#bowa

[awakefor48hours]

Rb and tell me a female character you are sure would never be a mother. Even the ones who are mothers in canon. I need to know.

+ don’t respond with “she’s not a mother, she’s an older sister” nor any male characters.

[bibibbon]

The immobilisation and power in beauty

Beauty, truth, trust, and love are all double-edged swords within society.

To be hero x's representation surrounding the power that beauty brings is incredibly nuanced in multiple regards and is heavily influenced by certain societal pressures such as gender normativity.

From what we have currently witnessed, 6 of the top 10 heroes and 1 former top 10 hero have been given a label related to their beauty in some way, shape, or form.

Throughout these examples, we can see how beauty has either helped the hero in gaining more or has made them lose, and this is due to different variables.

Yang cheng is described as "handsome," and we see this presented as something in his favour as his looks are used as a way to uplift him while making a diss at the original E-soul. The handsome description used for Yang cheng promotes the new E-soul image as someone who is both good-looking and trustworthy by the people, someone who can do the job and also serve as good eye candy for the fans. There is an aspect of this that can be categorised as pretty privilege as all of the original E-soul experience and service for the people is being dismissed and replaced by a newer, prettier, and much more active actor than him. Another aspect of this is also dehumanising towards both E-soul's as they're summed up to only their looks and what they can offer to the people. This is also dehumanising due to the fact that both E-soul's could both be replaced and the people wouldn't care as long as they have someone pretty to fill the role and neither will MG.

Furthermore, there is a tragic irony to yang cheng being described as handsome and being deemed as the better E-soul without the mask just for him to cover that up in the end and become E-soul with us really never seeing ayang cheng's true face again after his fight with the original E-soul. While Yang cheng's beauty is what elevated him past the original E-soul, it is something that is also lost as he loses himself, becoming a puppet under Rock.

Ghostblade is another character that, for the most part, benefits from being called cute. Similarly, to yang cheng, his fans and believers market him as beautiful and give him the power to become the silent killer that he now is trapping him in his role, but what he currently embraces as a good opportunity to get away from his family and live the peaceful and quiet life he has always wanted. Ghostblade is also a character that I would describe as having beauty privilege as he seems to be quite unapproachable and not very friendly, yet people still approach him and try and talk to him due to his looks while not particularly disapproving of his actions due to his good looks. He and yang cheng both seem to be just there as eye candy with people only really caring for them when it comes to that aspect of them just being there on screen and looking pretty nothing more nothing less. This is further emphasised with ghostblade as no one tries to understand who he really is or ask him about anything, just assuming that what they're going to do will be approved by him such as taking photos of him or even assuming things like what his intentions were by stalking nuonuo.

I also think it's quite ironic how it was his believers those who looked at him and viewed him as eye candy that were the ones that were responsible for taking his voice and honestly just being indirectly responsible for his communication skills becoming worse. As much as both ghostblade and yang cheng do gain from their beauty and beauty privilege, they also lose things due to said beauty.

Bowa is also described as a beauty, with her power also being acknowledged by her fans. However, even with all that beauty, she still ends up being disposed of after losing her title of X and completely dropping out of the top 10. Bowa's description and the fact that she lives and works in a very mysoginistic society seems to highlight that compared to her male counterparts, she is expected and required to be perfect and it is something that she must uphold. Essentially, Bowa can't just have beauty or just have the power to be acknowledged. No, bowa needs to have both so that people just look at her, and she needs to have the perfect mixture for people to take her seriously and for her to reach the X title. Compared to yang cheng and Wang yi, Bowa's beauty doesn't seem to give her the same advantages as them neither do we see the privilege that she gets due to her beauty.

Queen and bowa need to be perfect to be taken seriously by hero society, and this shows the misogyny present in that society and when both are beaten by X they're power and previous achievements are completely undermined by those around them. Instead, Bowa and Queen have comedians hyperfocusing on their looks and what they could bring to the table via their looks instead of their power. The comedian goes to describe how he expected a sexy cat fight between bowa and Queen just for it to be a CEO drama. It seems that in tbhx for women society can't view beauty and power as two things that can coexist with one another unless it's the perfect mix such as we see in Bowa's case but any moment Bowa loses some power society can't wait but to hyperfocus on her beauty objectifying both her and Queen in the process. While it can be argued that all the heroes that have had believers comment about their beauty have been objectified to a degree, Bowa and Queen's objectification has societal layers and how difficult it becomes for them to really gain trust in a society that refuses to see them less than their bodies and beauty.

Loli faces a similar problem to Queen and Bowa with their being a focus on her being cute and how this has heavily affected her life. For many in tbhx, they seem to believe that if a woman is cute, then she can't be powerful, and if she is powerful, she can't be cute. Loli's cuteness seems to make many believe that she is vulnerable and weak, making many worry over her and not take her seriously. We see that even her parents underestimate Loli until she forcefully makes them believe otherwise as she makes her own suit and becomes a hero. Compared to Bowa and Queen, Loli actively takes her own appearance into her own hands, and we see the ongoing conflict where she also temporality believes that she must pick between being beautiful being powerful just for her to find a medium between those two with her being able to keep her long pink hair that she has expressed that she likes and being intimidating with her suit that gives her immeasurable strength. Furthermore, Loli having a suit that is made of a metal that is completely immune to both trust and fear essentially means that she has found her own way escaping societal expectations and pressured as she can finally be who she wants to be and after the incident she finally gets taken seriously by her own father and gets opportunities to pursue the career path she wants to head towards. Compared to everyone else, Loli is the only one who manages to escape the duality of beauty and find a way to be herself, with her being taken seriously and being cute at the same time, she even takes those who underestimate her to her advantage.

Compared to the other female characters, lucky cyan doesn't seem to have the same problem. While lucky cyan is described as cute by little Johnny, this acknowledgement occurs as an add-on to her achievements and skills. Unlike Loli, who struggles with people acknowledging her achievements when it comes to her strength and power due to her beauty, lucky cyan doesn't seem to have this problem. Little Johnny first acknowledges her singing abilities and compliments her due to her talent while later acknowledging her beauty and the fact that she has the face to be an idol. A part of me does think that little Johnny may have framed his compliment in such a manner due to his own experiences when it came to hero society as well and how many saw him as just cute and not particularly powerful.

Whereas ghostblade and yang cheng both seem to be seen as capable, powerful, and beautiful little Johnny faces similar consequences as the female characters (specifically Loli), with his power being constantly undermined by those around him. Furthermore, it doesn't help that Little Johnny is also marketed to he cute and ends up playing more of a PR role being there as a hero face instead of actually fighting so there isn't much on him when it comes to his fighting abilities due to FOMO marketing him to sell plushies and promote things within his hero theme such as wildlife protection. FOMO seems to have done the opposite when it came to Loli due to almost all of her advertisements emphasising the fact that she is both cute and a warrior to be feared.

Beauty seems to play a vital role when it comes to the top 10 heroes as its what allows them to be marketable to society and this beauty seems to harm and benefit all the heroes in one way or another, some more than others. Beauty and other descriptions of it, such as handsome and cute, are used in different ways to either dismiss a hero or uplift them with most female characters being described as cute and being dismissed due to it whereas, the male characters are seen as handsome and are uplifted by this gaining more from their beauty privilege than the female cast but ultimately all of them are hurt by their beauty and the societal concequences it has on them.

[niceplsflashme]

[aj7022]

Bowa again woooo

[tamaki-ako]

to be hero x | episode 11

[zubatts]

Queen episode: feminist themes and lesbianism

(maybe not from the character you expect)

In Queen's episode, the themes of feminism are hard to miss. The beginning of the episode opens up with a male student in a yellow hoodie, attempting to cheat off of her exam. Then Queen goes on to make a speech about becoming X in front of a laughing male photographer and bar patrons, all while the female photographer, bartender, and future hero Loli all look on in inspiration

We learn from the media that the last time a woman was X was 20 years ago back in Year 8.

Heroes gain their abilities via public perception, meaning it has been 20 years since society believed in any woman being able to beat men for the role of X.

The cheating scandal between the X duo (and couple) Mr. Matchstick and Ms. Blazefire was even said to have spiraled into a mini gender war, increasing tensions between the sexes

Queen made her valedictorian speech during a very rough period in time for women in the tbhx universe, and the people were hungry for it, they ate it up!

this reaction to her speech led to Bowa- who was already a hero and the top female one at that- gaining an incredible amount of Trust as a result.

We learn from CEO Micky that Bowa was more than just an icon for Queen's words though, she has sacrificed an incredible amount. And I believe an aspect of what she has had to sacrifice is referenced in her lavender costume.

in the 1970s, western Lesbians adopted a Labrys (a type of axe) as a political symbol that was inspired by feminists before them.

This was later combined with the color purple and the black triangle (a symbol used by nazis to persecute "asocial" women and lesbians) into the first lesbian flag. This flag was made as a gesture of goodwill towards lesbians from the gay man Sean Campell, who noticed lesbians were being pushed out of gay circles at the time.

The justification of the purple color has been debated for having several meanings. The sited reason of having purple in the flag is the story of the Ancient Greek lesbian Sapphos describing the violet crowns of other women. But others insist a second meaning, that purple is a color free of gender norms. Neither pink nor blue, instead almost a combination.

Well, another shade of purple is equally important to lesbians, and that is Lavender. (The shade of purple in Bowa's outfit)

Back in the late 60s and early 70s, western Feminists were becoming harder for mainstream media to ignore, and the dream of equality had hopes of fruition. Many feminist leaders and activists were lesbian, despite this, straight feminists feared that lesbians were hurting the movement by association. The straight feminist Betty Friedan (and president of the NOW National Organization for Women) insulted lesbians as being the "Lavender Menace" to feminism in 1969.

Rather than back down, lesbians embraced the term, turning the insult into a point of pride. In 1970 when the "Second Congress to Unite Women" took place and suspiciously had no lesbian speakers, lesbians from the Gay Liberation Front and Radicalesbians showed up in shirts proudly proclaiming "Lavender Menace" on each of their chests. They demanded that lesbians not be excluded from the very feminist movement they were pivotal in helping build.

this moment in history solidified the term "lavender menace" as a phrase for Lesbian Feminists.

I dont think it's pure coincidence that Bowa's uniform has her in all lavender and sporting a labrys. The very first thing that came to my mind seeing her and her labrys was that photo of 1988 Lesbian Strength!

Early American feminists and lesbian feminists are famous to feminists worldwide, I think Bowa's uniform and her sacrifice are related to her lesbianism. What she has had to hide and forgo, to instead become "the perfect blend of beauty and strength" for an audience to project onto.

While Queen is unashamedly herself, proclaiming it was her belief in herself that gave her power, Bowa is instead hiding her true self and unable to detach herself from both the words and expectations of others

[gabbyp09]

To Be Hero X - Queen VS Bowa

[scarareg]

Bowa is stronger than me, because if I saw Queen like this I would be simping hard instead of fighting