me thinking abt how much i love isopods ❤️

Idk, y’all, I’m high

I guess if you wanted to do just the opening part of Carol of the Bells, you could play 8786 over and over while a friend on a different device plays 6-5-4-3

Sometimes the things in our lives aren't directed at us individually. It is so easy for me to look up and ask God, "Why did you do this to me?" But that is such a self-centered thing to do--especially when the thing in question is on a large scale or effects more people than just me. I think often we deal with the effects of what is happening to other people, and it may not be directed at us specifically. It can be hard to realize that when we are suffering (or "suffering") but it may not be our specific problem beyond how we handle it in the given moment and move on with our lives.

IT'S SCHUBERT'S BIRTHDAY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCHUBERT

DP x DC Prompt (yes, another one!)

Danny is summoned by the Justice League for some reason or another. THIS is how and when he finds out he’s king of the Infinite Realms. 

When is the weak point of a mech not the weak point of a mech?

Oh, when it’s the fucking pilot.

I need you all to know that, sometimes when I'm reading/listening to the books in english, I'll google translate a sentence cuz I might not be quite sure how to interpret it or something, I need all of you to know that I have to replace Halt with Liam or something, so I won't confuse Google

The last couple of months may have been the absolute least I've written in years, with a grand total of 4k for the entire month of May 😅

There's always a transition period when I'm in between fandoms and I was moving house at the same time but also where did the time go?

I seem to have fully moved on from Witcher right ahead of season 3 (it might pull me back in but... probably not, let's be honest), but I don't want to abandon my WIPs either. At the same time all I want to write is Silmarillion stuff right now. Well. At least I finally managed to meet all the deadlines I had in recent days and I can maybe focus on writing again.

I will probably post a prompt ask game for Silm later, even though I don't really have a foothold in the fandom yet. And maybe a pride drawing game along with it, I want to draw stuff.

AFO is a victim of the biological determinism of his own quirk--like Toga, but moreso.  But damned if I could tell you how the greater narrative about Hero Society and inequality benefits from that. 👀 oh??

Ahaha, well, that's more a "looking for Watsonian answers to Doylist questions" theory than one I'm ready to seriously declare for, BUT.  It is a theory I've had at the back of my mind for somewhere in the neighborhood of two years now, since I first brought it up in discussion with a friend. 

It's largely a theory aimed at addressing why All For One is Like That, beyond a handwave of, "He was just born Like That.  You know—a monster."  I'd say there are two main parts—the biological determinism, and the vestige mechanics.

Hit the jump!

Firstly, we know that people can be influenced by their quirk.  The standard bearer is, of course, Toga, whose quirk gives her an innate attraction to blood that her trying to suppress for a decade eventually led to tragedy.  She's an extreme case, but Re-Destro makes the observation as well, that there is a connection between one's personality and one's quirk.  Think of something like Bakugou's explosive personality, or La Brava's stalker tendencies.

Re-Destro obviously overstates somewhat; there are plenty of characters whose personality and quirk seem to have no notable connection (say Tamaki for example), as well as characters who seem to have a personality that matches their quirk, but may also just be playing up that personality up as part of their social persona (Present Mic).  Still, it wouldn’t be very hard to read a certain amount of compulsion into AFO. There's even some decent evidence for it, in AFO's interactions with the Pussycats!

I could also see his compulsion being—let’s say, enabled by whatever his and Yoichi’s circumstances demanded of him back when they were young.  In such a dangerous world, with the social order having completely broken down, what was he supposed to do?  Just lie down and let them both be trampled over because, without using his quirk, he was as defenseless as his brother? Not likely!

Of course, him telling himself it’s for his and Yoichi’s sake as an excuse for doing what he wants to do anyway doesn’t excuse his many crimes, no more than Toga’s compulsion and family circumstances excuse hers.  Also too, whatever faux-altruism he might once have claimed, he’s clearly long shaken it off by now.  It’s always been notable to me, though, that he did once try to make excuses for his actions.  In the OFA dream flashbacks, he talked about bringing order to a world gone mad; he framed giving and taking quirks in exchange for favors explicitly as a middle ground he was graciously taking between just stockpiling all the quirks he liked and not bothering with social networking at all versus using his quirk only for the sake of others and asking nothing in return.

He’d clearly already gone full-tilt megalomaniac even then, but all the Demon Lord talk was much more vague, only coming up at the tail end of the dream, and only in the form of a stray reference to, “that comic you used to read.”  That was all likely over a century ago, though, and a hundred years is a lot of time to go all-in on the evil overlord thing, especially after his brother was no longer around to make justifications to, and especially after being defeated by All Might.

Secondly, as regards the vestige mechanics, we know that carrying too many quirks can cause mental breakdowns, even catatonia.  AFO, of course, has some natural resistance to this due to the nature of his quirk, but how much resistance does he have?  Particularly given what we now know about quirks having vestiges, what’s the effect on AFO of spending over a hundred years filling up his hind brain with other peoples’ voices, instincts, memories and wills?  How much can we really say that the present AFO much resembles the person Shigaraki Yoichi’s older brother once was?

To be clear, I don't think this idea is very well-supported by the canon.  As far as the story as we have it is concerned, AFO has just been bad news from the start, at least until Yoichi condescends to tell Deku any different.  Likewise, AFO is clearly capable of being discerning about which quirks he takes and which he doesn’t; he further doesn’t seem to have any reluctance to giving quirks away if it suits his needs.  So I don’t think “biological compulsion” is a thing that has a strong sway over him, and any claims he makes that suggest otherwise (as in the images above) are just him being a big chortling sophist.

In terms of “how I’d treat it if I were to write the fanfic,” however, I think it would be interesting to treat All for One (the quirk) as something of an addiction meeting an addictive personality. To wit, AFO was always going to be susceptible to his quirk’s influence, but once he started using it, his ability to resist the impulse eroded further and further over time.  The same thing happened to his mentality—as he fell farther and farther, he threw away the excuses he once relied on and just embraced his hedonistic desire to possess.

As to how this fits the overarching themes of HeroAca?  Well, I don’t really think it does.  For starters, it would have required a take on Deku and One For All that was much less simplistic than the one we wound up with.  If the narrative had really leaned into the idea of OFA as a “cursed” power, if Deku had run into much more serious opposition from the previous bearers over his “save Shigaraki” notion, that would have paralleled an AFO who was ultimately a slave to his own desires better. 

(I’d also want that version of the story to examine All Might’s “Pillar” ideal and his decision to pass OFA forward even after he seemingly defeated AFO. Have Deku question how much of those decisions were really Toshinori Yagi’s and how much were the influence of One For All seeking to propagate itself forward and transform its bearer into a selfless vessel for service, a literal "One" to serve "All," regardless of the pain endured by the vessel. Look, too, at All Might's paternalism, of his and Deku's tendency to deny other people their say in what burdens they would choose to shoulder! There's so much interesting you could do with OFA if it weren't so damned idealized.)

The story we have, though, isn't a psychological horror about subverted identity hiding in the skin of an optimistic shonen action comic. It's about the impact of superpowers on society at large, about structural complacency, quirk-based prejudice, the correct actions of those who have power and those who lack it, about legacy and about what is meant by terms like “winning” and “saving.”  I think quirks with compulsive underpinnings like Toga’s are an important facet of that story, but shouldn’t be the explanation for the man shaping up to be the ultimate face of The Opponent The Main Characters Must Overcome.

Thanks for your interest, anon!  Other anon(?) who asked about the AFO Retcon Theory, that one’s going to take a bit longer, but I will do my best to get it put together in a reasonably timely fashion.

F&C looks so good but I sort of wish I could watch it without having seen AT

applying for jobs is my own personal hell, but i will not leave this coffee shop until i apply for at least three.

Came home early with hair net still on (yay pain) and Keidra wanted to use it as the best hammock. It was my duty to comply

A cup of cocoa sounds really nice right now

What is your Favorit Outfit in Forbidden West? and why is it Carja Stalker Elite? hahah

lmfao! Yes I love Stalker Elite because it looks the least extreme, it kinda has this "gym outfit" look imo, cuz of the "tight" fit and it really looks like a bodysuit. Also I love all the DETAILS on it, like the silk that goes around the shoulder pads and the one which she wears as belt, it has this star/flower(?)-like pattern which every Carja Silk has on. Her breastplate looks really strong like it can fend off hits very well and the almost triangle shaped.. uh, "thingies" on her belt are rather stiff (like Armor) but flow well with her movement, are a nice touch too, esp cuz all her other outfits have flowy moving fabric, totally different than CSE has, and the pattern on it is rather interesting aswell. The little Stalker Plates on her Bag in the back are a nice addition too, it is not too much but enough to make it not look so plain. Also I really like the purple silk supporting the leather on her boots, and love how they added some yellow color to it, same as a Stalker has on its machine parts. I never knew Purple can go so well with yellow! The only downside is its specialist on trapping (as the Stalkers are) but thanks to the new "glamour" system I am able to wear it anyways (which I did even before the Glamour System). Also I freaking hate Stalkers… and don't quite like the helmet hence I just keep it off and go with a nice Carja Facepaint! :D I just want to play the game only to look at the outfit 24/7 and idk why I am so obsessed with it! Thank you Thomas Sykutera for creating such a stunning outfit! I love you man! Ty so much for this ask Anon! I enjoyed putting my thoughts about CSE into this text (even tho I could go on talking about it but cannot really put a lot of thoughts into words) and I hope everyone can feel how I tried pouring my heart and soul into this lmaooo!

i'll just be vibing and i'll be suddenly hit with a sharp nostalgic memory.

this one was of making blueberry muffins, from a box, with a tin of blueberries you had to open with a can.

i don't really have much to say, i can just picture it all so clearly, it makes me want to cry.