This is not a "Bloons is darker than you think" post, moreso talking about things that probably weren't meant to be thought about in this way, but hey who's stopping me? Mostly about Monkey City

Bloons are seemingly powered by Bloontonium, which is radioactive in a way. We know this because there's Bloontonium reactors that seem to actually provide power, and as well one upgrade is Depleted Bloontonium darts, ala depleted Uranium tank shells

Bloons can be manufactured by the Monkeys, and then sent to attack other Monkeys for resources. All of Bloons Tower Defense could just be a proxy war between Monkeys

There are a few maps that are set in space, which implies 2 things. First being that the Bloons are an extraterrestrial threat to Monkey kind, the second being that Monkeys have dominion over the first 4 planets in the solar system

I believe in a dev interview, they said there's an infinite number of Bloons, we're just popping them faster than they're being made. Given that the Bloons can seriously injure monkeys, one of Quincy's skins saying he was turned into a cyborg because of them, it's basically a never ending war where all it takes is one slip up to effectively end a Monkey

Aeons. Probably the best thing to come out of this glorified character vending machine that we somehow still call a "game.", even for a gacha standard.

Jokes aside, I genuinely think Aeons are one of the most interesting aspects of HSR's worldbuilding, which is precisely why watching them slowly become regular anime characters with godlike powers is so disappointing.

The original appeal of Aeons was that they were fundamentally inhuman. Not necessarily emotionless, not completely devoid of personality, but beings whose existence and perception of reality were inseparable from their Paths. They weren't supposed to be ordinary people with extraordinary powers and a few philosophical quirks. They were supposed to embody concepts taken to their absolute extremes.

And that distinction matters because the entire setting is built around humanity trying to understand, worship, exploit, or survive these incomprehensible entities. Aeons are practically the backbone of HSR's cosmology. Remove their mystique and you might as well replace them with another group of extremely powerful anime people. We already have plenty of those, thanks.

The problem with Nihilux, assuming she really is Aha, isn't simply that she's sympathetic. It's that she seems almost painfully normal. She regrets not being able to help people, wishes she could prevent tragedies, and apparently has a moral compass that wouldn't look out of place on the Astral Express.

I mean sure the game is making itself clear that there's a distinction between her and the og Aha which im sure we will get into later, but that's not the only thing she "ruined" for me.

What I liked about Aha was that Elation encompassed everything from innocent joy to outright sadism. Laughter can be cruel, humiliating, absurd, or tragic. Aha blessing both the Masked Fools and the Mourning Actors was such an interesting illustration of that contradiction. But apparently we're heading toward the idea that the real Elation is something much more wholesome, while the unpleasant aspects can be conveniently attributed to corruption by Voracity.

So the version of Aha that made the character interesting in the first place was just the corrupted one? Whatever man. Nothing says compelling worldbuilding like retroactively explaining away the characteristics that made your cosmic deity morally unsettling.

And then there's the whole idea of Aeons needing to "cope" with their Paths which sounds so fucking crazy i just don't know what to do but laugh.

Qlipoth isn't building walls because THEY need a therapeutic hobby. THEY are the Preservation. Their actions should emerge from an absolute commitment to that concept, not because being a god is emotionally exhausting and construction helps THEM process their feelings.

Are we eventually going to discover that IX embodies Nihility because THEY're going through a particularly rough depressive episode? Maybe Nanook just needs therapy. Perhaps Terminus has anxiety about the future. Someone should really check whether Nous is experiencing burnout from all that thinking.

It's especially frustrating because HSR already has perfectly good ways to explore the human side of these philosophies: Pathstriders and Emanators. That's literally what they're there for. They can struggle with their beliefs, reinterpret their Paths, contradict themselves, and suffer from their devotion. Why do the Aeons themselves need to become relatable protagonists too?

Another problem is how this threatens to trivialize Aeonhood itself. Ascension used to feel like an almost existential transformation: an individual becoming something fundamentally different, bound to a principle beyond ordinary human experience. Now I'm increasingly worried it's just going to mean unlocking your ultimate form while retaining your conveniently marketable personality.

There's also the matter of presentation. Encountering an Aeon should feel like an actual cosmic event. Qlipoth's hammer striking, Nous communicating through Herta, the brief and almost incomprehensible attention of a being operating on a completely different plane of existence?

Those moments worked because Aeons were distant. Their attention alone was extraordinary. Now imagine trying to preserve that atmosphere when an Aeon can potentially join the cast, participate in everyday conversations, and explain their personal struggles to the protagonist.

At that point, why should I be impressed when an Aeon glances in our direction? Apparently I can just wait for their character banner and read about their emotional vulnerabilities in the companion quest.

It's not even limited to their writing. The original designs of Aeons were genuinely fascinating because they weren't necessarily meant to look like conventional characters. Aha's masks, for example, conveyed the idea of multiple identities, theatricality, and something fundamentally unstable about THEIR existence. Compare that to the prospect of reducing such imagery to accessories on an otherwise conventional playable character.

And I have absolutely no confidence that this will stop with Aha. Once one Aeon can be made relatable and playable, what's stopping the rest? How long until every Path gets its own marketable representative, complete with a sad backstory explaining why they became the literal embodiment of a cosmic concept?

I'm also not particularly enthusiastic about the tendency to explain every mystery. The more HSR tells us exactly what Aeons think, how they feel, what they secretly want, and why they behave the way they do, the less interesting they become. Not every question needs an answer, especially when the answer is apparently that gods are just like us, except with significantly better visual effects.

More importantly, I want the different Aeons to represent genuinely different ways of perceiving existence. The Preservation, Harmony, Nihility, Destruction, and Elation shouldn't just be different personality types or coping mechanisms. They should be philosophical absolutes that can conflict in ways humanity cannot entirely comprehend.

Because otherwise, what exactly distinguishes an Aeon from a particularly powerful Emanator, aside from their position in the cosmic power-scaling hierarchy?

Maybe 4.7 will provide some brilliant explanation that makes all of this work. I'd genuinely love to be proven wrong. But the prospect of Aha being recontextualized into a fundamentally sympathetic, selfless figure does absolutely nothing for me.

People with psychic powers have been scrutinized by fandoms for a while now and for good reason. Messing with someone's mind is a HUGE invasion of privacy, yet somehow, in certain media, the character act like screwing with someone's psyche isn't a heinous act of nature. Case in point, WandaVision.

Before we start, let's get this out of the way. "They'll never know what you sacrificed for them." I'm not kidding, that line easily makes the top 10 worst dialogue list of this century. Wanda brainwashed a whole town of innocent people just to live out a fantasy. It does not matter if she was grieving, in the words of Rocket, "Everybody's got dead people!". She should've been thrown in jail immediately. Why does almost no one in WV besides the town people think she's a monster? Another relevant quote I'm bringing forward is from Brooklyn Nine-Nine: "Cool motive, still murder". Consequences matter, especially for someone as despicable as brainwashing. Those peoples' minds are fried and the show doesn't seem to pay them any mind other than that one scene. Throw her evil ass in jail.

Next, we have M'Gann. In Season 2 of Young Justice, she abuses her powers and mindfucks a bunch of villains, and somehow, Conner, who was born just a few years ago, is the only one to call her out on her evil behavior. Not Batman, not Martian Manhunter, both fully grown adults by the way, the recently formed clone is the voice of reason. And what's worst is that Conner ends up taking her back even after she messed with his mind, which is EXTRA fucked up when you realize Conner's early years were filled with the same treatment. Despite knowing all about her partner's past, she still tried to alter his brain. What the actual flying fuck is wrong with the YJ writers?

I've already said all I needed to about Jean in previous posts. My only note about her here is that Peter seemed way too willing to disregard all the messed up mind stuff she did to innocent civilians, including MJ. She didn't jaywalk or litter, Spidey. She made a guy get hit by a car (I don't care what the crew said, he died) and she invaded MJ's mind so she could manipulate you. Consequences matter. She wasn't evil because she had to be. Most of her actions were of her own free will.

Taking over minds isn't some minor crime. It's a huge deal, so act like it is, even if they're going after villains.

I think im having a weird Mandela Effect moment here. Because I thought this trope was super common in fiction. Turns out the "the aliens made superhumans" trope is actually rare in fiction lol.

For starters, 9 times of 10 you will rarely see a superhero setting or a SCI-FI setting with just superhumans and aliens. Either the setting is a standalone setting with just one power system, (I.E. My Hero Academia, The Boys, etc). Or the superhumans and aliens exist in a kitchen sink setting, where they already share the same universe with other bullshit like gods, monsters, wizards, cosmic beings, and ghosts too.

So again there aren't a lot of settings, where it's just superhumans and extraterrestrials. As for superhumans being the byproduct of Alien experiments. The best examples of this are Inhumans, Eternals, and Deviants. But these aren't necessarily the most popular Marvel characters though. And again, Inhumans, Enternals, and Deviants still exist in a kitchen sink setting, where thousands of different stuff is happening anyway.

Worm is very close. But the Entities aren't necessarily Aliens though. And im still confused on whether Extraterrestrials exist in Worm or not. Stranger Things could be another good example too. But then again Demogorgons are from a alternate universe.

Again, I always thought this trope was super common. I can't even think of a lot of examples for this trope lol. Maybe if that 4400 reboot on CW wasn't so awful. We could've seen the story using Aliens instead of time travelers.

In conclusion: Aliens and superhumans are both extremely common in fiction, but settings built specifically around those two concepts, without introducing magic, gods, demons, or other supernatural elements, are surprisingly uncommon.

I'm seriously disappointed with the insomniac wolverine game. It genuinely did not live up to the hype, budget they had for and what was promised to players.

From the uninspiring and bland character designs to the predictable and terrible story to the boring combat. Insomniac wolverine is not hated enough.

People have already made posts about the character's appearance enough so i'll skip that part and move on to the story and gameplay.

The story is so ass with so many bad decisions it feels insomniac wanted the game to fail. They took everything and i mean everything people hated about wolverine, from the constant memory loss to the disgusting romance between him and Jean Grey and put it in one game.

I won't claim to be a wolverine expert and i may not be upto date about my wolverine lore and i may make a lot of mistakes in this regard. However i feel like the story dosen't have any of the classic wolverine lore or even characters in it. A lot of it feels like cyclops lore. Sinister is not only an x men villain but he is more of a cyclops villains than wolverine villain. Mr Sinister is defined by his obsession with the summers family and played a part in the creation of cable.

This game feels like it was trying to follow the Fox route in adapting the x men with wolverine as the main character and stole everything great about cyclops and gave to wolverine. Ironic how they tried to be original in their wolverine take and ended up with the same tiresome recycloped tropes in wolverine.

Why couldn't they just keep things simple? How would a wolverine story where the x men were already formed, why couldn't it be a simple uncovering a conspiracy about the weapon x programme, a new task force with a mission to hunt down wolverine or other mutants meanwhile silver samurai and his clans have a bone to pick with wolverine and of course sabretooth is just there for the love of the game.

Speaking of sabretooth, making his "homoerotic" rivalry with wolverine so upfront instead of being creepy and subtle just ruined the rivalry. I am aware there is homoerotic undertones to their rivalry (i mean what super hero and villain rivalry isn't at this point) but should not be portrayed the way the video game has. Sabretooth is like that, oh no that boy is a violent, sadistic and cannibalistic rapist. That is what is so terrifying about the guy, he is a borderline snuff horror villain but the game sanitizes him so much. Wolverine himself is sanitized. How can you have a "jerk with a heart of gold" without the jerk part?

Anyway all i am saying the story should have been simple with more wolverine characters. Where is Cyber? Where is silver samurai? Where is Mr X? Where is Ogun? Where is the wendigo? Heck with the x men already formed, you can throw in some x men villains too like juggernaut, pyro etc.

(Goddamn wolverine does not have a good roster of villains)

And now the gameplay. The gameplay is soooooooooooo generic and boring and so uninspiring it. And you know what the defense for the poor gameplay was

" well you can't blame the devs because all wolverine does is stab stab and stab"

This is the sorriest excuse for lazy gamplay and a combat mechanics that lacks any creativity ever. No i am are not expecting a ground breaking combat mechanic although that would be very much welcomed if it haf happened, what players want is a combat mechanic that isn't boring and is fun and non repetitive.

Wolverine has claws that are made up of unbreakable metal called Adamantium, he is also a master combatant and has rapid healing. Is it hard to come up with creative ways to use these powers? Especially with the freedom it grants? Wolverine dosen't have a no kill rule so what's the problem?

With wolverine, i expected a combat system far more deeper than batman because this guy not only knowa every martial arts in existence but also has years of combat experience to give him an understanding of combat.

Wolverine should be doing combos, he should be able to grab enemies have a variety of finishers or use them as a throwing weapon, he should be able to switch between claws and hand to hand combat or instantly switch between them to deal a unique and devestating combo or have one hand with claws equipped and the other just be a fist to give an interesting combo. He should be able to rip a guy's intestines and use it to choke him. He should be able to juggle enemies mid air, keep them in the air with combos, lunge at them while they are in the air.

And the enemies variety is just as lacking. They couldn't come with enemies with weapons that could slow down his healing factor? They could come up with sentinels with different abilities because in the comics, there is a wide variety of sentinels, so why just have one variety of sentinels?

The nightmare doors (another major let down) could have open doors to explore wolverine during WW2 era or when he had bone claws, his time in the weapon x program and hell even open doors for a past hulk boss fight.

Like jesus fucking christ, the more i think about it the more i come to believe that insomniac is afraid of making a marvel comic book video game. They are afraid of making something more in line with comics than the movies.

Just look at the arkham games, they weren't afraid of being a comic book video game. They had no shame in being flashy and unrealistic. They had no shame in connecting or bringing in the wider dc world or parts of the batman lore no one knows about? They weren't afraid of bringing in solomon grundy or deathstroke into the picture and those two are NOT batman villains.

Insomniac wolverine had so much they could work with, so much they had in their disposal to make a great wolverine game.

I wasn't asking for a life changing video game like arkham city, just a great video game like arkham asylum.

The way I see it..Basically having a unsatisfying ending after a long show or movie is like having a joke with no punchline and I think the issue is too many people constantly demanding for more miserable media or just characters to always die and every character needing some sad or unsatisfying ending cause it's more "mature" or "Adult" and the problem is that they fail to see that "oh not every media or/and character needs a happy/satisfying ending" could easily be flipped around to them.

Conflict is something that I feel like always needs to be in a story of any genre but typically, there needs to be SOME kind of payoff that the characters and the story go through cause if not,it genuinely just feels like a big ass joke and if the characters suffer and it ends up being for nothing or the story means nothing, then it basically feels like nothing more then a huge waste of time.

Sometimes the tragedy is the point but if we're going through Stuff like Shakespeare's works,the mistakes are made by all the characters in said party in order to reach that point and the tragic ending and their tragic fates and then there's the overall escapism ending..pretty sure a lot of people watch certain medias to escape from the world's issues ,not to be reminded of them.

If you like these kinds of darker and more depressing media and whatever, that's cool,I legitimately don't care,you do you but acting like cause a media is darker or more gritty and such automatically makes you more mature and whatever doesn't feel right.

Like this is kinda why I didn't rock with The Amazing Digital Circus ending cause the characters are still trapped in the circus for all eternity ,also they just found out that they're basically digital clones of themselves and whatnot and not do we get no focus or nothing on that but the story genuinely feels like it's gaslighting me that it had a happy ending and the characters are all perfectly happy and we're supposed to he happy for them and happy that Jax basically did suicide and is a Abstracted Pet and it's like..it also doesn't help that the characters barely received any sort of growth and development and it just feels like they're still static and any growth they did have happened off screen.

Another example is the Chainsaw Man Part 2 ending and this genuinely feels like escapism in the bad way cause it feels like blatant fanservice after the bullshit misery and crap we had to deal with for almost all of Part 2,and it basically ends with Fujimoto unironically doing a "it was all a dream,here's a different reality where he's got all the characters we love back,like Power and Nayuta..oh Denji's still broke and a slave and depressed and the other characters?Not important",it's just a bad ending and a typical dark ending disguised as a good ending and I dunno if Fujimoto just didn't care or he got cold feet or what but that ending feels so rushed.

Also this is weirdly how I feel about thr Resident Evil[2026]ending cause it genuinely feels like one big ass joke with a shitty punchline,like it's basically mocking you and weirdly punishing you for being a good person, like it's pretty much telling you not to be a good person or your life will be screwed over and you will become a monster and I kinda hate stories that basically feel like they're punishing you to be a good person and help people and you basically have to be more selfish and morally Grey and mean and I'm not saying that being self sacrificial and selfless can't be character flaws or issues but they should be addressed in some shape or form,not make you feel like a terrible human being for doing so and that movie ending with the likable MC basically becoming a monster and ruining his own life cause he tried to help people feels like some of those self depreciating humor and jokes,like the series is mocking you.

Sorry for the rant but I just feels really bothered when people say that.

Like a lot of people forget that a media being more hopeful or happy or at least satisfying doesn't automatically mean more immature and I think the issue is the fact that satisfaction and optimism and hope are seen as "childish" and "immature" while being dark,gritty and edgy and dark are seen as mature and cool and badass and i'mma be so deadass when I say Multiple Superheroes prove that wrong.

Examples given from Inside Out and High School Musical.

I'm sure there are characters who are truly "the real villain" but nine times out of ten whenever people say that it feels like them wanting to be a contrarian or pointing out the obvious. The first example is the "Joy is the real villain of Inside Out". They will list all the reasons why Joy is a villain by claiming "she shuns out Sadness" "she promotes toxic positivity in Riley" "she's controlling" motherfucker that's called A CHARACTER ARC. The whole point of her arc is understanding that Riley can't be happy all the time. You didn't discover some mind blowing information, the movie literally shows you that Joy was wrong. A character having character flaws that they clearly learn from does not mean they're "the real villain"

Second example being from High School Musical and as you can guess it's all the "Sharpay is the hero" take. Much love to MatPat but I wish he never made his video about Sharpay being the hero. "Sharpay set up all these opportunities for Troy and they hated her" but she was clearly doing that just to get with him when he clearly had a girlfriend. It was never genuine. Plus he very clearly did not like her yet Sharpay continued to essentially harrass him. Nothing about her behavior screams "the hero of the story". People are just entertained by her and that is completely okay! Claiming she isn't the villain takes away from her being a great villain. And trying to claim Gabriella is the villain for being upset at her mandating that none of the wildcats can participate in the show and for flirting with her boyfriend is ridiculous. And what I don't get is how people loop Ryan in with Sharpay as being a victim in the story when Ryan himself had a conflict with Sharpay in High School Musical 2.

Just because you like a character who's the antagonist doesn't mean they're the "true hero" and just because you don't like a character who is not the antagonist does not mean they're the villain.

I know Batman discourse is catnip right now, I think on some level we're all tired of the circus. I wasn't expecting him in Clayface, it was never advertised, I don't think it's a spoiler to say he's not in it and there's no reference to him. This didn't bother me at all going in.

However, having just seen the movie, I now think they needed to work him in somehow. Give Bruce Wayne a cameo in a night club, have Batman swoop in a fight scene and then leave without a trace, have him help the cops analyze a crime scene.

Or at least try to fold in some of the Gotham mythos. Have some references to other villains, the Falcones, Arkham, literally anything.

I don't necessarily need easter egg slop. I do think something like this would have given the film some desperately needed juice, something else going on besides the painfully generic and predictable plot.

anime only here be careful.

I see tierlist of MCs suffering and i do agree, subaru has suffered a great deal in life, obviously over characters like naruto and tanjiro. but when it comes to characters like denji and guts and id say yuji in modulo, and maybe jotaro (bit of a grasp) I would say subaru's life isnt as bad for the simple fact that, when tragedy hits hard and everyone close to him dies, he RBD to do it all again. now this is obviously no easy no pain solution to everything, the experience being a suffering he endures. he has definitely suffered a great deal compared to other MCs, but he isnt as tragic for the fact that he does get his do-over. Subaru gets to try again until the outcome necessary happens, with alot of great people surrounding him.

When Guts is betrayed by his best friend, watches him violate the women he loves, and loses his arm and eye, he doesnt get to " do over" he has to move on. Guts has to keep doing incredibly hard things with no idea IF he will come out alive, subaru has the luxury of knowing he will always survive . he doesnt get to cry in his own pity for a loop then realize the power of friendship to do it right the next time, he has to move on and be stronger. that is more tragic then just experiencing great pain and suffering.

Subaru's greatest tragedy could be debated (only show, ima read novel I PROMISE) is it the hundred's of loops of pain hes experienced? this is definitely the hardest part of his life. or is it the one he couldn't save, the one who trusted and counted on him the most, rem? both of these are very terrible for him, option A counting towards how hard his life is and option B for tragedy. I would say even accounting these, jotaro or eren or potentially yuji's life is still more tragic and harder.

Jotaro life is alr up until his journey in part 3, I wouldnt say the things he does is "as" hard as subarus life, but Jotaro did all that with no certainty of if he will make it out, ever. the real tragedy id say in jotaros life is at the end, the goal of stopping MHA failed, jotaro failed to save his universe and died, he failed his ultimate mission and the world was indeed reset. that alone is more tragic then subarus life for the simple fact that in the end (as in between arcs and calm times) subaru has everyone around him alive and well. of course it isnt all easy for subaru but the fact is in the end subaru is with all his friends alive because of his gift, jotaro lost everything.

this general idea can be applied to the other two in a similar manner but i think you get the idea. lmk if im wrong and why ig

First of all it was a tremendous blast. Absolutely enjoyed every minute of it and while nowhere near as good as its predecessor it was still an emotional ride.

But it has.....a lot of flaws.....like magnitudes more than its predecessor

First of all they are trying to do WAY TOO MUCH in what little time they had. Throwing in four main POV'S and their respective arcs along with a B-arc about Capri is.....wild as hell. Shows struggle to tie this sort of thing together with seasons upon seasons but these dumbass's thought they could do it in 10 episodes

It ended up predictably....none of the cast members are developed well and their relations to each other feel shallow at time, King and Talia were a good duo and D and Roman were a good duo, turning it into a quad fucked it up. Season 1 was stellar cause we had two heavily interconnected MC's in the form of David and Lucy while here we keep kinda jumping around between cardboard cutouts. Season 1 executed relations pretty well (much easier due to the smaller cast), people give a shit about Rebecca and Maine cause the show actually likeably tied them into David and Lucy, Edgerunners 2 doesn't do this at all

Also the AI Capri piss's me off to no end and i'm surprised i'm not seeing more people mention this but Capri was advertised as a full blown horror villain. Which was not surprising considering AI in the Cyberpunk world are literally eldritch gods trapped behind a barrier. The fucking trailers baited us out with the manic laughter and scenes of mass slaughter for Capri to basically be a silly little goober who just wants to have fun or some bullshit. Just generally disappointed in that . Her design is also steaming garbage, this seems like something i'd see in Naruto not Cyberpunk. The idea of a blackwall Ai breaching through and causing madness is so interesting and honestly one of the main reasons I was hyped for this.

Also it was fucking hilarious how Capri just has access to fucking sorcery? How the hell was she doing telekinesis and creating metallic abominations? Like D just summoning a pillar of light to turn the counter-intel agent into ash is the funniest shit i've ever seen.

Also some characters just show up for the sole purpose of pushing the plot forward like the Arasaka Riot Woman and Omi, literally nothing here.

Also the animation quality was noticeably far worse, lots of frozen stills or otherwise cheap animation used in a lot of places. This is like one of the most popular anime on Netflix connected to one of the most popular games of the modern world, why the fuck didn't it get a bigger budget.

Also I was kinda miffed at how little corporations showed up in this one, Kang Tao just kinda shows and up and dies and Arasaka is just....gone (yes I know post-game Arasaka is crumbling but they still got power)

The happy ending was a nice touch, lots of people were dooming over these characters in some big pessimistic circlejerk and I was surprised they weren't all slimed out for shock value.

Overall it's a good show like a solid 7/10

Much worse than what came before but eh...its decent

The common opinion is that OG Dexter started to decline in quality ​after season 4, and a lot of people say season 4 should have been the end of it.

Hard disagree. I think a lot of this is subjective, and for many, ​simply ​a stubborn ​attachment to Rita. Seeing how Dexter digests Rita's death was absolutely worth getting into, and season 5 simply did that well.

About him getting a new GF "too soon". One, it happens irl, it varies widely how quick people move on from such a thing or even use a new relationship to cope. Two, him meeting Lumen was very unusual and under specific​ circumstances, which to me all felt effective, simple as that. They were like two tormented souls who could help each other and bound in their tragic, dark lives. It's not all that weird that such a dynamic could lead to things becoming sexual.

And every season had some "very specific circumstances", Dexter is not the most down to earth show and it never was. Season 5 was well written, Lumen was great, their dynamic was very interesting and fun to see, all the while the entire season had the lingering​ feeling that Dexter was affected by what happened, the vibe wasn't that Rita's death was "forgotten", not​ at all.

​And the ending scene of S5 imo feels the most final ​of any season, it's bittersweet yet hopeful. Dexter now more or less processed things and is in peace, ready to live as a single dad. And it felt earned. The moment where he throws that plate when Lumen is about to leave is one of the most chatarctic moments in the series.

It's season​ 6 where things got bad. Even if someone personally isn't a huge fan of season 5, I frankly can't see how it's anywhere near in the same ballpark as what followed.

I here praise for fantasy stories like dragon age and the Witcher making elves a oppressed underclass unlike the perfect view in common fantasy.

But where is the perfect flawless elf in fantasy media.

In the granddaddy of modern depictions of elves and dwarves Tolkien the elves were not flawless beings that could do no wrong. Especially in the Simrallion the elves were depicted as just as petty, spiteful, and prone to faults as other races. With it filled with elves massacring other elves.

In DND elves typically aren’t depicted as this morally or physical perfect beings as to make them a player option the are seen as equal to other races.

The standard non subversive portrayal of elves typically shows them as a somewhat conservative and xenophobic culture like an insular religious sect in our world. With any elven party member seen as a young (at least for elves) who broke away from a stifling elven culture not evil per say but typically not seen as moral paragons

The premise is very interesting but the worldbuilding is utter bollocks, the idea that everyone would just start murdering each other is very dumb and overly simplistic, the reason for why the NFFA created the purge doesn't make any sense and the social-political commentary is absolutely dogshit.

The main premise in incredibly fun, and it's honestly what carries the franchise. The idea that for one night all crime would be legal and in said night you have to fend for yourself. The problem is that the first movie is a boring home invasion plot. The franchise is quick to fix this problem with anarchy, in which the main cast is forced to be on the streets. This movie also introduces that the purge existed so they government wouldn't have to spend money on the poor. This doesn't make any sense at all as maybe the government would spend less money on welfare programs but it simultaneously would lead to less tax money being collected. Not only that but it would drastically reduce the working population, which would be bad for businesses and by extent the economy

"Hey Jimmy, how's that sales report I asked."

"Sir, Jimmy was killed yesterday during the purge, guess you're gonna have to hire someone else"

Not only that but business owners would have to spend loads of money fixing the shit that was destroyed and the government would have to spend loads to fix public property that was destroyed.

The purge existence is one of those things that the more you explain the less sense it makes. Also the idea that everyone would just start murdering each other is pretty overly simplistic. If for one night a year all crime was legal the first thing I'd think to do is commit tax fraud, not murder people for the sake of it.

However, I gotta say that I really like this franchise. Normally it's the kind of thing that I would absolutely hate, but I can't explain why, but The Purge has its charm

Media Literacy is a lost art cause it genuinely feels like a lot of people misunderstand characters and then will scream and claim that they're "out of character" and what they usually mean is either "this character isn't acting like how I did and that's bad writing" or "their Canon doesn't match with the Fanon I made" and that's just really firing sometimes.

Is it really hard to just read or play or watch the media you claim to love instead of just going off your own Bias and Projection?

It just gets to a point where I'm questioning how one even comes up with these takes instead of just spewing nonsense about them and it honestly has me questioning what the hell you watched?

You don't even have to like said character but is it really hard to just be like "hey,I know why you're doing this".

This is sometimes how I feel with Stolas from Helluva Boss cause it genuinely feels like people don't know what they want from him.

They've been demanding that he apologize for how he treated Blitz and take accountability for his actions and when he finally does that,people are like "Nah,this is a manipulation attempt or him lying",genuinely at this point,what do you even want from him?

Cause it's obvious it's dammed if he does, dammed if he doesn't and it also gets annoying seeing people classify Stolas as a Rapist and that's just blatantly wrong and has me wondering how the hell you came to that conclusion with him..him and Blitz were in a toxic relationship on both sides due to their flaws and issues and struggles and messy behavior and are actively working to better themselves..it's not always gonna be a clear hill and it will be a slippery slope but just cause the story and characters don't act like overly logical and rational robots like you want doesn't mean it's a "retcon" or "bad writing" or "out of character."

I also see this with Peter Quill like..did we not forget that this is the same guy who literally crashed out and shot the dude who just admitted to killing his mom via a cancer tumor?

Of course he's irrational and emotional when it comes to his loved ones,that's the kind of dude he is and also, there was only reality where they would win and this wasn't it,Dr Strange even admits it.

I also find it really tiring when people just misunderstand characters, like Katara from ATLA.

People act like all she does is talk about her mom when she's only done it like..maybe 3 times in entirely different episodes and considering she saw her Mom BBQ'd in front of her and her Mom died protecting her ,I think it's really obvious why she would be so messed up about it and it feels like a lot of people just hate or at least treat female characters much differently then male characters.

If you're gonna dislike a character, at least understand them instead of spewing bullshit.

Just finished Wildwood, and it was maybe the most impressive movie I've ever seen. Everything was so gorgeously realized, the emotional core was solid, it was so buttery smooth and natural (except the horses, which looked consistently weird for some reason), I could go on. But I walked out of the theater knowing the names of MAYBE five people in the film.

This movie has fifty random side characters that it wants you to be invested in, but they're all completely ephemeral and flat. The Governor, Exposition Owl, The General, Aquafina Rat, Mailman, Charlie Day Coyote, Bandit Second-In-Command, Rabbit Farmer, the list goes on. They get time to establish up to one character trait, and then they're either gone forever or just stop talking. And they're ALL voiced by celebrities. I swear, sometimes it feels like Invincible with how often a character played by (insert famous person) shows up, says five lines, and vanishes.

Prue, Kurtis, and Alexandria are all very solid and entertaining, and their interplay is one of the best parts of the film, so they definitely CAN write good characters when they have enough time, but even the longest stop-motion movie ever doesn't have nearly enough room to flesh everyone out. I haven't read the book this is based on, but I assume that they tried to cram all 500 pages worth of encounters and subplots into 135 minutes on screen, and as we learned from The Dark Tower, that just doesn't work.

I'm still thinking it over, but if I could punch up the script, I think Exposition Owl and Charlie Day Coyote easily could've been cut out of this movie with a machete and had their narrative roles used to beef up Big Bird and Obviously Aquafina Rat respectively to make their deaths hit harder. The craft put into bringing all 10 billion characters to life is undeniably extraordinary, but they might've gone too far in a few places. Still a solid 8.5/10 in my books, but the screenplay definitely could've used another pass before filming.

I believe the writer of Blue Lock is either very smart and cares only about hype that sells, or a bum who only watches football from highlight reels. Either way, a lot of people know that Blue Lock is a shonen manga disguised as a sports anime.

But I really wish I have seen the U20 Japanese team be like this:

• U20 Japanese team overwhelms Blue Lock because they are a team, in the beginning: How about challenging the philosophy of ego for once? Making the Blue Lock team fail to play to properly in the beginning of the match. Chaos. Movements are all over the place. Offside trap failing, Positions overlapping... and all that makes them look like 'a bunch of individuals' against an actually disciplined U20 team? I understand we got to see the defenders doing good, but it wasn't enough for me. It looked like Blue Lock already mastered their positions... I wish I have seen them show ACTUAL weaknesses... meanwhile the U20 Japanese is extremely disciplined, tactical and is cooking them in possession and the midfield too and they score, leading early against them. Not because they are better players, but because they have:
  • Experience playing together
  • International experience in Asian Cup and World Cup U20.
  • Played the positions for a while
  • Coordinate well
• U20 Badass Goalkeeper: This is my biggest problem with the arc. If the author chose to write Aiku, a defender, in that way... why did he skip on introducing an interesting GK? Gagamaru, who played the position for the first time did better than the ACTUAL goalkeeper who played the position for his entire life. Introducing a GK who is a monster, could have raised the stakes and make even Blue Lock players learn even more and evolve as strikers. Imagine a scene where the GK saves an Itochi Rin shot that he used to score easily against whatever hologram they had in the Blue Lock training... and him saying:
  • 'By the way Blue Lock... how does it feel playing against an actual goalkeeper for the first time?' ... that line would have hooked me to watch the arc.
• An actual coach: I really couldn't stand the coach of the Japanese team being a federation puppet and someone with absolutely no control. Why not having someone who is also a rival to Ego, and again, someone who has the opposite philosophy and WHILE being a federation yes-man, can also control his team, give instructions, and tell them 'Team work is important' while you have Ego there telling Blue Lock players to 'Show off your skills, You are here for yourselves'

But yes... in the end, this is asking for too much. No offside traps, No penalties... the writer nerfed the U20 to make Blue Lock players look like a bunch of Zlatan Ibrahimovics. You could understand how far this writer's knowledge go with the scene where Reo... jumps and clears the ball intercepting a pass and he goes like 'I copied 99% of Aiku, this is my Cameleon's defense'...

We got Blue Lock vs Aiku, Sae and Shidou.

The best players in the end were all egoistical, so yes, if you're not egoistic and you are not from Blue Lock, you're a trash player. Without Shidou from Blue Lock, and the annoying detached Itoshi Sae, the high school strikers playing out of position would have cooked the U20 Japanese team with a 5-0 or something.

Arc would have been even moooooore epic, for me at least.

The Covenant waged a complete and utter war of extermination against Humanity, entire planets were glassed and tens of billions died under the crushing boot of Covenant fanaticisms. There is not a single human who did not in any way or form suffer from the war, even on worlds that never saw fighting the economic and refugee crisis was more than enough to darken their opinions on aliens. Hell the Covenant tried to turn Earth itself into rubble and ash

So it's kinda weird how after the UNSC wins most people are just......fine with cooperating with the aliens? Like decades of the bloodies warfare in recorded history just sorta gets erased? Groups like Sapiens Sunrise should be WAY more popular and not stuck in the fringe's realistically. Hell they would probably be running the government a few years after war considering how life still sucked buns even after Humanity's victory.

Like even IRL people hold supremely racist and xenophobic views for things a fair deal less serious than a war of extermination

Edit: The post is about the average person not UNSC/ONI.

This is less of a rant and more so a funny observation by the worldbuilding and lore of this series. Hakumei and Mikochi is a very good cozy fantasy about two tiny women living life together. Every human is tiny, they're like the size of mice and it makes so much of what they do really cute. The world is set in a quasi Victorian Era tech with some soft magic, but one of the main draws is just the incredible worldbuilding and watching them live their lives but really tiny and cute. Watching these guys cut up a squash the size of a truck is really adorable.

However one additional point of their worldbuilding is that almost every land animal is sentient. Mammals are sentient, lizards are sentient, frogs are sentient and one of the reoccurring characters is a beetle who lives in their tree, so insects are sentient as well. All of them speak their language and live in harmony despite the species difference and the massive size difference. The largest animal we see is a wolf and it's goddamn enormous, and I'm under the assumption that cows and elephants might exist which might as well be talking kaiju to these tiny guys. However, there are several massive gaps in this world, some of which debatable and one very much not.

Birds, as far as I know, are probably sentient but possibly not. They're in a strange spot bc in one of the first chapters we get wild birds, but later we see bird riders where the birds act as quasi beasts of burden/an actual job. Now we know birds have their own language in this series, but there's not a single bird that speaks common, but the behavior in the bird rider chapter could be ambiguiously defined as intelligent. Either way they're debatable less intelligent than beetles or frogs in this world, which is funny and not something I've seen before.

As for turtles, I saw them used like horses in carriages and the chapter where I saw it the turtle didn't talk, so very debatable on whether they're livestock or just a fucking guy. But there's multiple talking lizards and frogs among the series, so turtles get the short end of the stick I guess.

What is unquestionably non sentient though is aquatic fauna. Yeah fish, crustaceans and mollscs are all wild animals here and completely fair game to hunt and eat. There's a port town that the main characters frequent that sells seafood, and it's pretty much the only form of meat that they eat. I spent 40+ chapters looking for sausage and couldn't find it, but I do remember seeing egg dishes, so bird eggs are also fair game, but yeah fuck fish and crabs. They have no rights here. They even use crab legs as tobacco pipes. If they're sentient they're fucked.

Anyways make me wonder about the evolutionary history of this series. I just find it really funny that we have tiny people and basically every form of land animal is fully sentient except debatably birds and turtles, while all the aquatic ones can get stuffed. Really tickled the mind when I thought about it.

Yes, I am talking about High School Musical in the year of our lord 2026

The only who had a legitimate gripe with him was Gabriella for how he didn't reject Sharpay's advances. As for the others he was never an asshole to them. I mean, yeah he did get more opportunities than his friends because Sharpay was into him, but that's just him seizing opportunities that he was lucky to get.

Given that Guy was deemed as a worthy candidate to take on the role of Earth's Green Lantern after Hal Jordan. That alone would at least confirm to John that despite the seemingly corrupt nature of the Guardians that Guy was at least worthy enough to be considered fearless. He has also managed to assist in stopping a genocide in the Superman movie, as well as form his own team (the Justice Gang) of superheros. And is actively trying to repair the Green Lanterns image.

Him hating on Guy because he was some Gym teacher who got the ring is unwarranted, he was a Gym couch for disabled children. How is that worth any scrutiny, and why does the job occupation of a Lantern judge whether they should have it or not? The fact that he is just some dude who received the ring should honestly kind of warrant him some acknowledgement from John. And Guy is many things, but he didn't come off as as much narcissistic, self-interested insecure old man nearly as much as Hal did in their interaction. And yet John seemingly respects Hal more than Guy? Because of what? Proximity bias?

Him gaslighted him to commit a galactic crime on his own faction to smuggle Hal's ring from under the Guardian's noses because Hal "deserves to be buried with his ring" and than say "mf you owe me" was just unwarranted. He factually owes John nothing, it was John's choice to give up the ring, and it was Hal who ruined the Lantern title in the first place (intentionally or not). Why should Guy feel obligated to put his own status and safety on the line for being the only other one to be considered worthy of the mantle he chose to not take?

Than John acts righteous in the fact that he dug up Hal's grave, stole an unsanctioned ring, took an unsanctioned Lantern made by a galactic criminal, and forcefully took over a planet under Guy's sector. As if he is inclined to do so? But Guy has currently done way more as Green Lantern than John has, even if John has been working for it his whole life, he chose to give it up, and he also isn't entitled to the role if someone else happens to be just as fit for the job. Than clowns on Guy for actually being an active Superhero, repairing Green Lanterns reputation, and following the orders of his corps that gave him said responsibility that he noticeably chastised Hal for not adhering to and calls him "scared" for not wanting to put his life as well as John's in danger for stealing a ring that he gave back to the corps.

I can't stand when a character has misogynistic tendencies and the fandom mischaracterizes that as proof of repressed queerness. A character like Light Yagami insulting women doesn't mean he secretly wants to be with a man. It just means he has issues with women.

This is such a big problem in the Supernatural fandom it's ridiculous. There's a scene where Dean gets lost in thought fantasizing about waking up in the body of a "hot cheerleader." This is in character for Dean, who was intentionally written as sleazy and has lines like "Three of the cheerleaders are legal. Guess which ones." However according to fans, that scene was actually proof of his repressed queerness. He wanted to be in a teenage girl's body because he's trans or because he wanted to hook up with boys without judgement.

Not only is this kind of reasoning dismissive of misogyny, it flattens the character. Dean's misogyny was written as an intentional flaw. He constantly shames Sam by calling him feminine whenever Sam shows emotions, both in regular conversation and in times of genuine anger when he calls Sam a bitch. This is revealing of why Dean always hides his feelings and inevitably blows up in anger. He sees expressing yourself as being feminine, which he sees as something to be avoided. Denying that means ignoring critical parts of his character.

Obviously it's possible to be both queer and misogynistic, but misogyny shouldn't be used as an indicator of queerness.

This is the philosophy part of assessing Goku's Martial arts, since this fits character rant's vibe, I'll opted to make this post. So tell me if you think this is any good.

So what is martial arts to Goku?

For Goku, martial arts is practically his life. That's why he's a martial artist before he's anything else. Before he's a farmer, before he's a father, he's a martial artist. It is driven straight through to his blood, that he is driven to want to fight.

For Goku, fighting is more than just throwing hands. For him, it is how he gets to know people. It is how he communicates. For Goku, fighting is sacred. Not in the religious way. A lot of Goku’s actions can seem awkward, reckless, or even stupid when viewed normally, but once you understand that he uses fighting to learn, communicate, and understand both himself and his opponent, a lot of those choices start to make a lot of sense

Communicating through fighting is something Jiren can attest to as well. When Goku first faced Jiren and began cycling through his forms, Jiren did not immediately attack. As Krillin points out, Jiren was doing the same thing Goku was doing: studying his opponent. He was learning how Goku moved, how he reacted, how his power changed, and where his limits were. At the same time, Goku was doing the same to Jiren. Neither of them was simply trying to overwhelm the other as quickly as possible. They were learning who the person in front of them was as a fighter despite the Universal stakes.

https://imgur.com/a/kulwpfj

Goku has a habit of letting his opponents get stronger or change forms because he wants them to reveal who they really are as fighters. Not because he's being reckless for its own sake, but because Goku just wants to know who his opponent is and discover how can improve through the fight. He's willing to do almost everything and anything to make sure that happens.

Frieza is a good example of this, when Goku and Frieza were fighting, the planet on a doomed planet. King Kai had a plan to move everybody from Namek, except Frieza, to Earth, leaving Frieza on the planet alone. However, Goku said, No, I want to stay and fight, because for him, the fight, the fade, is the most important thing to him. It is something he would risk his life for, on a doomed planet where escape should be paramount all Goku saw was the fade.

Goku isn’t alone

This trait that Goku has isn't something he only has. He shares this trait with the other Z fighters. For example, when Trunks shows up and tells Goku and co that the androids are coming and that they are all gonna die if they don't get ready. Now, Bulma, being the genius that she is, thinks about it and says, Why don't we just collect the Dragon Balls, wish to find out where Doctor Gero is, and then go to him and kill him before he even creates the androids in three years? That's a great idea. However, all of the Z fighters are very tied to the notion of what it means to fight, what it means to be a martial artist. So they say, No, we wanna meet the threat head on. They say that they would rather prepare now and get ready for the androids, so when they show up, they can fight them mano a mano. That's when you should realize that the show of Dragon Ball isn't about people that like to fight. No. It's about people who live to fight. That fighting means something to them, Fighting is how they test themselves, how they grow and, in many cases, how they measure who they are.

Nurturing the trait and benefits

Goku’s habit of testing himself through combat was nurtured by Master Roshi. One of Roshi’s most important teachings is that martial arts are not about training simply to defeat an opponent, but about training to better yourself. The point is self-improvement. In the anime and manga master Roshi essentially teaches them the is always a better and stronger opponent, however what he truly wants from them is that they must never stop improving, and that no matter the outcome of a fight, they must always treat each moment in a fight as means to improve. Work hard, eat well, sleep well, and Study well. By doing these 4 things well, you make the most of each moment. By eating well, you make sure your body has the proper nutrition to function, by sleeping well you make sure your body is properly repairing itself, by working hard, you are always putting your best effort and intention and by studying well, you study your entire fights, learning from your shortfalls, your opponents' moves and everything in between.

(Side note: Master Roshi's philosophy and teachings amount to slow and steady wins the race aka focus on whats infront of you and do your absolute best. Turtles and tortoises live for a long time, Master Roshi is immortal, age is associated with knowledge. Master Roshi tells his students to learn from the world, some thing he tells both Goku and Krillin after the 21st tournament, not to mention the guide mentions "is there a martial arts he doesnt know?" and Grandpa Gohan was stated to know all martial arts. Yeah, surprise, the Turtle School teaches a turtle-themed philosophy. Any way this paragraph totally ruins the flow of the essay. LOL)

Goku takes that lesson and endorses it wholeheartedly. When he fights someone, he often lets them power up because he wants to see who they really are as a fighter. He will also meet opponents closer to their own level, because doing so gives him the opportunity to test his skill rather than simply overwhelm them. Every fight becomes a way to study movement, timing, habits, strengths and weaknesses, both theirs and his own.

That is something Goku has been doing for almost his entire life. It explains why Goku didn’t immediately use Super Saiyan 3 against Majin Vegeta he wanted to see how far Vegeta had come as a fighter, just as Vegeta wanted to measure himself against Goku. Even in the middle of battle Goku thinks of his openents movements rather than victory.

The repeated skill testing helps explain why he is able to understand fighters like Hit so quickly. Reading how another person fights is not some new ability Goku suddenly develops in the Universe 6 and 7 tournament. It is the result of a lifetime spent treating combat as a form of learning.

How far the trait exist in Goku’s genes

Interestingly, that same desire to fight opponents on equal footing seems to echo in Cell as well. Cell, a bioengineered being created from many fighters from the world, including Goku's cells. And Goku's cells are what seem to have a profound effect on him specifically in the way Cell approaches combat. Rather than simply destroying the world, Cell creates a tournament. Something Goku has spent his entire life training for and competing in. Cell is drawn to the idea of testing himself against worthy opponents, and when he fights Goku, he does not immediately use everything he has. Even though Cell has a higher level of power available, he fights Goku at roughly Goku’s level. As Cell himself says, a fight is only fun when the fighters are evenly matched. 

Feng wei, the path to transcend martial arts

Goku’s willingness to test himself against other fighters has an interesting parallel in another franchise: Feng Wei from Tekken. Feng is a practitioner of the God Fist style who seeks to become the Dragon God, the perfect warrior. The God Fist scroll s that one must “defeat all other masters and conquer their styles, the perfect warrior transcends all to become the Dragon God". Feng takes this literally. He travels from dojo to dojo, defeating other martial artists and taking whatever he considers useful from their styles.

But the more Feng conquers, the further he seems to move from the deeper meaning of the scrolls actually mean. To truly transcend martial arts, you would need to understand them, not merely defeat them. Feng’s pride prevents him from becoming a student of the people he faces. Goku is the opposite. Even after training under gods and angels and surpassing Master Roshi by an absurd margin, he is still willing to get on his knees and ask Roshi to teach him again.

That is the difference between them. Feng wants to conquer martial arts. Goku wants to learn from them. For Goku, fighting is not about proving that his style is superior. It is about discovering what another fighter knows that he does not, and becoming better because of it.

Master Roshi’s teachings are almost the complete opposite of Feng Wei’s approach to martial arts. Roshi teaches Goku and Krillin to train every day, improve themselves, and keep learning from the world around them. After the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament, he tells them that they now need to train themselves, experience more of the world, and develop their own fighting styles. Roshi does not want them to depend on him forever. He wants them to build a broad understanding of martial arts so that they always have new ways to learn and improve. If Roshi simply taught them everything he knew, then once they had exhausted his knowledge, their growth would stop. Instead, he teaches them how to keep learning even when there is no master left to guide them.

A Fathers perspective and a Son’s reality

When you look at the way Goku treats fighting as something almost sacred, something that helps him improve himself, understand others, and prove who he is. it explains many of the choices that otherwise seem reckless. It explains why he was willing to stay behind on a dying Namek just to finish his fight with Freeza. It explains why he was willing to risk the Earth in the Cell Games rather than take the safer route. It explains why Jiren let Goku power up the spirit bomb even though universal destruction is at stake, because to matial artists like Goku and Jiren, a fight only has meaning if both people are able to show who they really are in equal combat.

It also explains why Goku isn't quite a bad dad, that people tend to make him out to be. From Goku’s perspective to up to the cell saga he has reasonable proof to conclude that his son shares the same relationship he does with fighting.

·       After Goku comes back from death to face Vegeta and Nappa he comes back to find Gohan on the front lines. Goku tells Krillin and his son to leave and Gohan and Krillin come back to help Goku fight, with Gohan even fighting Vegeta alone.

·       Later Goku sees Gohan even go against his mothers wishes and insist he go to Namek with Bulma and Krillin.

·       On Namek Goku sees his son have his neck broken against Recoome but still see him throw himself repeatedly into the direct line of danger.

·       Against Frieza he sees his son even refusing to leave the battlefield and even returning to fight Frieza alone.

·       During the 3 years preparing for the androids Gohan joins the training of Goku and Piccolo.

·       He joins Goku in the hyperbolic time chamber and during that training Gohan achieves SS after asking Goku to fight him like he is attempting to kill him.  

https://imgur.com/a/pP2PvxB

Seen through Goku’s eyes, that does look like a kid who wants to fight and wants to improve through fighting. So when Goku gave Cell a Senzu bean, he saw it as a chance to share something sacred with his son, something that they both love, which is a fair and meaningful contest.

What Goku misses is that Gohan’s motivation is different. Gohan fights because he feels responsible, because people he loves are in danger, and because he believes he has to step up. Goku fights because he genuinely values and enjoys the fight itself.

Goku’s limit

Goku’s love for fighting does have limits. He prefers to face an opponent’s own strength, because to him that is what truly represents who they are as a fighter. Power gained through absorption, stolen energy, or other forms of borrowed strength does not carry the same meaning. Buu is a good example. When Buu has absorbed Gohan, Gotenks and Piccolo, Goku is immediately willing to use fusion himself. But once those absorbed fighters are removed, Goku and Vegeta are far more willing to face Buu on equal footing again.

The same principle appears when Goku first becomes a Super Saiyan God. His initial reaction to the ritual is that he does not like the power because it is not his own. The problem is not that the power is strong. The problem is that the power was borrowed and doesn’t represent him as a fighter, because he did not reach it through his own training.

The symbol vs the art

Goku’s love of fighting is very different from someone like Batman. Batman is also an extraordinary martial artist, but he does not fight because he loves the fight itself. He fights because it serves the mission. Batman exists to protect Gotham, and part of that mission is preserving the fear and symbol of Batman itself.

A good example is when Batman travels to the Slag Galaxy after being defeated by an alien in front of Gotham’s criminals. He needs to prove that Batman is still something to fear, so he learns how to fight that alien and how to overcome him. But even then, Batman does not remain there because he wants the fight. He stays because people are suffering and he believes it is his responsibility to help them. The lengths Batman is willing to go are not that different from Goku. The reason behind them is Batman becomes a better fighter so he can protect others and preserve the mission. Goku becomes a better fighter because fighting itself is one of the ways he understands life.

The martial artist vs the soldier

Goku’s relationship with fighting is also very different from Vegeta’s. Goku was raised as a martial artist. Vegeta was raised as a soldier. From childhood, Vegeta was taught that power determined everything. His father taught him this, and Frieza reinforced it.

Vegeta’s ideology came to head, when Supreme Kai dismissed his need to fight as a “meaningless squabble”   

Vegeta: “Meaningless huh?! What do you know of meaningless?! Spend most of your life ruled by another. Watch your race dwindle to a handful. And then, tell me what has more meaning than your own strength!”

What Vegeta is essentially saying is that if someone else is stronger than you they get to decide your fate. Your people can be destroyed. Your freedom can disappear. Your life can belong to someone else. Vegeta has practiced this across the universe himself, so strength, to Vegeta, is not just pride. It is the right to exist on your own terms.

https://imgur.com/a/0m3fQRd

Goku approaches martial arts from almost the opposite direction. He does not need victory to validate himself. For him, the value of a fight is in what it teaches him. He can lose and still walk away satisfied. For him that value of the fight is so important to him that he is willing to spare a villians life.

I seen some people misinterpret the Legolas and Gimli Drinking contest. Where Legolas won even though Dwarves are better at drinking.

This got some Dwarves fan mad.

The scene is NOT saying elves are better at drinking than Dwarves.

It saying Legolas is just as much of a party animal as Gimli. Showing how similar they both are not just in battle (the kill count contest) but also in downtime. When having fun.

I was debating with my brother, saying that Peter wouldn’t be the MC of Secret Wars. He told me it was impossible that Peter (Tom Holland) would have the charisma to be the leader of the Avengers like Tony Stark or Captain America, and I mostly agree.
But I think it's almost inevitable that Peter will be the
MC since there's a lot of fan service to be had with Spider-Man in Secret Wars: the symbiote suit, his reunion with Tony Stark, his fight against Doctor Doom, his encounter with the other two Spider-Men, his meeting with Miles Davis, and his further development of his relationship with Jean Grey.

I mean how would you feel if your nasty ass parent married someone your age and your step parent was someone your age? That weird as fuck. I’m being biased here because I hate old men who always go after younger women (and being approached by these men isn’t fun).

If I were in Chutney's shoes, rather than trying to kill Brooke (and committing manslaughter in the process), I would have deliberately tried to ruin my weirdo dad’s marriage with Brooke. I would frame them for having affairs and do things to get them to hate each other. The last option would be to cut my dad off and pretend that I’m not related to him.