Iām scared because she experienced girlhood and I did not. NoāI ran from it, my fatherās wrong ideas and conflicting words clanking against each other in my pockets like loose changeāI hate the way pennies make my hands smell. Like iron, like blood.
He told me I could be anything, but Barbie could not. He told me I was differentāthat I was extraordinary.
And then he fed this lie to three more daughters, and they obliged him, like cattle at the trough.
I grew up thinking I was Barbie, but better. I called her tackyāI thought the girls who played with her and loved her and wanted to be her were brainless and cheapāI would stick to my Legos, and action figures, and video games. I would beg my mother for Beyblades so I might battle the boys in the morning before getting on the bus. I would relentlessly commit myself to softball and soccer and being the best in P.E. (though I never came close).
And then one day, they all wanted Barbie. And I wasnāt her. I had never been her before, and I couldnāt understand itāwhat changed? What they had valued beforeāboys, my father, my motherābecame something else entirely.
And I wasnāt it.
Suddenly, on top of all these other things, I also had to be girly. I also had to be pretty. I had to know how to wash my face and curl my hair and how to stop being a friend and start being a game. I learned there was nothing wrong with Barbieāin fact, Barbie was the goal, because she could do all the things I had done and still be a girl.
But I could not.
I changed, slowly and quietly, but never enough. And Iāll never know if I changed because I wanted to, or because I had to. Iāll never know if I adapted to their rules, or if I wrote my own after I lost to theirs. Iāll never know if I was the creator, and therefore, I never will be.
Whatever childhood it was I experienced could not be shown back to me in a theaterāI had Barbies, but I was never proud of them. I never loved them. I opened them excitedly on Christmas, and profusely thanked the adults, but I knew what my father thought of this, and I could not rightfully enjoy this gift of girlhood if I wanted him to love in me.
And now he asks me why he sees himself when he looks at me, why he sees masculinity where there should be femininity, and I donāt have the heart to tell him all I ever wanted was to please himāthat this macaroni-art gender I wasted all my time on was so that I would be more relateable to him, more likable.
Lovable.
So as I don my pink and curl my hair and paint my face pretty and sit in a theater, watching the ghost of what could have been join hands with the person who is, I will feel, in that moment, woman, and afterwards, carry out the sleeping little boy who finally got to embrace a dollāa doll who was not just girl, and not just woman, but everything.
The next day, I will buy myself twoāone for both of us.
I don't think there was any other round conclusion that left me that confused at first. I mean... why did Hades died so tragically when he was fighting for his family and to honor his dead brother's memory, motives that usually tend to be some huge green flags in those kinds of mangas ? And then I realized the answer was right there : Hades was doomed to lost like this precisely because he was fighting for the honor of his family. To understand what I mean, you had to take a look at Hades and Qin as characters
Let's begin with Hades. He is at his core a tragic figure and this well before his actual downfall. From the moment he's introduced into the plot, Hades is defined above all through one thing : Duty. He's one of the most feared and respected gods of Valhalla, someone on which everyone rely and the Ruler of Helheim.
And this is his tragedy because Hades does not assume the responsibilities and duty that come with his status, he endures them and lets them define his entire life.
His whole language is always axed about how he has to do this or how he can't lose that just because that's who he is, never because that's his own choice.
Hades has no desire to avenge Poseidon. He's emotionally exhausted (look at the bags under his eyes), he admitted not having fought for a long time and more importantly : He damn well knows that Poseidon couldn't care less about being avenged. But he has to fight anyway because it's his inherent duty as an older brother, his vow is part of who he is.
He wasn't supposed to fight in the Ragnarok and didn't even want to kill Qin against whom he hold no real grudge. Quite the opposite, he even comes to sympathize with him and admiring him. But he still chooses to fight without hesitation since it's his duty as a god and king of the Netherworld. He can't lose against a mere king of men.
And that's where Qin comes in.
His introduction actually sums him up perfectly : We see him making his own way by breaking through walls into the gods' VIP lodges instead of waiting in his room ; he ragdolled Ares who tried to force him to leave ; and when Brunhilde asks him to follow her to the entrance gate, here's his answer
This is his core character : Qin doesn't care about traditions and expectations. He doesn't follow the path that is expected of him, he traces his own road (literally and metaphorically) and makes no compromises with anyone, whether they are gods or humans.
When confronted to Chi You, a tyrannical demon god who oppresses his country and people, Qin doesn't resign himself to accept it like previous kings did, he actively fights against this status quo and forces it to bend to his notion of duty
It can be long (his fight with Chi You literally take six days), it can be painful but this is how he proceeds and that's his greatest source of pride. He's not defined by his status as king, he's the one who defines what it means to be one
This is an essential component of his backstory and Round 7 writing. When we meet Qin as a child, he's the radical opposite of the one we know : He doesn't try to impose himself as a person and rather immediately conforms to the expectations of those around him.
Chun Yan scolds him for not acting like a child should ? He forces himself to act as such to satisfy her. His guards and the locals of Zhao use him as a scapegoat for the people they've lost ? He apologizes and endures hatred and excruciating pain because that's what is expected from him. That he passively endures
You know where I'm going with this : Little Qin is basically Hades' foil. Both represses their feelings to conform themselves to duty and exterior expectations, which make them utterly miserable (which isn't that apparent for Hades yet but I'm coming to this).
However, Qin grew up from this through his meeting with Chun Yan, which made him realize something that will forge him into a king
A lesson Alvitr will also remind him at the end of his fight by asking him to say clearly what he wants when he started to doubt of himself. Something to which Qin just answered : "I want to win... No matter what !"
One wants to win because he has made a promise from his own will, the other has to win since his vow define him.
Because Hades never learnt that lesson and always suffered from it. I've seen a lot of people praising him for how cool and badass of a big brother he is in his backstory, for wiping out a whole army of titans to protect his siblings but imo this is just sad. Instead of talking to his family about this threat and trying to find a solution together, he immediately assumes that he has to deal with them alone, even tho he knows that they are too much and he might actually die.
And when Poseidon asks him if everything's okay, he isn't even able to ask for help or just look at his brother when he's lying to him
But miraculously this time he managed to win this battle, thanks to his trump card : Ichor Eos. An ability that highlights how self-destructive Hades is when it comes to protect his duty and family. To activate this trump card, he has to hurt himself and bleed. Fulfilling his duty literally requires from him to sacrifice himself.
And despite this, Hades still insists that everything is fine afterwards. No matter how heavy his burden is, he will never be defeated because that's what the world expects from him
Except he did. Sadly this time, his burden was too heavy and he got destroyed in the process. Hades died and not even in a satisfying way. Just compare with the others fighters' death :
Lu Bu died feeling joy for the first time in his life, happy to finally fighting an equal
Adam lost with a peaceful smile on his face, knowing that he did his best to protect his children
Poseidon was bitter in his last moments but held on to his pride until the end
Heracles remained faithful to what he is and inspired Jack to become a better person
Raiden had the best sumo fight of his life and vanished with the woman he loved
Zerofuku finally got to be happy too
Nikola gave the most wholesome speech ever known to Mankind after making science evolved once again
And Leonidas was proud, having proven that Sparta will always be the strongest
But Hades ? Nothing of that
In his last moments, he was convinced of having let his family down and being a failure as a result, apologizing to them for this just before disappearing forever under their eyes.
And the most painful part of this is that Hades was the only one to see himself as such. The members of his family may have admired him for his strength and his willingness to make any sacrifice for the honor of gods but they still loved him first and foremost as a person. Adamas was ready to throw away his own pride as a god (the thing Hades literally died for) by killing a crippled half-dead Qin for winning in a fair fight. Hermes composed a requiem in his memory and Zeus was both heartbroken and sorry to hear his last words. He knew his brother had nothing to apologize for but realized that the latter didn't.
At the end of the day, Hades didn't lost this battle of kings just because Qin was stronger. He lost because Qin was the better king and learn to find worth in himself rather than in what people expected from him, while Hades let his responsibilities consume him throughout his whole life.
Necesitamos un fanfic de O11ZE reaccionando a Blue Lock.
La serie o11ze/Once (Disney), en mi opiniĆ³n (pero respeto a quienes no estĆ”n de acuerdo), realmente retrata el fĆŗtbol como un deporte de compaƱerismo y trabajo en equipo. ImagĆnense a Gabo cambiando por completo su visiĆ³n del fĆŗtbol con los ideales de Jinpachi Ego sobre el egoĆsmo.
ImagĆnense a los chicos de IAD viendo la evoluciĆ³n de los jugadores de Blue Lock. Verlos llegar mucho mĆ”s lejos de lo que nunca llegaron.
Realmente espero que alguien haga esto algĆŗn dĆa.
I'm really looking forward to finding someone who does a Spiderverse imagine with a spider person s/o what's like Kakashi Hatake, with hair that defies the laws of gravity, reading Jiraiya porn everywhere, making the lameest excuses when he's late, having Chakra....
I think Hobie would like Reader Kakashi precisely because Reader doesn't care what others think, unlike Sakumo, Reader Kakashi doesn't care what people say, this can be seen in his habit of reading pornography outdoors.
Imagine spider reader Kakashi being responsible for Konohamaru when Ebisu gets sick and having to take him to HQ and Konohamaru doing the sexy jutsu in front of the spiders? Just imagine Miguel's reaction šššš
Just imagine, Hobie, Pavitr, Gwen and Miles visiting the Kakashi reader's universe, I think Hobie would hate the ninja village system, because technically they are a military dictatorship.
I'm thinking of an AU where EAH is one of the three big schools in Twisted Wonderland, but for girls only, of course some male EAH characters will still appear.... If there was an MC going to EAH in the same year as Yuu..... What would she look like? How would she get to EAH's world? Does she have any connection with any important disney character? Because Yuu seems, somehow, to have some connection with Mickey Mouse. How would she become EAH's student even without magic? And how would she be essential to the plot?
Blondie Locks: Magic lockpicking. (This is just canon IIRC.)
Briar Beauty: Can astral-project to anywhere within a few miles while sleeping. Downsides: must be asleep, invisible and intangible while astral-projecting. (Taken from her magic touch, which is āI can hear everything for miles and miles, but only when Iām sleepingā.)
Apple White: Can make humans and animals like and trust her, but only as long as the spell is active. Animals can be controlled in groups and issued simple commands, but humans need to be controlled one at a time and cannot be controlled: all she can do is make them like her. (Taken from her magic touch, which is āwhenever I bat my eyes or sing a song, boys and animals canāt help but come to my rescueā.)
Faybelle Thorn: Okay, Iāve got three options here. One is just Fae of Maleficence, because Faybelle and Malleus are based on the same character. The second one is a single-target version of Fae of Maleficence, with a thorn bush replacing the forest of thorns. The third is completely different, allowing her to boost someone elseās abilities by cheering them on. (First two are obviously taken from Malleusā unique magic, Fae of Maleficence, and third is taken from her position as cheerhexing squad leader and her magic touch, which is āWhen I cheer a spell, I can make any curse more powerful!ā.)
Raven Queen: Two options here: option A, just give her Fairest One of All, and option B, she can put her consciousness into a bird for spying purposes. For the second option, she has to touch the bird to use it, can give it simple commands while using it, and is unaware of whatās happening around her until she pulls her consciousness back to her body. (First one is is taken from Vilās unique magic, Fairest One of All, as well as Ravenās magic touch. Second one is taken from Ravenās name and the Evil Queenās magic mirror.)
Madeline Hatter: She can store objects in a hammerspace and pull them out at will. She accumulates blot when putting objects into the hammerspace and when removing them, and the bigger the object the more blot she accumulates. (Based off Madelineās magic touch, which is āI can pull anything out of my Hat of Many Thingsā.)
