What do you think of the history of animals that villainize other species? Like the Lion King does with hyenas or some stories do with predatory animals of the protagonist's species? Do you think this is necessarily BAD or does it depend?

It depends.

Because in cases like...let's say Land Before Time for example, of course the herbivore main characters will fear sharpteeth because sharpteeth prey on them. That make sense from a story telling perspective- this doesn't necessarily make the sharpteeth bad per say but it make sense why the protagonists will fear them.

In the cases like the original Lion King, you could use the argument that since Lions and hyenas are real life rivals that could be the reason they were the villains in the movie with the lions being the protagonists despite their heavy anthropomorphism. Maybe it was because I was a young child when it came out- but it wasn't something I thought about too hard and I don't think they intended for you to think about it too much ( Of course that will not stop people)- but as I got older and more material got released it seemed more they were trying to make "reasons" on why the hyenas were bad that in turn caused me to think about too much. The Lion King 2019 movie was pretty bad at this. I have gotten into debates about this before- but excuse me if my suspension of disbelief can't be stretched that far to believe that hyenas are just these super destructive creatures that destroy lands and wipe out entire herds because "a hyena's belly is never full". (Or that the hyenas were the SOLE CAUSE of that drought in the original movie.) I know I said I didn't have much to say about the Shenzi, Banzai and Ed- but I swear the 2019 movie is making me appreciate them as characters more. lol

The Lion Guard however was WAY worse in this regard because it's more ingrained in the world building, tried to be "educational" and far more animals are given the "bad guy" treatment other than hyenas for the sake of "the circle of life" and I swear to god- majority of it doesn't make a lick of sense at times- I mean fuck, the hyenas aren't even allowed to hunt on their own goddamn lands in some episodes. I will say that making the vultures villains honestly pissed me off more since it doesn't make sense from their world building standpoint, and the fact that many African vulture species are on the verge of going extinct and they are VITAL to our ecosystem but whatever. I think the only reason this makes me so peeved because unlike the original movie and it's remake- it's was trying to be educational.....sometimes. I could rant about this all day but this is already long enough so I will save that for another time/ask.

Random BNHA Headcanons

(This is my first time doing this 😭)

Summary: A bunch of random BNHA headcanons. So, basically the title. The only reason I’m adding a read more is because I want it to be easier to navigate my page, lol

Bakugo is oddly nice when he first wakes up, but he's not exactly a morning person. He's less "I hate the world, why am I awake???" And more like "I'm extremely comfortable and the only thing that can ruin my mood is becoming less comfortable." He likes hovering between awake and asleep, y'know? Which is why if he's sleepy, his guard drops. When leaving the dorms, if he hasn't fully woken up, he goes from "outta my way, shitty-hair," to "mornin' Eijirou," and by the time he's actually aware of what he said, Kiri's already freaking out. If he's in bed all day for any reason other than being sick, he's probably soft for at least a few hours.

Kaminari's the type to wake up at 2 AM with an idea, go to jot it down, and then realize that he wrote a ten chapter book and now he's late for class. He'll probably put it into a google doc or something, so he can continue to add onto it throughout the day. I also feel like he probably will also randomly get a question and then spend hours researching it and any surrounding topics, before rambling to Kiri about "bro, if I went to the beach, I could make a bunch of glass! Probably! Maybe!" And then have to try and convince his friends that he can just make windows if anyone needs them.

Sero had added moves to his skill set, and practiced particular actions, with the sole intention of mimicking Spiderman. When Kirishima questions him on it, he compares Spiderman to Crimson Riot. They have a conversation that's essentially fanboying, both of them saying "we are not bringing All Might into this," and then more fanboying.

Jirou has an extremely eclectic music taste. If you can name a song, she probably knows it. She can memorize full melodies and all the lyrics within two or three listens, because she's just that good. Some people call her the human Shazam, because if you play the first five seconds of a song she likes, she'll immediately know what it is. She's also called out artists if they made a clear rip-off of a much better song. Her music taste is all over the place, which therefore makes it superior. However. This does not stop her from listening to the same six songs on repeat for a week. The six change a lot, though.

Koda has trouble with bugs, especially big ones. They scare him. But he has pretty much no issues with tigers, lions, horses, or even wolves. He loves animals, he really does. If you just showed up at his doorstep and shoved a bear cub in his arms, he wouldn't really question it, because he'd be happy to have a cute animal to play with.

Todoroki believes himself to be the opposite of moody. His definition of moody is switching emotions for no reason. He, personally, doesn't feel any emotion until something happens that day, be it a thought or an event, and his emotions stay fixed like that until something else happens. He could be having a great day, and then suddenly, it's a horrible day, and he can't figure out how people just "get over it." He does, however, find that unless something REALLY bad or REALLY good happens, his brain does a little emotional reset when he goes to sleep. Like, go to sleep feeling down, wake up feeling kinda meh.

Kirishima has considered re-dying his hair. Come on, hot pink is so manly! How could he not consider it? But he eventually resigns himself, because red just is his color now. Also, I feel like once, before dorms, he was really out of it, so he went to class with his hair down, and this was the first time anyone had seen him like that, and everyone was just confused as hell. Especially Bakugo. "Your hair's less shitty today. What the fuck."

Uraraka takes part in stupid bets all the time. Partially for the fun, and partially for the profit. She once floated Bakugo to the ceiling for 26 minutes before she had to put him down, because Kiri said that if she survived, he'd give her a dollar per minute. She ended up having to go to the recovery girl's office, but at least she got her money.

Mina is one of the few people who can understand and keep up with Deku's mumbling. This is not because she specifically tries to, (like Uraraka) or because she's known him long enough, (like Bakugo.) She's just used to gossipping with Hagakure at 4 AM, and therefore can understand high-speed low-volume speech. She's called him out on things before, but only when she's interested. She completely tunes out things about All Might and heroes and whatnot, but if he ever has anything to say about his classmates, specifically about Uraraka, Todoroki, and Bakugo, (because she, Hagakure, and Denki placed bets,) she hears every word.

Iida secretly loves to break the rules. He acts strict in front of anyone who he respects, or wants respect from, but after he thinks everyone's asleep, he relaxes, doing things that he considers rule-breaking without any remorse. Denki heard someone walking around outside while on one of his late-night internet searches. After finally willing himself to break away from an article about pandas, he popped his head out of the door to find Iida sneaking around. After some silent observation, Denki realized that not only did Iida just get back from breaking curfew, but he casually stole Hot Cheetos from Bakugo's room on the way back to his dorm. He said nothing the next day, at least not directly, but he sorta shoved Sero and Iida in the same room so that they could be bad influences on each other.

Despite it being a major part of her quirk, Hagakure almost never feels invisible. She has a lot of friends to talk to, she can wear cool outfits to stand out, and she is always talking. The only time she's not talking is during stealth training, and when she's using said stealth training to spy on people.

Tsu's little "ribbit" thing is actually just for fun. It feels right to do it, so she does it. Nothing wrong with that. However, pretty much everyone else assumed it was a part of her quirk. It took an insane amount of convincing to get that idea out of their heads. Deku was proud to be one of the few who never actually associated it with her quirk. He could prove it if he wanted to, actually, but that would require showing someone his notebook, which would open a whole other can of worms.

Oh yeah, speaking of Deku's notebook, he has multiple. Six to be exact. One is on his fellow classmates, one is on most pros, one is on the LOV, one is specifically on All Might, one is on his own quirk development, and the last one is a narrative of what's happening in his life, which is why he's constantly thinking as if he's telling a story. He mentally narrates everything that happens in his life, although he sometimes wonders if he's dramatizing things because of that. His internal monologue is constantly running its mouth, and sometimes he ends up speaking over it.

Tokoyami really likes plague doctors. He just does. He wants a plague doctor mask so he can walk around with less judgement, or maybe more, who knows? He just loved the concept. He claims that they're just really cool, which most people agree with, but he's never told any of them that he likes them because he saw a plague doctor mask for the first time at the age of six, and immediately thought bird man.

Sato likes baking, but he can't cook normally to save his life. Well, he can, but he can't. He hasn't burned water, and he knows how to do the very basics, but he can't function without a recipe, not to mention the fact that he's googled how to saute mushrooms three times and still doesn't get it. Baking comes pretty naturally. Exact measurements, precise times and temperatures. Cooking does not. Eyeballing ingredient amounts, guessing if the flame is high enough, trying to figure out how often 'stir occasionally' is. He actually once asked Bakugo if he had advice, to which he responded, "Why the hell are you asking me?!"

lulu ( & patricia ) hc/meta:

motherhood/maternal instinct in fiction & feminist analysis

if u read my content, you know that i like to have a bit of a leftist, feminist&genderfuck slant to all my writing and the analysis of all my characters. women in particular are never just women, and they’re always more than the fanservice and literary/video game tropes that are pushed on to them.

i want to talk, for a moment, about “cis” motherhood and a cis woman’s body, particularly a fictional/conceptual/symbolic one---from the perspective of a non-binary afab lesbian with psychosis who has experienced delusions and dysphoria about pregnancy my whole life. from my own personal perspective, mostly because of the aforementioned marginalizations and mental illnesses i experience.... pregnancy and motherhood are both terrifying. 

but i don’t really want to talk about that, i want to talk about the typical “cis” women characters with maternal instincts----and how i believe mothers in fiction can be portrayed as complex women without losing their personalities and personal goals, namely by choosing to believe that a woman’s experience with pregnancy, childbirth, and her family/romantic entanglements are as complicated and varied as she is---and believing her problems are not solved by a man, a child, or pregnancy and in fact, can even be excacerbated by them.

so to do show examples of simpler narratives that can be made more complex, i’m going to talk about two different characters of mine that are ‘mothers’ in canon----patricia, and lulu.

to start with, patricia is the archetypical dead anime mom. the only things that make her a special character to me are that: 1) she had an extraoridinanary amount of children in order to birth a ‘special’ child. 2) she was married to two men at apparently the same time. and 3) because of her wanting to see her own child, extreme tragedy takes place that she apparently is aware of when she asks the villains of the game---a man masquerading as her own brother included among their ranks---to help her.

now we could go the typical route. we could say that patricia is a mother---and of course she loves her  biirth children more than anything, and she wanted to see her birth mother instead of her step-child. (in addition to being a dead mom archetype, she makes a very excellent evil step-mother.) but her life is so much more complicated than her child. she has two husbands. her brother is one of the main villains of the game that tortures her child. there’s thing you can get into, hidden depths that can’t be explained by her just being a woman or a mother. perhaps she loved her birth children as if they were her only family bc she knew her brother no longer was her family, her parents did not believe she was any use to them other than a bargaining chip to becoming royalty. the emperor was old, and she was very young. perhaps she felt for the past ELEVEN pregnancies that only her children, made inside her body, were the only thing that were her own in that terrifyingly lonely castle. perhaps she wanted to see them because her second husband was just as patriarchal as the first, perhaps as self-consumed. perhaps she wanted to be more than a wife---and all she knew she could be was a mother.

there’s was you can write her as very complex, and even make the seemingly simple motivation of just seeing her birth child a symbol of a greater inner life within her, even though she’s not even mentioned on the black eagles route, and is only mentioned in passing in blue lions route!

and so, on to a much more complex example of my portrayals, because lulu is an actual canon character who we can  actually see in the canon of ffx and who is not just alluded to.

lulu is maternal, an ‘older sister’ figure to yuna, and a voice of reason the whole game who takes care of yuna and even wakka in a famililal context. she’s nurturing and kind despite her dark & gothic appearance, and even her puppets refer to her as ‘mother’ in certain unlockable cutscenes in the second game.

but despite this, this is not all lulu is. lulu is a wise guardian figure---but she’s also a fierce fighter that can get the most damage in your party. she’s knowledgeable about the world at large, she’s sensible to a fault and takes 0 bullshit. she’s deeply traumatized about the loss of her first love, chappu, and probably her second lost love, someone she tried to guard shortly before the game begins. despite the most important person in the world to her being her sister character in game, the second game pairs her up with wakka (her dead fiancee’s BROTHER) and ‘shows her’ having a child with him. i say ‘shows her’ because, the game uses the exact same model from the first game, and does not ACTUALLY show her looking pregnant before she has the child even tho she could supposedly give birth at any moment.

we can assume lulu wants to move on from all the death in her life---to a new life with wakka. but it doesn’t make sense that she would get over her trauma so easily, especially without yuna by her side. she lost her parents to sin, she lost chappu, and just because sin is gone, doesn’t mean that the church and all its teachings which she believed in for long hasn’t left a mark on her, or that the church being willfully wrong about how to save the world (and sacrificing so many people in the process) ALSO didn’t have an effect on her when so much of her trauma is related to that.

i think lulu as a mother figure fails. i think in this case of canon, motherhood is a copout for the character---who literally just wasn’t in ffx-2, because it would restrain yuna and not let her grow as a character as much, in the director’s own words. she’s ‘healed’ by wakka and motherhood, her agency as an active player in the story (and her sister’s life, the most important person in the world to her) is taken from her. we’re supposed to take it as FINE with lulu that yuna just left in the middle of the night and never came back even tho she told no one where she was going! she could’ve been dead!

but i think we CAN make the circumstances of lulu in ffx-2 more complicated, if we try. if we take lulu’s trauma seriously, and show that her circumstances effect her. if we make her relationship with wakka something of desperation---to try to make her life make sense, to try to inject new life into a world still full of death & ghosts. we can make her feel not connected to her body and her baby by not being able to ‘show’/’see’ the growth of her child inside her. and we can make part of the reason she wanted to have this child because she felt she ‘lost’ yuna, that yuna was growing beyond her---and she wanted to have someone to take care of, still, even tho she might never have the same connection with her child as she does with yuna---and that SCARES her. we can also note that as a wlw as i play lulu---she might’ve thought she HAD to be with wakka to ever find someone who could love her AND have children with her, and being pregnant with a man’s child making her feel lost from her body and sense of self---her love for both chappu, and for women.

final notes: this was about cis women, but i want to note that all motherhood can really be something beautiful. i believe that stories should be about LOVE more than anything, and the bond between mother and child---especially a trans mother who chooses their own child through adoption, found family, surrogacy, or having a child with their partner with a uterus---can be one of the most beautiful sources of love on this planet!

being responsible for another human’s life with always be taxing. but when it’s something you choose---knowing that responsibility, wanting to bear the burden of a human life, and actually seeing the goal of raising them for the rest of your life and seeing to it that they’re happy and healthy---that’s something that’s really special and wonderful, even if it’s something i can’t see myself doing.

still, i don’t think the story is EVER so simple as a cis birth mother in a nuclear family loving their child and their husband, and living solely for them. life is complicated. women are complicated, with rich inner lives! and that’s part of the thing that makes willful, ethical motherhood so beautiful----knowing that taking on the burdens of taking care of another person for the rest of your life, meaning that your life comes second, is such a. big step in giving up part of your self just to love someone, just to take care of them and be there for them as your child deserves.

it’s more complicated than that, obviously, but love is complicated! and if love is worth telling stories about, then complicated stories about women and the ways they love their children, each other, and themselves are even more important.

i don’t know how to end this so [dabs] i guess lol

"Those times when it hurts... is when you most need to believe in your own fortune." In Kyuranger episode 37, Lucky receives an emotional closure to his personal arc... Also, it pains me to say this, but the show's FINAL quarter officially begins here. The countdown counter is now activated, and our starting number is 12. Including this one, that's the number of episodes left!!! Aaaaw... (-_-).

- After liberating Luth, everyone is aboard the Battle Orion Ship. Including Gramps, and Caesar who is gleefully playing with balls. By balls, I mean Kyu Globes of course, because let's face it, unlike previous mascots who had actual playmates, this poor thing is the only sentient mechanical animal of the series. I believe this is the third (or fourth, if we count pre-UrsaMinor Kotarou) time the team allowed outsiders inside their bridge. - Retainers? Silly Gramps, I see what you're doing here... but Lucky is not Takeru Shiba. At the very least, it's a reverse-scenario to Shinken Red's situation... if you know what I mean *wink*. Gotta love Tsurugi's fun upmanship attitude though, the older Red simply can't take a joke. Spada's body-language response sums it up nicely. LOL. - Quick update on their next mission, Planet Southern Cross is heavily guarded by barriers. Thus, with the help of Balance and Naga, Tsurugi proposes that the team replicates the ability of 4 Sages from 4 Constellation Systems (in alphabetical order): Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, and Perseus. Kyu Energy of their Kyu Globes will be able to break the barrier, so they need to locate three of them since the first one is present and has been used before (special thanks to Spada for his informative little reminder). It may not be the way I've always wanted, but I'm glad these figures are utilized for something big and important. Trivia: These four Constellations are mythologically connected to one another. King Cepheus is the ruler of Phoenicia, Aethiopia. Queen Cassiopeia is his wife, infamous for boasting about her and her daughter's beauty that easily enrages the God of Sea Poseidon (seriously, what is wrong with Greek royalties?! they keep pissing off the Gods...). Princess Andromeda is obviously said daughter, who has to take the fall by being chained as human sacrifice, to be consumed by a giant sea monster. Perseus, is of course the Pegasus-riding hero who rescues her, and eventually becomes her husband. Remember that Hollywood movie "Clash of the Titans"? It was roughly based on this story. One more thing, I just learned that the first Super Sentai series "Himitsu Sentai Gorenger" received their powers from the Cassiopeia constellation. Will we somehow get a nod to this fun fact in the next episodes? We'll see. - Of course, that's the story for another day. For now, their primary focus is to clear out the circumstances with Lucky's father King Aslan in Planet Cayenne. For some reason, Lucky can't believe that his father has turned evil, and wishes to know the truth. The all-male double-Red double-Blue (and double-Yellow, if we group Gold and Yellow in the same color chart) Away Team arrives, and witnesses with their own eyes that Aslan's 'approval rating' is... VERY poor. The massive amount of extras, I mean citizen clearly despises this lying treacherous King who only cares about himself. Hmmm... I wonder why this sounds... *cough-FakeNews-cough* familiar? - Problem is, newly revived Kukuruga and Menaster of the Leo System Jyumottz have also figured out about Lucky's lineage, so they have prepared a trap through the King's public speech. This is obviously arranged to lure out the Kyurangers, and it works. Lucky tends to act on a whim, so naturally he exposes himself to the open as he tries to defend his father. - Kukuruga was the one who conquered and laid waste to the Leo System. Meaning, he's the one who forced Aslan to send his son away to Luth, and seemingly the reason why the King became a Jark Matter conspirator. We have seen the chivalry between him and Lucky before, but now things have become more personal! And Lucky demonstrates his true heroism, by taking Kukuruga's numerous hit and gets captured to protect the citizen's safety. This is remarkable. Because prioritizing his people's life and safety before him? THAT is the sign of a true leader. Dang it... the chills when Lucky practically begs his father to actually DO something. - At the same time, Tsurugi also proves he's a smarter and more perceptive Red (hence why he's sharing the ending dance with Lucky... but in a switched position). During the battle, he notices something is amiss when Jyumottz and his Tsuyo-Indavers suspiciously freak out to the sight of a raincloud. Gramps' statement about Aslan's change of 'personality' helps him deduce, that this Aslan might NOT be the real thing. An imposter, just like those Tsuyo-Indavers who were created by Jyumottz. The challenge now, is how to let the public know about this. - Lucky's public execution serves as the right stage. Kukuruga is about to use Lucky as an example to spread more fear to the people, as well as to show that Aslan is a devotee to Jark Matter's rule. Thankfully, the plan backfires almost immediately. Not just because Tsurugi's plan comes to play, but because Lucky himself openly exposes to everyone, that the King who's about to execute him is nothing more than... FAKE. - Lucky might be loud, relies on luck, and act first without thinking. But he's also smart enough to know when something isn't right. And this time, his own heartbroken tears help him realize the truth. But where's the real King Aslan, then? Turns out, in an unexpected surprise, Kukuruga has already killed him many years ago. That memory of when Aslan gave him Caesar, was also the father and son's final moment together. Aaaaw... the FEELS!!! Dang it Kyuranger, you always know how to push the right button when it comes to emotional shockers. - Tsurugi's plan further confirms this reality. Stinger, Champ, and Raptor respectively use the Aquarius, #37 Cetus, and #17 Antlia Kyu Globe's water-induced power to expose Fake-Aslan's identity. They doused the imposter with his weakness, turning him back into sand in front of his people. Aslan's reputation and good name has been cleared! He's worthy of his name after all... - Having been freed by Hammy, Lucky gets to do the first major thing in the name of his late father: avenge his death, and liberate the Leo System! Doing so in one fantastic action sequence too, because as we all know, Leo Red Orion is always a delight to see in battle. Kukuruga, Jyumottz, and his Consumarz are all defeated by Kyuren-Oh, Orion Battler, and Gigant Phoenix. Caesar even gets his share of revenge too. But is this really the last time we're going to see the Vice-Shogun? I kind of doubt it, since these higher Jark Matter figures seem to be coming back again and again. Let's worry about that later... - Lucky has proven his worth and compassion for his people, so he is more than just deserving of the throne. It's a royal legacy that he has earned. It might not be grand or massive in scale (or production design... no throne at all LOL), but the Rebellion conducts a special ceremony to celebrate this. Lucky gets to wear a cool-looking (seriously, WHERE can I get one?!) white Leo System Coat, specially hand-made by Stinger under Tsurugi's direction. Naga uses the #30 Corona Borealis Kyu Globe, so Hammy can officially crown him in front of the people. A small celebration, but a sweet and heartwarming one. You can easily tell how the Kyurangers resemble one big family. NOTE: One might argue that Gramps should have been the one to crown Lucky, but considering this has a much stronger feel, I personally don't mind. Don't forget, Hammy initially saw Lucky as a rival and resented him, but things have come along way between them, and among the whole team in general. It might feel simple, but this is character development too! By the way, I wonder if he is the first Red in Super Sentai who actually becomes a King... - With that, Lucky's personal arc has come to a satisfying close. The previous episode might not be as good, but the pay off in this one certainly is. I might not get the Darth-Vader twist I've always wanted, but this outcome is wonderful nonetheless. Lucky might not receive the long awaited reunion with his father Aslan, which was the primary reason of how he ended up becoming a Kyuranger. But he still discovered a home, his place in the universe, his royal legacy, while the memory of a benevolent father remains as uncorrupted as it has been. I can already see that the Leo System will serve as the second base for the Rebellion now, but that's not the most important thing. What truly matter is, from zero to hero, from wandering traveler to real royalty, the Lion of Rebellion has officially become... the Lion King.

Overall: Kyuranger has once again proven why it's an excellent series. Want to know why? Because it always succeeds in flipping audience's expectation. I personally came to this episode with the sole assumption that King Aslan is an evil traitor. That Kyuranger is merely going the same route to previous series. Turns out, that WAS indeed the case, but NOT they way I presumed it would be! Just like the Hoshi Minato twist, we did NOT get the actual truth about Aslan spoiled ahead of time. Even the episode's preview deliberately kept this as secret (looking at you and your repeated flaw, oh "Kamen Rider Build"). Thus the reveal was not only effective, it was genuinely unexpected, and also powerfully moving. This show keeps on surprising and exciting audience in ways they didn't see coming. That's more than just impressive, it's absolutely amazing! It's unfortunate that many audience seems to have dismissed Lucky early on, and refused to see what a worthy Red he has progressed to become. Actor Takumi Kizu has also proven over time that he too had the acting chop to rival the more popular Yousuke Kishi. This episode's emotional moments among previous others as good examples. And speaking of being a Prince and/or a King, this episode also tackled the lesson of true leadership. It's about a leader who would do anything for their people, and not a hypocrite who only thinks of themselves. To be honest, as a country Japan might not desperately need this kind of figure right now. Yet this issue easily becomes far more relatable in an international point of view, since lately many other countries seem to have suffered with the absence of one. The metaphor is current and relevant, as if the show is telling us that this is the kind of leader the world currently and desperately needs. This is why this episode shines, and why I couldn't help but shower it with praise! Next week: Abs-crunching Tsurugi? Sushi-making Garu? Bathing Hammy & Raptor? Space wuxia Xiao? It's a FAN-SERVICE FEST!

Episode 37 Score: 8,2 out of 10

Visit THIS LINK to view a continuously updated listing of the Kyutama / Kyu Globes. Last Updated: November 15th, 2017 - Version 3.05. (WARNING: It might contain spoilers for future episodes)

All images are screencaptured from the series, provided by the FanSubber Over-Time. "Uchu Sentai Kyuranger" is produced by TOEI, and airs every Sunday on TV-Asahi. Credits and copyrights belong to their respective owners.