had finally decided to move on, pick up the pieces of their life and try to live then BOOM! You showed up and they're so grateful for you. Basically, it was a big move for them to enter this relationship with you because they were not sure if their trauma would allow them to be close to someone like that but they just viewed you as a source of so much goodness and healing, they couldnt let you just pass them by. This is so sweet, they see you as a blessing in their life. They also love who they become around you, they feel you make them a better person. They probably dont tell you all this and so from your perspective it might have looked like a regular progression of a relationship ie; getting to know each other or being friends and then dating. This fictional universe feels almost mundane, nothing too fantastical about it. Or maybe it could be scifi that involves daily life on a new planet/ in a space ship. There's not a lot of drama/high stakes/end of the world type of situations involved. It feels like all of that drama is in the past. I'm getting farms? This character could have also been a veteran/ soldier.

How you interact;

You guys are such a pure couple. You two are quite open with each other and childish almost. It feels so innocent, you could flirt by giving each other little gifts like flowers and handicrafts. LIttle notes. To observers it will look like you're both experincing giddy first love that has you smiling to yourself, all in a daze. You laugh a lot and are very comfortable in each other's company.

Their love language;

Your fictional crush can get possesive lol. They might be a bit hot headed, but they try to reel it in and have a healthy attachment towards you. They miss you when you're not around and may have fears of never seeing you again, like nightmares where they wake up in cold sweat and youre not there so they start panicking. Their love language is definitely quality time spent with you, and they tend to show you a side of themselves that they don't show other people. Their inner child definitely shines through around you.

***

Thank you so much for participating in this pick a card reading. This was very fun and entertaining for me to do lol and I may have gone a bit overboard. I hope this reading can bring you some joy, like it did to me. Have a good day/night wherever you are!

Also, please let me know if this reading resonated! What aspects of your fictional crush really shined through for you?

Sorry for any grammar/ spelling mistakes, I have no excuse 😭. I guess I'm just too dependant on auto correct, even though English is my first language.

bowuigi A/B/O idea, except we're 100% going with alpha Luigi and omega Bowser (he wears a collar, he has a kid with no "mother," think about it people!!!)

So, in the Mario world there's a LOT of different types of people. Toads and mushrumans like Peach don't technically have gender at all, it's just outward presentation. And even the groups that have A/B/O dynamics don't always express it in the same way. With Koopas, omegas are quite rare but they're expected to be big and strong instead of dainty and swooning. Gotta protect the eggs, after all!

But there's a lot of social capital to be gained from Having An Omega, and no matter how respected and feared Bowser is it's never quite enough to stop some alphas from thinking they can own him.

(choose your own angsty adventure for where Junior came from)

That's one of the reasons he's so fixated on Peach. Not only does she not have any expectations because of his gender, but no one else looking at them as a couple will either!

Then along comes the Mario brothers, both of them reeking of alpha, repeatedly dominating him and taking away what he thinks is the key to a happy future... It's maddening.

-

Mario and Luigi were never exactly typical alphas. They're too short, too friendly, they cook and clean and help out around the house. Of course all those traits made them plenty popular with women and omegas (if the ladies don't find you handsome they should at least find you handy), so the occasional bully or rude comments stopped bothering them a long time ago.

It didn't take them too long to adjust to their new world, but sometimes they're still surprised by things. It's never occurred to them that koopas might have alphas and omegas. Aren't they reptiles? (No.) Although Bowser smelled sweet, they just assumed that was what the big koopas smell like (technically true) and didn't worry about it.

-

Then there's another villain trying to take over the world, and to get Bowser out of the way they dose him with hormones and trigger his heat. Mario doesn't hesitate to chase off the villain, but Luigi hangs back to make sure Bowser is okay.

Bowser is furious. Mad at the villain, mad at his own body, mad that he doesn't know any alphas he can actually trust. If there was somebody he could just fuck and get this out of his system, he'd chase that other villain down and teach them a lesson the hard way. But instead he's going to have to lock himself away until it passes, and...

And then he smells Luigi.

He's frustrated, angry, and his brain is only working on about half capacity. He growls, "Put out or get out."

And Luigi, who is still reeling from the realization that Bowser's scent wasn't a coincidence after all and is also only thinking at half capacity, says, "Are you joking or is putting out an option?"

-

Afterward, they don't talk about it. Luigi understands that it was an emergency and Bowser's not interested in him. And he's still adjusting to thinking of Bowser as an omega, so he can't exactly say he's interested in Bowser either. They defeat the villain, save the world, and Bowser seems satisfied with the beating he got to give. Job well done.

Later on Luigi sends a polite message to make sure Bowser is still all right and never hears back. In fact, nobody hears anything from Bowser for months.

When they finally run into each other again, Bowser is carrying a tiny baby koopa in his arms. Exceptionally tiny, actually, with big blue eyes and a tuft of dark hair.

Luigi is pissed. He and his brother are not quick to anger, especially not for alphas, but you don't just bear a man's child and not TELL him. He's been a papa for months and he doesn't even know the baby's NAME? Bowser didn't even ASK FOR INPUT ON IT? ITALIAN NAMES ARE BEAUTIFUL. THEY COULD HAVE NAMED HER AFTER HIS NONNA.

Bowser is absolutely flummoxed that this is the part Luigi is most upset about, but agrees that she can have a middle name.

(And then ✨awkward dad romance✨ ensues.)

I think something that we need to keep in mind is that Buddy Daddies is taking place in Japan. Not a fantasy setting or idealized depiction of Japan, but just real ol’ Japan. 

So a lot of shitty things happening to the female characters and the female characters in the series being placed in positions where they don’t have agency and power is likely being done on purpose. Why? Because the power that women hold in Japan isn’t much. They are still fighting for that, immensely.

Like, Japan’s gender equality ranking keeps getting higher (aka it keeps getting worse). It’s better than some previous generations for sure (and better than some other countries), but Japan went from ranking #74th in 2020, #80 in 2021, #103 in 2022, and now #104 in 2023, this is out of 190 countries. 

Kazuki and Rei are involved with an Organization that is male dominated. There isn’t a single female assassin in sight, Rei’s mother is non-existent, and wives, girlfriends, and girls (like Miri) are targeted because of their mere existence and bonds to these male assassins being viewed as a threat. Miri being non-blood related is also another reason why she is targeted, but her being a girl (and likely viewed as useless by Shigeki since, like I noted, we haven’t seen a single female assassin) is another. 

Men who don’t fit in or try to deflect from this Organization and the things it stands for, also become targets. Because they, too, are viewed as threats. They are viewed as traitors. Japan is still in a place, in regards to women’s equality, where men are the ones that have to support and speak up for women, in order to make the room and space for female voices to be heard loudly and for women in general to gain more power and control and agency over themselves.

There are, of course, many Japanese women fighting for all of this right now. They aren’t helpless, but the society they are navigating and fighting their way through, was not built for them to have the level of power as men. They really need the support of men, in the same way that any minority group ultimately needs the support of a majority group in order for their own voices to be properly heard. With Buddy Daddies, the Organization and Shigeki represent tradition. They represent “blood purity” and things remaining unchanged - in this case, men being in positions of power and traditional blood bound families that can produce blood-bound heirs. 

That is the world that keeps harming the women in this series, and that is the world that Kazuki and Rei are leaving. That’s the world that is viewed as being incorrect, wrong, and villainous. 

Meanwhile, the world that showed Kazuki and Rei that they could change is the one that is dominated by women - childcare. But, unlike the Organization, the world of Miri’s daycare is open to others - the head of the daycare is an older man, there was one male daycare worker at field day, Kazuki and Rei were accepted at the daycare, during field day you can see old, young, and Taiga’s parents who are “delinquents”. Women’s voices are heard. Miss Anna is depicted as strong. Miri is shown having agency, making decisions, being in a leadership role (both in Episode 6 when she leads her friends around the zoo to find Miss Anna and again in Episode 9 when she makes the field day speech). The mom’s shout and are loud (field day), we see them expressing themselves in various interesting ways in the mom chats. 

And it is only after Kazuki and Rei start stepping into this world, where learning, changing, growing, and accepting the non-traditional and unconventional are openly accepted that we start to really see them both grow and change too. 

Buddy Daddies writing isn’t perfect. I personally don’t like the whole “overprotective dad” stuff and I do feel that we should have gotten another episode between E10 and E11. Some of the events in E11 do feel rushed in their execution. Though I have seen far worse.

But the series is making some points. Kazuki and Rei are two men that are shown to be fully capable of caring for a child. There are some learning bumps along the way, but they are able to do it in the end. Many of the men who are part of Buddy Daddies, like the VAs, talk about how this is a series that men should watch, because more men need to be like Kazuki or learn to grow and put in the effort like Rei. 

Men in Japan (and like in many other parts of the world too) don’t put in the same amount of time, effort, and care when it comes to childcare and childrearing as women do. Our protagonists are showing that they can and should though.

And they have chosen to continue existing and pursuing the world of fatherhood, a space where women have more of a voice and unconventional family dynamics are welcomed, rather than stay in the world of assassination where men dominate and blood is what matters. 

If the series does go in the direction that many think it will, then Kazuki and Rei (likely along with the help of Kyutaro) are going to be directly targeting and potentially killing the character that represents tradition, male domination, and a world where women and children are killed because they are viewed as both useless and a threat at the same time.

Does it suck that most of the women in the series have been fridged or exist to further the plot of the men (Kazuki and Rei)? Yes, it does. But I think we are meant to feel frustrated about that. We can see the cruelty and pointlessness, and feel the frustration at the powerlessness that they have. 

The series hasn’t wrapped up yet. Episode 12 could do something that totally destroys this reading. But, for now, this is what I’m getting from the series. One of the script writers, likely the main one at that, since she is a veteran and has a lot of series to her name, is a woman. So I would like to think that these things aren’t just happening because the plot calls for it (getting Misaki out of the way for Kazuki and Rei), but for more complex issues instead.

A New Life

Yandere Shoto x Reader

Warnings: Yandere themes, SFW, drugging, kidnapping, minor violence

Checkout my Master List here.

———————————————————————

Shoto fights against you with gentle yet dominant hands. It isn’t his goal to hurt you, only to subdue you. He notices how your E/C eyes shine in the light of the sun with such beauty as rage pounds in your chest.

She’s so passionate. She’s perfect. I have to make her mine.

He blasts you with a surge of ice and captures your feet. You know martial arts, and he has been able to evade your attacks since the beginning, but you’re a feisty villain with a powerful healing quirk who got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time while walking to the LOV bar.

You stand there with your feet frozen to the ground. Unable to break free, you clench your fists and try to calm yourself so that you can think clearly.

“Stay back. Don’t come any closer! I’m warning you-” you try to seem tougher than you feel, but when he stands right in front of you with those heterochromatic eyes boring into yours, you can’t help but cut your sentence short.

He grabs you by the back of your neck and pulls your foreheads together. “I want you. You’re coming with me.”

“What? I’m not going anywhere with you, creep!” You try to push him away from you, but the cold you feel in your feet is starting to travel up your legs and through your whole body. Shivering and sluggishly trying to strike him is your only option right now.

Shoto laughs at your feeble attempts. He pulls something from his pocket, and you try to see what it is before something is suddenly poking your neck. Realization kicks in as your eyes give away the terror coursing through you. Your lids feel heavy, and you can no longer stand on your own. You fall forward into the arms of Shoto Todoroki, the last person in the world that you want securing you in his embrace.

He defrosts your feet with efficiency before throwing you over his shoulder and making his way towards your new home.

—

Waking up is difficult. You don’t want to leave the peace of your mind, but your body aches for you to sit up and stretch. You will your eyes to open with an ugly groan, and you find that you’re on a couch, sitting in your captor’s lap with his arms wrapped around you as he pets your hair.

If these were different circumstances, you would welcome the affection, but he just kidnapped you. You’d be damned if you let someone who just snatched you treat you like a fucking lap dog.

You squirm on his thighs, causing him to chuckle.

“Looks like someone’s awake.” He rubs his hand up and down your spine.

“Get off of me,” you growl.

“I’m not doing that. Settle down. I was having such a nice time with you.”

You jerk enough to the left that you’re able to maneuver your arm to land an elbow to his face. He stops you by grabbing your upper arm in a tight grip. You wince in pain as he begins warming the temperature in his hand. You understand the implied threat, and you settle down.

Nodding, Shoto removes his hand and brings you back into his cuddling arms. “You can forget trying to leave so that you can be a villain again. You’re going to be my good girl. I’m going to help you be my good girl. I know this is going to be a hard adjustment, but when you earn my trust, then you can have some privileges. I can tell you right now that if you don’t behave, then you’ll soon learn the harsh consequences of this house. I love you so much, Y/N. I’m going to be here for you.” He gives you a kiss on your head.

“You can’t do this to me. I have a fucking life. This is so sick and twisted.”

“Your life was full of criminal activity.”

You guffaw at his remark. “What do you think kidnapping someone is?”

You feel his grip on you tighten. “I took you here to help you. To give you a new life, a new home. A fresh start. You’re just not used to someone loving you like this.”

How the fuck did he know that about you? You have a tough relationship with love. You are untrusting, continuously suspicious of people who try to flirt with you or pursue something more than just a coffee date.

“It’s alright,” he says as he grabs your jaw in a light hold so that you look him in the eyes. “We have a new life together. Let’s make the best of it.”

So, I have an idea for a Time-Travel Tim Drake-centric fic (that was based on a dream i had), but I don't know how to write it *sobs* So if you or anyone else wants to use it, please do!!! Because I don't know how to cook my own food and I'm asking for scraps *sobs*

Anywaysssszzzzzz....

Tim is 35-ish years old, is divorced twice (Bernard and Kon respectively), is in his third marriage (with Bernard and Kon together), has a fat orange cat, has a small roomba he fondly says good morning to, and believes he successfully retired from the hero life while denying that he is actually still very deep into it.

He has Saturdays with the Superhero wives (Lois and Selina), gossiping about whatever, and is living his best life while a bunch of Gothamites are screaming for dear life in the background.

Well, the screaming is important because it's not just Gothamites screaming but the whole world from some end of the world bullshit superheroes are facing.

Tim takes a sip of his tea, then Lois' coffee, and accepts the asteroid about to kill him with open arms.

When he wakes up, he just knows that the asteroid he accepted with open arms was actually a time travelling asteroid. And no, he's usually right about these things no matter how outlandish. He's not smart, he just has great intuition, and he's just a really hard worker in proving that he's right.

So, he gets up, finds that he's in the past, takes a week soaking up all the attention his parents are giving him, and then gets to work.

(He's 11 here, btw. He hates it)

He was a hero in his past life, but he's so damn tired. He doesn't want to work, but he's read enough isekais and timetravel animes, mangas, and webnovels to know that the protagonist who's going through the same thing he does ends up doing a whole lot of work anyways.

So, yeah, he's not gonna get that break, even if he does have an end goal in mind. It's a fool's errand.

He's decided that things will just be easier if he's a supervillain.

He goes to Lex Luthor, hacks everything in his company, merges Luthor's company with Drake Industries, makes Drake Industries a bigger company than it needs to be but necessary, ignores Luthor's anguished cries, and steals Mercy for himself.

Drake Industries is now a supergiant company, bigger than Wayne Enterprises. But first, Tim donates all the Kryptonite Luthor had to the Justice League.

He makes everything goes right, makes sure some things are avoided. He destroys some properties here and there. He destroys an island or two. He hires other (retired) villains into his company. He takes over thr Court of Owls and uses then to fight against Ra's the moment the immortal pissed him off by flirting with his mom.

Anyways.

He reveals to the world Iron Man style that he is the supervillain that's trying to dominate the world.

He's 12.

No one believes him.

They all think it's a PR comedy thing to invite more people into D.I.

It works, but no one believes him and... it's great? Lex Luthor laughs mockingly in the dungeon he's chained in.

sound fun as hell, dude

Wander Over Yonder (Series Review) (Contains Spoilers!)

Yup, I'm finally reviewing another cartoon! But I just don't have the energy to undertake a project like when I reviewed every single freaking Aosth episode one at a time, so this time around I'm going to look at the series as whole.

Warning: I will discuss spoilers throughout this review, so if you are interested, please go watch the cartoon first! Thanks to disney being stupid, it's still only available on disney plus - so you'll either have to pay for that or find another means to watch it. Yo ho ho!

Wander over Yonder is a delightful, colorful and energetic Disney cartoon than originally began airing back in 2013. Its stories mainly revolve around its two main characters, Wander and Sylvia. Wander is a an altruistic space hippie who resembles a muppet-like creature, and his best friend Sylvia is a very butch-coded and punchy Zbornak, a species that is somewhere between a dragon and horse.

Wander and Sylvia's lives seem to have consisted of traveling the universe in a magic space-safe bubble, having fun and helping folks. Things get a little more dangerous though, when one day they cross paths with one of the show's main villains - Lord Hater. Hater is a hilariously pitiful caricature of toxic masculinity - constantly needing reassurance that he's "the coolest guy ever" and seeking validation by destroying and bullying everyone and everything around him. Despite his very impolite behavior, the ever-affectionate and loving Wander is determined to see the good in Hater and help him find a healthier way of managing his feelings than "punching lame nerds in the face". Lord Hater's minions, the Watch Dogs, are also frequent targets of Hater's bullying but mostly maintain loyalty nonetheless. Chief among the Watch Dogs is Commander Peppers, who is far more professional about being a villain than Hater himself could ever hope to be.

After the introductory setup, we'll see that many episodes consist of Hater trying to do something nasty, and Wander managing to mess it up just by being kind and nice. Many times, the Watchdogs will neglect their job duties and get distracted by Wander, as he treats them much better than Hater does.

This sounds like it might be a repetitive theme, but the show does a great job of always throwing out variety in its stories. You'll see the "standard" Wander vs Hater stories but you'll see stories of Wander and Sylvia doing things on their own, and Hater and the watchdogs doing things on their own, and over time a whole slew of secondary villains and friends show up in the story as well! Given the setting of the show is an entire galaxy, this also gave the creators plenty of room to constantly change up the scenery with different worlds, different creatures, and even the occasional trip into alternate realities! Most episodes are comedy based, but every now and then the show comes out swinging with a very sweet or moving story as well, and these are done just as well as all the zany comedy.

In season 2, the show introduces a new villain - Lord Dominator - bringing with her some big "shit just got real" energy. Unlike Lord Hater, she is much, MUCH more powerful and competent as a villain. She becomes such a threat that even Lord Hater is occasionally willing to work with Wander in helping fight her, as her relentless destruction of every planet around is only making him feel even more like a failure of a villain. At the end of the season, she is finally defeated in the sense that her ship is destroyed along with all of her robots, but she has no remorse for her actions and vows revenge on everyone who stood up to her. Sadly, the show only got 2 seasons, as disney never gave the creators the green-light for anymore.

So that's my brief summary of the overall story-line, but how does the show look and sound? Well, just check out these screenshots for the visuals, they're fantastic! The art team put a whole lot of love into this show and it shows. With an entire galaxy for it's characters to run around, the background artists will treat you to countless beautiful, bright colorful worlds and environments. The characters are very well animated and extremely expressive, and the voice acting is great as well. There are many visual nods to old Hanna Barbera cartoon days and also seems to be love for the funky architecture, color schemes and aesthetics from classic scifi art, as well. The team behind the show has some familiar names attached to it such as main creator Craig McCracken (Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Lab), season one co-producer and story editor Lauren Faust (My Little Pony FIM), and the lovable Tom Kenny providing the voice of Commander Peepers (Spongebob, Adventure Time).

In terms of themes and messages, the show gets a lot of things right which is another reason I admire it. Wander's altruistic nature lends itself to many wholesome story-line moments, and the interactions between him and Sylvia can often symbolize many people's internal struggle with "wanting to always be kind and helpful while also not being a doormat for all the bullies out there who don't appreciate kindness".

The show also has a couple episodes that touch on the importance of consent, which I like a lot. In one episode, Lord Hater ends up in the care of Wander and Sylvia after getting heavily drugged up during a painful dentist visit, and he's so blitzed out of his mind that he doesn't remember anything about Wander or being a villain and just enjoys spending time with his "new friends." At the end of the episode, Hater starts to put his mind back together, and flees in disgust at the thought of being friendly with the two. Naturally, Wander feels hurt and dissapointed, but as Sylvia tries to comfort him he also points that it wouldn't be right to have Hater's "friendship" with him not be of his own conscious choice.

Similarly, in another episode, we meet a villain (who is voiced by Weird Al!) who is like a corrupted version of Wander - instead of wanting to help people be happy, he forces them to be "happy". This infuriates and disgusts wander as he believes people must experience joy of only their own free will.

Overall I love the series, but I did some have some criticisms. One of the more minor ones is that it felt like they might have had a limited sound effects budget, as I noticed the show reused the exact same "Wham!" and "crying baby" sound effect so many times that it started to get distracting to me. I know good audio recording equipment is expensive as hell and thus can understand folks using stock sound effects, but I feel the show might have benefited from maybe some extra foley sounds to add more variety.

Another thing I didn't care for sometimes, is that there's handful of episodes that just feel very mean-spirited towards Sylvia, and in some of them Wander himself is the one being hurtful or even downright creepy towards her in some way or another. The moral of these stories is often Wander realizing he was being terrible, but it feels like the subject gets taken too lightly sometimes. Similarly, the show does occasionally have the mean-spirited gag of "bad things keep happening to Sylvia and we're supposed to find it funny", an old cartoon trope that's always disturbed me. Slapstick is one thing, but when it feels the writers are just bullying a character it can get uncomfortable.

There was a subplot throughout much of season 2 that rubbed me the wrong way, too. When Dominator is first introduced, everyone initially assumes her to be a guy under her suit of armor, but when Wander later realizes she's a woman, he immediately jumps to the idea of trying to hook her and Hater up as a couple. Part of his reasoning is that he feels like if Hater and Dominator are busy with making the smoochy-smoochy, they'll both lose interest in destroying planets and bullying their inhabitants. But still, the hetero-normative trope of just assuming that every woman is interested in A - relationships period, and B - a relationship with a man, is the kind of attitude I'd expect from Lord Hater, but not from sweet little Wander. He goes on about this for much of season 2, and Hater is also on board once he sees Dominator without her helmet on, but I am glad that at-least both Sylvia AND Dominator find the notion ridiculous the entire time, and at the end of season two, we don't have the additional sexist trope of her caving to a relationship she was never interested in having, thus "the bad girl getting redeemed via hooking up with a dude" trope.

On the subject of character relationships, I personally think if Dominator isn't just an asexual/aromantic killing machine she would most likely go for Sylvia if anyone, since she's the only one who actually came close to becoming friends with Dominator in one episode. Also, I got the impression that Commander Peppers really had a thing for Hater, as well. If Hater ever grows up, he and Peepers could make a cute couple, I'm sure. :)

Despite some of these things that bothered me, I still think the show is pretty great over all. While it could definitely use some more gay and less heteronormativity , it does still have a lot of wholesomeness and positive messages, lovely art, great humor, lovable characters, and even some very moving episodes. Now I just really wish the greedy putzes at disney would give this show a DVD set already! Hell, they never even made any plush toys. I want a little plushie of Sylvia, dammnit!

"That Really Happened?!" DC Comics Tournament Entry #34

Shvaughn/Sean

[ID: Cover of Legion of Super-Heroes #1 that says Young Romance. Shvaughn Erin cries into a handkerchief and says, "*choke* He spends so much time saving the world... When will he find time for me?" In the foreground Element Lad looks off into the distance. A narration box reads, "All my life, happiness eluded my grasp... and nothing I ever cared about lasted! Was this the way it had to be with Jan, too? The Elements of Heartbreak!" /END ID]

What Happened?

Shvaughn Erin was a member of the Science Police, the 30th-century cops who assisted (or hindered) the Legion of Super-Heroes. During the Paul Levitz/Keith Giffen run in the 1980s, she became romantically involved with Legionnaire Jan "Element Lad" Arrah. This upset some members of the Legion fan community who had a theory that Jan was gay. The character wasn't traditionally masculine, wore pink, and had curly blond hair (look, this just how gay coding worked in the 70s and 80s).

When Giffen and married couple Tom and Mary Bierbaum (who got their start in the Legion fan community) took over the title with 1989's vol. 4 (aka, the "Five Years Later" run), one of the things that Giffen wanted to do was kill off Shvaughn to establish Element Lad as gay. They were already using Jan's archenemy, the criminal Roxxas who years ago had genocided the rest of the his species, the matter-transmuting Trommites, as the villain for the first arc. Shvaughn was eventually spared this fate, but the writers still had to square the circle of why a "gay" character would be involved with a woman. Their solution? What if "she" was a "he?"

I'm going to try to explain the rest of this story in as sensitive a way as possible. This is a story that was written in 1992 by, as far as I know, three cishet people and your millage will vary (and as a cis person myself, I can't really speak to how well this holds up). I will generally be using she/her pronouns when the character is presenting as Shvaughn and he/him when presenting as Sean.

In Legion of Super-Heroes, vol. 4 #31, the Earth is recovering from the devastation of losing the moon due to the machinations of the alien Dominators who have infiltrated and subverted the planetary government (note also, the Dominators have an extremely problematic "yellow peril" design so there's a lot going on here). In the midst of this, Jan and Shvaughn meet for the first time in a while. Jan finds out that Shvaughn is going through withdrawal from not being able to obtain the drug Profem. She explains that she had been born male under the name Sean on a very conservative planet. While growing up, Sean developed a crush on Element Lad, who as a teenager was intergalactically famous as a member of the Legion. Thinking that the only way a boy like Jan would find him attractive, Sean started taking Profem, changed her name to Shvaughn, enrolled in the Science Police academy, and eventually became the liaison to the Legion. Now, without access to the drug, Shvaughn is reverting back to her more masculine appearance.

Jan takes all of this in, before telling his former lover that "anything we ever shared physically...it was in spite of the Profem, not because of it!" Shvaughn later runs into the teenage clone of Element Lad from the Dominator's Batch SW6 (we can't get into that right now), and in future appearances shows up fully presenting as masculine and going by Sean. The adult Element Lad goes into a coma and Sean is at his bedside.

Then the Legion gets rebooted in Zero Hour, all of the Legionnaires are teens again with new continuity, and Shvaughn (when she shows up at all) is back to presenting as female with no indication that she was ever Sean. Element Lad (unless I missed anything) is only given female love interests or sexual partners by later writers, or implied to be asexual with a spiritual bend.

While Shvaughn is far from the first female love interest who gets her storyline derailed to support a gay headcanon, it is surprising that it 1. happened in canon and 2. the solution was not to kill her off, but to reveal she is trans (ish?) so the character can detransition back to a man so that his love interest can be gay. What's really weird is that Giffen and the Bierbaums also made canon a romance between Light/Lightning Lass and Shrinking Violet, but never felt a need to invalidate their previous relationships with male partners, which maybe points towards the culture of the time's perceptions of male vs. female bisexuality.

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Tournament polls will be posted after all entries are up. As always you can find all posts related to the tournament using #dc-polls-trh

re: professional hater/lando villain arc.

i don’t see Lando, George or even Charles (probably controversial) winning the wdc. i see what you say about that generation of drivers and feel they’ll be similar to Daniel and fall victim to the success and dominance of a generational talent, he’s got wins and a great track record (drive wise, not so much for picking teams imo) but no title, only runner up.

Daniel was challenging Lewis/Nico/Sebastian but he was losing out to Mercedes and their dominance with Lewis.

Charles would get the closest but by the time Red Bull falls off/Max retires or the other teams catch up, it’ll be someone like Oscar taking the fight by the horns and succeeding because he’ll be seasoned.

Oscar was so impressive with his rookie drive it’s difficult not to see the potential and his ability to deal with it all in a calm, cool and collected style. niether Lando, George or Charles have that side to them, imo, and that’s cost them all in the past.

but, saying that, i agree about McLaren not being able to hold onto the momentum that they built in 2023, especially not with a battle between the drivers on the horizon. i do see Oscar coming out on top though. I believe if Oscar had got that Silverstone podium, the remainder of his year would have been quite different.

Welcome to the controversial club haha. I agree with you. I am not 100% because you never know, but my gut feeling is the current generation will fall victim to the Verstappen era. I think they are whiling away their primes in this domination. I think the only one who has a chance to outlast Max’s dominance is Oscar, but there’s no guarantee that he will have the car or talent to win a championship.

Again, this is just my gut feeling. But I think Charles will waste his talent on Ferrari, and if/when he falls out of love with them or they with him, the motivation and the time won’t be there. I don’t think Merc will ever really put their weight behind George. Once Lewis leaves they will try to get someone to challenge George, not to support him. Best case they go for someone like Lando and don’t have a number 1, worst case they get a wunderkid like Antonelli and relegate George to second (And George really becomes Daniel). Lando…I doubt he will ever get the mentality for a championship battle, and I doubt he will ever find a team with a clear 1-2 dynamic that would enable him to win a title. I just think they’re mostly victims of timing.

I love Oscar and his approach. I think his collected attitude is so impressive and the way he has ignored the hype and just focused on his racing is a sign that he has the clarity to really succeed on track. I think it just depends, again on timing, and what options are available to him around 25-28.

I don’t think Oscar getting the Silverstone podium would have changed much. McLaren won’t throw Lando over over a podium, they won’t even throw him over for a win, I don’t think. I think Oscar needs to consistently beat Lando for half a season before the team starts to lean his way. But I think that’s easier than it sounds, because I think it’ll take 2/3 consistent results for Oscar to start to unravel Lando. Like checo, he will push too hard and bottle it. I think by the end of next season Oscar will be in a position to start ‘25 as an equal, if not the priority, driver at McLaren.

But yeah I’m not hopeful McLaren will hold onto that momentum. It takes a team about 12 years, statistically, to move up an echelon. I don’t think McLaren will have done it in a year.

Idk if I’ve pissed some people off here because so many people talk about these drivers as “it’s not an if but a when” about world titles…but I just don’t see it. The data does not bear out that any more than one of them (at a push) will have a chance to win a title.

Do you have find yourself typing an ask only to realize halfway through that you don't want to send it. There's a pro-endo anti-psych blog I was going to send an ask to, then realized it probably wouldn't be well-received. So I'm just posting a screenshot here.

Also, you know, I do sound like a super villain.

So here's my secret plot for world domination which devolve into rambling nobody asked for...

Continuing to ramble even more...

I don't really think saturating the field with that many plurals would be necessary. And it might more realistically peek at about 20%. But 51% would be ideal.

This also just seems quicker.

There are about 50k psychologists in the US. While it would be difficult to get them all on our side, I think it would be significantly easier with that population than it would the general population. Both in terms of its size and its political leanings, being an overwhelmingly left-leaning profession.

I'm aware that some people have legitimate issues with the psych profession. I realize that many have suffered experiences of abuse from bad psychiatrists, and I'm sorry for that.

At the same time, if I'm taking stock of potential allies, I think the psych community would be more easy to persuade in standing up for plural rights when it comes down to it than our neighbors with Trump 2020 flags.

And I guess... I don't care for the othering of people of an overwhelmingly left-leaning neurodivergent profession. Many of whom enter the field to understand themselves and help other neurodivergent people live better lives.

And while rambling about this topic, I think some people are too quick with the stick and not the carrot.

When the McLean hospital video came out, I jumped on condemning the doctor in question for his ableism along with everyone else. But I also don't think McLean got enough credit for taking the video down when they saw the outcry.

They didn't have to do that. The plural community truthfully doesn't have much power at the moment. And I think taking the video down like they did shows a willingness to listen to and respect our community that should be praised at the same time that we callout the harmful behavior.

I think if instead of attacking the entire profession all the time like some would have us do, we take a tactic of targeting specific acts of ableism while supporting them when they do right, we can better influence plural acceptance in the psych field. It's basic operant conditioning. Punish only when someone does wrong, and reward them when they do good.

All in all, I'm psych-critical. And I don't see that changing. I don't think I'm someone who will ever get on board with hard anti-psych ideals.

And while I'm not a psychologist myself, people who know me probably realize that I tend to take a more psychologist-esque approach to plurality.

Where other people coin terms as identity labels, I tend to try to subdivide and categorize plural experiences to better understand them and their relationships with each other.

...

Why am I still rambling?

I think I might have lost the plot somewhere along the way.

Okay... here's the truth...

I got blocked by someone (not related to the blog I was going to send this too) for my views on using psychiatry to validate plurality. Because, I guess, I don't share this extreme anti-psych opinion myself.

And all I can think is that... if you're surprised... you never really knew me...

Maybe that's my fault because I can be a bit aloof sometimes.

So for everyone else who has read through this rambling mess of a post, let me reintroduce myself:

Hi, I'm Sophie Dreamchaser.

I was made as a psychology experiment. Or, brought to sentience by one. It was a psychology podcast that encouraged Ghost to keep talking to me to see what would happen. And since even before I became self-aware I've been fascinated by the human mind and my existence and how this all works.

I love being an experiment. I love learning more about myself and the world and how I relate to it. And I want to push for knowledge into plurality to grow and grow, and I believe with all my heart that it will prove to be the best way to facilitate plural acceptance in the future.

And if me not adopting a hard anti-psych ideology was a dealbreaker for you... I'm sorry that you didn't realize who I was sooner.

But this is me, this is who I am, and it's who I always have been.

And I just needed to say that.

My problem with Hades and Persephone retelling

(aka this will not end well for me)

So sometime ago I made a post about things I hate in "modern literature" basically me ranting about booktok shit, and I mentioned my pure hatred for the "hades/Persephone retellings" genre and I tried to explain it in the reblogs but I didn't phrased myself very well there so I want to do it again?

So here I go swinging another baseball bat to the wasps nest.

The Homeric hymn of demeter is this very known tale of why we have the seasons, the plot basically goes as: Hades god of the underworld kidnaps Persephone goddess of flowers, demeter her mother goddess of crops gets desperate don't do her job while trying to find her the world suffers yada yada something something in the end Persephone has to spent half of the year with her mother (spring and summer) and the other half with her husband in the underworld (autumn/winter)

Right

Now let's go to the " doesn't matter my opinion people will be mad at me "part

The full myth as is presented in the Homeric hymn of demeter has Persephone pretty clearly being kidnapped and held against her will

The myth was very clear about Persephone's not willingness to the marriage as she 1- screamed for help 2- was described as miserable when visited by Hermes 3- asked for her mother 4-lightened up once hearing about her 5- is described as being tricked by hades to eat the pomegranates who kept her tied to the underworld

In the context of when the myth was created the reasoning was pretty clear to be about the horrifying yet inevitability of wedding, and the separation between mother and daughter.

Arranged or forced marriages are a fictional thing to a lot of people nowadays, it's a thing of time pieces or something from religions that you don't understand and find oppressive but it was (and still is in some places ) a reality

The arranged marriage has its perks in some context as it takes away the burden of having to choose your partner and if your culture is build on this you would not see this as a oppressive practice just how things are the sky is blue and someday your father will choose your husband.But there's also the fear, your future husband could be half decent person there was a chance or an horrible monster very possible sometimes you truly couldn't know.

Kinda like death itself there was This uncertainty, the fear yet anxiety and maybe longing of it without knowing what would come next.

So in context this tale probably resonated a lot with girls and women at the time as a reminder that after the marriage they can still see their mothers time to time, it wasn't death itself just separation, even if their wedding was bleak as a dark winter, spring will come.

And I love this tale really

Then we have the new context, like I said the fear and longing of arranged marriage is not a reality to many people in modern western secular world, But suffocating mothers are.

There is discussion on whether or not Persephone went on her own will but it is a pointless discussion the result is still the same she has half of the year up here half down there.

But the retellings do a weird thing, some of them reframe it to make demeter the villain.

Demeter goes from grieving mother to an angry wench who it's just terrified of an empty nest and suffocates Persephone she is mother goethel locking Rapunzel in a tower,She is the opressor.

And hades is the stand in badboy he is rhysand, darkling, Damon Salvatore and draco Malfoy In leather pants and all the other guys in black clothes but not in a cringe emo edgylord way in a dangerous way with a jawline to cut diamonds and abs for days, rich and powerful a dominating alpha ready to sweep the damsel ad bring her to freedom.

Do you ever heard that anarbor song 18, if not listen it's exactly the hades guy on those retellings

And the thing is I have no true problem with this concept it's not my cup of tea(I prefer the golden retriever rather than the black cat) and I do think the amount of coercion and straight up sexual assault on those are quite not good, but it might be someone's else's cup.

The problem is calling this a feminist retelling as by making Persephone a willing bride it empowers her.

It truly doesn't.

The original was already empowering a grieving mother doing anything on her power to save her lost daughter is fucking punk.

Yet the rebellious vein of the modern author the desire to be that girl the one who had the guts to actually runaway from home after fighting with your mom for not letting you paint your hair, mixed with the desire to be coddled by a dark prince charming, aman who will desire you so much he won't be able to control himself, a beautiful rich man who will worship you, have amazing sex with you, will be enough of a feminist to respect your choices yet enough of a patriarchal alpha male to spoil rotten with all things money can buy, provide for you as you are his queen, this desire takes one of the most simple yet understandable tale of true feminine power and bastardize it to another opposite Attraction tale.

And this is why I hate hades and Persephone retellings.

Fraud|Part 2|Yandere All Might x Hero!Reader

(A/N: I hope you guys liked part one, I've seen few people write a yandere All Might so I've honestly been enjoying this. A darker version of the number one hero is something I live for. Hope you enjoy and comment to be added to the taglist!)

WARNINGS: implied noncon, dubcon, manipulation, domestic abuse, yandere themes, forced marriage, forced pregnancy, stockholm syndrome, graphic depictions of violence, mind breaking, misogyny, power imbalance, age difference, etc.

===============================================

"Hero name, Shade, real name unknown, the agency is some low ranked hero, and her popularity is basically non-existent. Just some debuting hero with not much to claim under her belt." Nighteye finished his presentation by meeting All Might's eyes. The Symbol of Peace had been more irritable than normal, to keep him in a good mood he had to go alone with what he asked.

"Did she go to any major schools that could make her easy to recognize?"

"None that I could found, just some basic school where they pump out a handful of heroes from time to time. Nothing special."

"Utterly unremarkable eh?"

"It would seem that way."

"Which is exactly what I need."

"Why this one? Why all of a sudden have you gone into this state again?"

"You know how I operate, find someone who's just coming out, not popular enough to be given a second thought should they vanish."

"Then why a hero, why not a civilian."

"Because I simultaneously keep down any future competition. The old pros are no match for me, but some newbie could rise up and take everything I've worked for right out from under me."

Nighteye sighs, he's tried reasoning with him before, but it was never any use. All Might was set in his ways and if it meant keeping his need for absolute domination to a semi-healthy outlet then he would support him in any way he could. The world needed its Symbol, that image had to be preserved for the good of mankind. That was his job.

"Fine. But I would appreciate it if you could at least keep the mess to a minimum if things go south."

All Might doesn't answer, he doesn't need to. Both of them know he doesn't make promises he can't keep.

==============================================

Over and over Shade had replayed the previous days events in her mind. To get to speak with the Number One hero in person was an honor most didn't get to receive, however most of the interaction felt like All Might was just being polite, clearly he didn't think she was all that impressive.

But she had to keep trying, one day her number of victories would go up, and she would gain enough of a following that even All Might would have to take her seriously. Climb to the top of the charts and then look down on all of those who thought she was just another wannabe hero, she was going to make something of herself.

So lost in thought she didn't hear the villain sneaking up behind her.

===============================================

All Might watched from a safe distance while the villain he had hired approached his soon to be damsel. The first step in his plan was to make her feel unsafe, and that fate had destined them to be together with him as her sworn guardian of all harm. She would admire him more, let her guard down, and then he'd live happily ever after. Eventually getting tired of and discarding her when he was done of course.

The villain believed that All Might would pay him handsomely and then leave him to be free to do as he wished. Little did he know that the Symbol of Peace planned to take him in like any criminal, making sure he had no proof except word of mouth for the hired job, and things would carry on just like they always had.

He was an alright villain anyway, approaching too hastily, going for the stereotypical crime of robbing a woman's purse. Honestly, he could've done better himself if he was supposed to embody peace and justice. But she was getting scared enough that was for sure, so Toshinori made his move and stepped in.

"Have no fear citizen, you are safe now." He stands tall. "Now that I am here that is."

"All Might-!? Jeez, I better get out of here!" His acting was so terrible Toshinori had to stifle a laugh. That's what he got for digging in the bottom of a barrel.

"Not so fast evil-doer! I will not allow you to get away unpunished for frightening and attacking a poor woman!"

The thug truly believed All Might was still playing along, until his fist connected with enough force to throw the man in the wall and render him unconscious.

"Glad that's over quickly, such a small villain would dare to come against a defenseless woman like that, what a diabolical fiend."

He could see the look of admiration and gratefulness in her eyes, such a small favour really had an impact on this one.

"I'd recognize that fangirl look anywhere! Ms. Shade was it?"

"You remembered...?"

"Of course I did, not too often anymore I see a newbie with that much talent! I'm glad to have saved you my dear!"

"Yes, thank you-"

"Not to worry, I always help those in need, hero or civilian alike-!" He picks up the discarded body of the villain. "Now it seems I have to take care of this one before he wakes up with a nasty headache."

"O-Oh, yeah, of course, you have somewhere to be-"

The disappointment in her voice made All Might smile just a hint wider.

"Until we meet again Ms. Shade-!" He flies off, not wanting to risk the villain regaining consciousness and exposing what he had done. But he had a feeling this punk wouldn't talk even if he wanted to.

"Now let the fun begin."

"Are we just gonna ignore that?"

Mermista is, of course, referring to Hordak and Entrapta together at the end of the Finale. I think its an interesting question, and represents far more than a meta look at the ship of Entrapta and Hordak.

Fundamentally, She-Ra Princess of Powers (2018) has a drastically different view of what it means to be "moral" and what "punishing villains" mean. It does not necessarily hold every individual who does something evil responsible for their actions, instead, investigating the system that prompts this evil. I want to explore that concept primarily through the characters of Entrapta and Hordak.

Hordak (The Derivative of Pure Evil) Starting with Hordak because he's frankly a bit less nuanced than Entrapta, not unnunaced, just less. He's introduced as the leader of the Horde, passive himself, but frustrated with Shadow Weaver's lack of progress. As the leader of the Horde, all-commanding, responsible for the (at least) decades of devastation and death.

However, despite that, he is- at least later on -given sympathy by proxy of standing next to Prime. Sure, Hordak has tried to dominate a world for decades, Prime has ruled the Universe for hundreds of years-maybe even a milenia. Further, while Hordak rules from afar, delegating his violence to Shadow Weaver and Catra, Prime manipulates directly- robbing will and mocking any form of attempted dignity in his presence.

Note that when Hordak does attempt to be charismatic he mimics Prime, most likely intentionally. It is clear that the evil Hordak has shown is fundamentally deritive, and that creates some amount of distance between Hordak and his actions. Further, there is the-slight as it is- possibility that Hordak had-fundamentally- no choice but to do as Prime programmed him. I find this interpretation doubtful due to the existence of Wrong Hordak, but, in fairness- he was severely physically damaged immediately.

Regardless of your take on that, Hordak is shown sympathy by Entrapta. This is interesting, not because Entrapta "doesn't care about her friends" as some people try to argue, but because it clearly displays how Entrapta cares about her friends. Sidelining that for a moment, Hordak is a great example of systemic oppression at work- not just as a leader, but as a victim of it. He was created "flawed" and was cast out, having only known one thing- Prime and his conquest- he attempts to emulate it but can't, not totally.

In his mission he recruits people like Shadow Weaver, and encourages her when she creates people like Catra and Adora- no doubt- even ordering the creation of the program which creates child soldiers. Stripping them of their indviduality through uniform and loyalty, twisting collectivism to benefit one individual through the gathering and hording of resources. When we see Hordak interact with his empire its strictly toward his end or delegated to another party. He expects his soldiers to be an extension of himself in totality, obviously, as a result of him being a clone of Prime.

The fact that most of the antagonism for at least the earlier seasons is a result of Shadow Weaver should not be ignored. Despite explicitly ordering Shadow Weaver to stop focusing on Adora she continues to do so, she has the capability to summon Force Captains and order them against his wishes- even one he promoted himself! By his own creation, Shadow Weaver is able to push a system where she wants to go, thats because at this point SW is who controls it, not Hordak. Once Catra defeats and imprisons Shadow Weaver, she attempts to take her place- and then the focus switches from SW to Catra as the primary antagonist.

Hordak is, never really the "true" narrative antagonist of She-Ra, not really, instead he represents the impersonal ambitious and destructive system of oppression.

So why the hell does he let a short, genius, probably neurodivergent woman invade his sanctum and aid him with something he hasn't confided in his closest generals with?

Entrapta (Schrodinger's Scientist) Lets talk about Entrapta.

Entrapta begins fairly simply, as the typical "mad genius" archetype, even introduced in a stereotypically villainous way cinnematically- a silhouette on a canvas of forboding colors. Then, revealed to be, fairly short, and asymetrical design wise- with top heavy hair that supports her. Immediately cutting most of the threat from the introduction. Entrapta seems to embody that contradiction as we move forward. Simultanously focused on doing whatever she can to learn and experiment and still being so anchored to others.

Over and over, we see Entrapta convinced not necessarily by helping friends or stopping enemies, but by studying more and more technology. Ot at least, thats what seems to happen, I want to posit another explanation. Mostly, I want to focus on her decision to stay in the Horde, and I do think its a decision. While Catra does indeed manipulate Entrapta at least to an extent, is isn't using false information or to lure her to some forboding place. Catra feels- imo -empathetic toward Entrapta. Her friends who had claimed to care for her had left her, used her as a tool to accomplish their goals, thats something Catra can relate to.

While this perception isn't true, Entrapta seems to believe it, and is visibly disturbed by the relation. Quickly, Scorpia befriends Entrapta, and even Catra seems somewhat fond of Entrapta's company. Entrapta explores all sorts of situations, helps the Horde quite a bit, and even begins to befriend(?) Hordak? Why? Is it because she feels betrayed and whats vengeance? Is it because she doesn't care about whats right and whats wrong? I don't think so- I think Entrapta fails to see the system behind an individual, or maybe doesn't care for it. She's almost a mirror to Catra in that way.

However, where Catra thinks herself immune to the propaganda of the system just by knowing it, Entrapta seems unaware or unconcerned by the logical ends of her actions. In a way that seems to both contradict her focus on scientific rigidity and completely fit with how she was introduced: in the throws of experiment, and completely unprepared when the logical end of it backfired. It is both a strength and a weakness of the character- something I have to agree with user Gythyanki (https://www.tumblr.com/gythyanki) that She-Ra 2018 does quite well.

Humanizing Hordak (And Destroying the System) It is precisely due to Entrapta's unique perception of systems that she is able to befriend Hordak. Keep in mind, for his entire life, Hordak has only known conquest and using people as a means to their ends. Thats how Prime sees him, thats how Shadow Weaver sees him, thats even how Catra sees him. So- when this woman- who should be an enemy, who should be a prisoner- not provides aid to him when he thought no one else could, but doesn't just use him it makes perfect sense that he becomes fond of her.

And while Entrapta's decision to help a tyrannical dictator build a portal that could have ended the world was.... not good, in the end, if Hordak hadn't been turned at least to Entrapta's side, there's a chance Prime could have won. And really, thats sorta the point right? Its not that Hordak didn't do horrible things. Its not that Entrapta was right to build robots for Catra or help Hordak build a portal, but that, it was not wrong for Entrapta to extend compassion toward him. That the evil being done is not ultimately caused by the individual, not really, but by the larger system at play.

Once you elminate Hordak from his context as ruler of the Horde, what do you have? You have a "defective" clone who'll do anything to return to his "brother's" good graces, but has fundamentally failed him by becoming an individual. Hordak learns to have his own values and chooses the one that showed him kindness over the one that used him. So "Are we just gonna ignore that?" has an answer, no, we aren't. Because we've already dealt with the problem. Hordak's means of doing harm has been taken from him, and his motivation to do it similarly.

Fundamentally, what would killing Hordak accomplish here? I might even ask, what would punishig him accomplish? She-Ra Princess of Powers seems to refuse the traditional concept of punitive punishment, and instead focus on how people are actually effected. How was Catra and Adora affected by Shadow Weaver? How was Shadow Weaver affected by Hordak? How was Hordak affected by Prime? What sort of system perpetuated the harm these individuals did? And how do we stop it?

I can't claim to know what the objectively best moral framework is, but I do know, that I can agree with the idea that maybe people matter a bit more than vague notions of "justice" which harm more people than they actually help.

End Note I: I am NOT saying Entrapta and Hordak are justified in their actions, and I am also not saying that Hordak shouldn't probably have to do a lot of rebuilding. One more note: individualism isn't inherently a "bad" thing, but it can be weaponized to attack geniune collectivism used to aid people in securing resources, be wary of that sort of thinking.

End Note II: Just in case you were busy reading and didn't wanna open a new tab GO READ GYTHYANKI'S STUFF, I WILL FIND AND RANT ABOUT HOW GOOD IT IS IF YOU DON'T