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[stefphe]

[strengthwuzhere]

Raised in Amphibia au where Anne and the Plantars somehow get to earth and all of Anne's family are every intent on finding Anne's blood parents for help. But Anne herself is very against it cause her blood parents are NOT her parents. Her parents died protecting their town. Her parents took her in when even Hop-pop wanted her run out of the town. Her parents taught her the importance of a good work ethic, family roots, trust, hard work and how family matters more than blood. Her blood parents are not her parents. For all Anne knows they didn't even bother to look for her. Yeah she was on a different planet, but still! For all she knows they could have been glad she was gone, Hop-pop said she was a nightmare child as a toddler. And most importantly, she doesn't want new parents! She had parents, sure they might be six feet in the ground buried by the worn wall on the farm, but they were still there for her. Even of they didn't talk back to her, they still listened. And replacing them was just wrong. They deserve better than having their daughter run off to another set of parents, destined to forget them.

[dontworryaboutitm8]

Didn’t have Vic giving a profound and heartfelt piece of advice about navigating grief towards someone you had a complicated relationship with on my Gladlands bingo card, but hey, here we are.

[dontworryaboutitm8]

An apocalyptic world where cooperation becomes a necessity of survival and the majority population is now super nice and caring, rather than a bunch of survival of the fittest assholes is peak Brennan Lee Mulligan worldbuilding.

[gimimaga]

I really like Knights of Guinevere

[dontworryaboutitm8]

Robert being in his mid-late 20s and having been Mecha Man for 15 years means that he got his start as a kid/teen hero, which is fitting with the Mecha theme considering that protagonist in those stories also tend to be teenagers.

[dontworryaboutitm8]

I’ve really come to love Enjin as a mentor after episode 12. He knows that Rudo flew off the handle with Amo, but understands why he’s so upset. At this point, he knows Rudo well enough to see that berating or arguing with him isn’t going to help anything. So instead he just asks a simple question about how they’re going to get the information from Amo now that she’s knocked out. The look on Rudo’s face as he realizes his mistake is pure gold, and I think it shows how even though Enjin knows Rudo is an angry kid, he also knows that he can be very reflective of himself. And that belief comes through when Enjin takes Rudo aside. He doesn’t say anything at first, instead just letting the kid sit with his emotions until he starts talking. He listens quietly when Rudo talks about his shame about his anger, and once again Enjin doesn’t directly call him out or say he’s wrong. Instead he lightens the move by abruptly bringing up his love hot women, which then segways into him talking about his shortcomings and how Rudo is actually on the right track. It’s so simple but oddly sophisticated and layered.

[dontworryaboutitm8]

In future episodes I hope we get a flashback of teen/adult Olivia. I want to see what her particular brand of unhinge is.

[dontworryaboutitm8]

Imagine having a nervous breakdown after failing a gentrification mission, getting infected with evil goop that killed your idol, and then being called less than a dog, who was responsible for stopping operation gentrify after you were about to let him and his small child owner get axed. Said dog then accomplishes the thing you’ve been trying to do for years, prompting the lower than a dog comment from your boss. As you’re having your mental breakdown, laminating how you’ve sacrificed everything, you are suddenly teleported to the top of a building. And just as you're getting your bearings, Some Guy™️ gives you the finger and yells that you’re going to get old one day, and people will stop caring about you.

[dontworryaboutitm8]

I said it before and I’ll say it again. Lin Ling is fucking LUCKY he survived long enough to have his true identity revealed, because he would have been catching so many strays. The only heroes without cause to beat his ass were E-Soul and maybe X (though X’s roll in the whole thing is up in the air after the Ahu episode). There’s a good chance that the other heroes didn’t do anything because they were either waiting for the tournament or they were instructed not to make a move against him and Treeman. But I still think he dodged danger in other ways. If Ms. J hadn’t locked him in his room for weeks, he would have been cooked. If he hadn’t revealed his identity almost immediately after reaching the top 10, he would have been cooked. Though, it’s possible Ahu and maybe Big Johnny could tell he wasn’t the real nice via smell.

[dontworryaboutitm8]

The amount of people talking about Long Story Short is not big enough. It’s a genuinely great show, but fan discussion so far is as dry as the Sahara Desert. At least from what I’ve seen. To be fair, I don’t think Bojack really took off in popularity until its second season, but I’d hope it being from the same creator would give it a boost. At least it seems like most people who watch it acknowledge its quality.

[dontworryaboutitm8]

It seems like X going into 3D allows him to manipulate the 2D space. In a way, he becomes more real than the characters who occupy the 2D space. Or, you could say that he is more grounded. This is interesting when you apply it to the two characters who are largely represented with 3D animation besides X. Lin Ling and Yang Cheng are the only characters besides X who are represented with 3D animation and they are the only characters who are defined by being normal people who want to be heroes. Everybody else had extraordinary circumstances from a young age, except maybe Ghostblade, but it can be debated on how grounded he is.

[dontworryaboutitm8]

A consistent theme in To Be Hero X is how fickle fans tend to be. This is seen to a degree that is almost comical in the Dragon Boy fight. They see Dragon Boy fighting a fear corrupted Smile, but they have no actual idea of what’s going on. When Nice doesn’t step in and ends up fighting Dragon Boy himself, they don’t take a single moment to question the events, they just assume Nice is in the wrong, with the exception of the one Nice fan who cheers him on, but she also doesn’t know what’s going on. She’s supporting her fave. And then when X steps in and utterly humiliates Dragon Boy, the switch up is crazy. They start glazing X despite literally rooting for Dragon Boy 5 seconds ago.

[dontworryaboutitm8]

Absolutely loved scene where little Nice is being made to dance like the marionette. It gives a lot if insight to Nice, a lot of which we already inferred, but with some new take aways. It’s interesting how Nice visualizes himself as a kid. Usually the image of one’s child self is representative of their innocence, and it will be their adult self who has to face the darkness. But when Nice is being puppet and praised by fans he doesn’t age up. He still remains that scared little kid. And that is made all the more terrifying when the scene goes full body horror—his limbs contorting in fucked up ways to perform the demands of his boss and fans. It’s definitely on the nose but I’d be damned if it isn’t effective. Now this does not exonerate Nice. He has done some fucked stuff, but it keeps what people found interesting about him in the first few episodes while framing his actions in the last few. And I think by doing this we get a better understanding of the themes of Nice’s story. He is not a perfect victim. He does want the fame and success, and gets upset when he doesn’t get it. However, it is that desire that is controlled and amplified with his fans and Shang De.

[dontworryaboutitm8]

A part of me feels like Lin Ling will be the top 10 member X will like the most by virtue of being the only one to work an office job.

Queen? Graduated college at 14 and went straight to being a hero.

Dragon Boy? Has been working under Rock since he was a kid.

Ghostblade? Worked as a butcher for a minute but has spent most of his adult life as a hero.

Johnny? Former child star who’s been making money off plushies since he was 9.

Loli? Worked for her dad for like a week before becoming a hero.

Cyan? Grew up in a cult built around her and became a hero/musician once she got out.

Ahu? He’s a fucking dog.

Esoul? Did some jobs for Rock and was a children’s entertainer but not the same thing as 9-5.

Don’t get me wrong, everybody listed has struggled in their own way, but not the mundane struggle of the office grind. X and Lin Ling can related on the struggle of unreasonable deadlines, unpaid overtime, and demanding bosses who ultimately don’t appreciate the work they put in. X has also stolen sugars packets from work, and I just know Lin Ling has too. Though, Lin Ling may not even count because I’m not sure if he even lived anywhere besides work.

[dontworryaboutitm8]

I wonder how Loli felt when she heard that Nice died. As funny as it is to imagine her posing on his grave, there’s a good chance she felt the same way as Little Johnny hearing that Vortex died. Like this guy who’s partially responsible for the worst day of your life stays at 11th place for years. You’ve long surpassed him and there’s satisfaction in that, but it’s not enough. But it’s not enough. You want to drive your fist through his smug face. Make him feel just as desperate and weak as you did on that day. But he can’t even make it on the level to compete. Then one day he does it. He makes the top 10 and you can finally have your rematch. And then the Enlightener incident happens and some guy you’ve never seen before show’s up instead. This guy says that he was pretending to be Nice and that the real one is dead. Has been for months. A short enough time where you can’t just direct your hatred to this new guy. The real one—the one who was involved in your father’s murder and putting your best friend in a coma is gone. He killed himself. And now, what are you supposed to do?

[dontworryaboutitm8]

Could you imagine what Lin Ling would have had to deal with if he met the top 10 while still pretending to be Nice. He sees Queen in Hero Tower, and she just gives him a hella side eye. He tries to talk to Little Johnny and Lucky Cyan because they’re known to be more approachable, but it’s so clear they hate his ass. Little Johnny keeps it together but talks to him with cold disdain. And Lucky Cyan is doing nothing to hide her rage. Big Johnny pisses on his leg, and Little Johnny offers no apology. He doesn’t see Ghostblade, but only because he’s hiding, planning on how to kill him. And then there’s Loli. She stares at him like the reaper herself. When he passes her in the hall, she makes a threatening remark that gives her 1% deniability. She HATES his ass! The others clearly don’t like him, but she looks barely restrained from strangling him at a moments notice. And through it all, he wonders WTF Nice did.