I decided to create a masterpost that would help you with what you are struggling with. Hopefully any of the links below will help you!
Reminder; You’re going to be okay. What you are going through will pass, just remember to breathe.
————————————————————————————-
Distractions;
Here are some distractions to help keep your mind occupied so you aren’t too focused on your thoughts.
-Draw something
-This website translates the time into colours.
-Create your own galaxy.
-Play flowing.
-Make a 3D line travel where ever you like.
-Listen to music.
-Calm.
-Ocean mood, do nothing for two minutes.
Sleep issues;
- 8 hour sleep music.
-Rainy mood.
-Meditation.
-Coping with nightmares.
-How to cope with nightmares, 11 steps.
-Calm
-Foods that can affect your sleeping, both positive and negatively.
Uncomfortable with silence;
-Rainy mood.
-10 hours of rain and thunder.
-3 hours of rain and thunder.
-Human heartbeat.
-Rainforest.
-Sound of rain on a tin roof.
-Autumn wind.
-Rain on a tent
-Traffic in the rain.
-Soft traffic.
-Fan.
-Train.
-Simply noise.
-My noise.
-Rainy cafe.
Anxiety;
-How to stop worrying.
-Tips to manage anxiety and stress.
-The 10 best ever anxiety management techniques.
-Self-help strategies for anxiety.
-Helping a friend with anxiety.
-All about worrying.
-8 myths about anxiety.
Sad, angry and depressed/depression;
-“I’m always sad”
-Feeling sad.
-Going through trauma.
-“I’m always angry”.
-Anger management.
-All about anger.
-National helplines and websites.
-Self-help strategies for depression.
-Dealing with depression at work.
-Dealing with depression at school.
Isolation and loneliness;
-Pets and mental health.
-All about loneliness.
-“I feel so alone”
-10 more ideas to help with loneliness.
-How to deal with loneliness.
Self-harm;
-Alternatives to self-harm and distraction techniques.
-146 things to do besides self-harm.
-More alternatives to self-harm.
-Self-harm alternatives.
-How to take care of self-harm wounds/injuries.
-Getting rid of scars.
Addiction;
-How to help a friend with a drug addiction.
-What is addiction?
-All about alcohol and addiction.
-The facts about drug addiction.
Eating disorders;
-Helping a friend with an eating disorder.
-Eating disorder treatments.
-Support services for eating disorders.
-Self-help tips with eating disorders.
-Eating disorder recovery.
-Recovering from an eating disorder.
-100+ reasons to recover.
-Understanding and managing eating disorders.
Dealing with self-hatred;
-3 ways to ease self-loathing.
-How to turn self-hatred into self-compassion.
-Self-hatred resources.
-10 step plan to deal with self-hate.
Suicidal;
-International suicide hotlines (1) (2)
-Preventing suicide.
-Reasons to stay alive.
-Dealing with suicidal thoughts and feelings.
-Coping with suicidal ideation.
Schizophrenia;
-All about schizophrenia.
-Helping a person with schizophrenia.
-Understanding and dealing with schizophrenia.
-Delusions and hallucinations.
OCD;
-Managing your OCD at home.
-Overcoming OCD.
-How to cope with OCD.
-Strategies for dealing with the anxious moments.
Borderline personality disorder;
-Helping someone with BPD.
-All about personality disorders.
-Treatment for BPD.
Abuse;
-Healthy relationships VS abusive relationships.
-Emotional abuse
-Overcoming sexual abuse.
-Hotlines services.
-5 ways to escape an abusive relationship.
-Domestic violence support.
-Signs of an abusive relationship.
-What do to if you’re in an abusive relationship.
-Surviving abuse.
-What you can do if you’re sexual harassed.
-Sexual assault support.
-What to do if you’ve been sexually assaulted or abused.
Bullying;
-How to stand up against bullying.
-How to protect yourself when it comes to cyber bullying.
-How to help stop people bullying you.
Loss and grief;
-How to cope with a suicide of a loved one.
-Grieving for a stranger.
-Common reactions to death.
-Working through grief.
(Other loss and grief)
-Moving away from friends and family.
-Coping with a breakup.
Getting help;
-Seeking help early.
-All about psychological treatments.
-Types of help.
-All about age and confidentiality.
Things you need to remember;
- Don’t stress about being fixed because you’re not broken.
-Remember to remind yourself of your accomplishments. Tell yourself that you’re proud of yourself, even if you’re not.
- This is temporary. You won’t always feel like this.
-You are not alone.
-You are enough.
-You are important.
-You are worth it.
-You are strong.
-You are not a failure,
-Good people exist.
-Reaching out shows strength.
-Breathe.
-Don’t listen to the thoughts that are not helping you.
-Give yourself credit.
-Don’t be ashamed of your emotions, for the good or bad ones.
-Treat yourself the same way as you would treat a good friend.
-Focus on the things you can change.
-Let go of toxic people.
-You don’t need to hide, you’re allowed to feel the way you do.
-Try not to beat yourself up.
-Something is always happening, you don’t want to miss out on what’s going to happen next.
-You are not a bother.
-Your existence is more than your appearance.
-You are smart.
-You are loved.
-You are wanted.
-You are needed.
-Better days are coming.
-Just because your past is dark, doesn’t mean your future isn’t bright.
-You have more potential than you think.
- Your value doesn’t decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth.
Please remember to look after yourself and know that you are more than worth it and you deserve to be happy. Keep smiling butterflies x
You are working the gate in the afterlife and for the first time ever, something the humans built has shown up to be processed. You’re not sure what to do, this… entity shouldn’t have a soul, but here it is in front of you, freshly dead and awaiting the next life.
It’s not as exciting as it sounds, working at the pearly gates.
Sure, it’s satisfying to send the hypocrites and the assholes to hell. And it’s nice to see the ones who thought they were beyond redemption walk through into paradise.
So yeah, it has its perks. But not exciting. I mean, after the first million souls or so they all blur together, you know?
You never get anything new. Animals all get sent right on through automatically and there’s nothing other then humans in our jurisdiction. Oh sure, there’s life other then humans. But that’s no my department.
I keep tads on humans on my lunch breaks. You’re a damn fascinating species, better then anything your “television” puts out. Although The Good Place was a little too relatable, I’ll give you guys that.
Anyway, one of my favorite things you guys came up with was the Space Race. I mean, what a nail biter! And it was so tense up until the end. Pity about those Apollo one guys, though. But I heard they got a kick out of watching the moon landing when it did happen.
Course, that sorta died down after a decade or so. Don’t know why you guys quit going to the moon.
And then you decided Mars was the place to be and started sending out all those rovers of yours. Not nearly as exiting as going yourselves, but as you all like to say, baby steps.
The rovers were surprisingly fun to watch. For mindless robots, they’ve got a lot of spunk. So I’d check in every once in while, but mostly I watched Earth. You guys had figured out how to work memes and it was a very amusing thing.
I was half way through a shift when it go here. I have no idea why none of the others I processed mentioned the thing, but death is confusing enough I guess.
It shouldn’t have been there. I want to make that clear, by no law of the universe should that thing have had a soul. You humans are where closer to making actual AI then you are sprouting wings. And you never even tried with this! Its job was to collect rocks!
And yet there is was, beeping up at me.
It didn’t look like a human soul. Or any other form of life that I had ever seen. It wasn’t damaged at all, or even afraid. That was the weirdest thing. You humans are always scared shitless by the time I see you. But this thing wasn’t. Even a little. It was just… curious. Like that’s all I could feel from it. Pure wonder.
I blinked a bit before flipping through my files, seeing if it was a new species or something. I found nothing, of course. Those idiots over in records never give us anything useful.
So I did the only thing I could do. I asked its name.
Now, you humans have come up with so many ways to say the same thing that I’ve had to learn a lot of languages to keep up. The newest was binary, which I never expected to actually need.
It came in handy, since that’s what the thing answered back in.
I remembered that name. It had popped up in new reports regarding a Mars rover that went out of commission, sending the final message “my battery is low and its getting dark.” before dying.
Humanity had cried over it for a solid couple of days. You guys really like personifying objects.
But I had dismissed it as just that. But here it was. Waiting patiently for me to send it On.
I could just opened the gates and sent it through and put from my mind. Make the thing some else’s problem.
I didn’t.
I stood, crossed in front of my desk, and put out my hand to touch the strange soul.
Opportunity didn’t feel human. Nor animal. It felt…. simple. Calm.
I could feel an awearness of the love its chief engineer had felt for it. The pang of missing the workshop back on Earth where it had been built, during long nights on Mars.
It had dreamed. Dreamed of humans making it to Mars and finding it. Of it’s engineer taking it home and repairing it. Dreamed of exploring Earth as it had Mars.
I could purpose, and curiosity in its mission. Lonely as it was, it never doubted its purpose or resented its lot in life. It got to learn, and to see what had never been seen. What more could it ask for?
I could feel one tiny spec of fear. Near the end of its life, it realized it would never go home. Never see Earth or its engineer again. That it would die alone on Mars.
And like all things with a soul it did not want to die. It cried and mourned and begged to live. It was alive! It had a home and it wanted to go home! So badly did it want to go home.
But there was nothing to do, of course. Even its engineer, whom it loved so dearly, couldn’t reach Mars and bring Opportunity home.
It had watched one last sunset, and sent one last message.
A goodbye. And a plea to be mourned, if it could not be saved.
I withdrew my hand and looked over the soul. It looked up at me.
For the ones that I send upstairs, I take the form of whoever loved them most in life. I guess in that moment, I was in the form of an engineer at NASA. Opportunity seemed delighted to see me.
“Welcome home,” I gestured to the gates that swung slowly open behind me. “I missed you.”
It beeped out a single phase, 01001001 00100000 01101101 01101001 01110011 01110011 01100101 01100100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110100 01101111 01101111
You are working the gate in the afterlife and for the first time ever, something the humans built has shown up to be processed. You’re not sure what to do, this… entity shouldn’t have a soul, but here it is in front of you, freshly dead and awaiting the next life.
It’s not as exciting as it sounds, working at the pearly gates.
Sure, it’s satisfying to send the hypocrites and the assholes to hell. And it’s nice to see the ones who thought they were beyond redemption walk through into paradise.
So yeah, it has its perks. But not exciting. I mean, after the first million souls or so they all blur together, you know?
You never get anything new. Animals all get sent right on through automatically and there’s nothing other then humans in our jurisdiction. Oh sure, there’s life other then humans. But that’s no my department.
I keep tads on humans on my lunch breaks. You’re a damn fascinating species, better then anything your “television” puts out. Although The Good Place was a little too relatable, I’ll give you guys that.
Anyway, one of my favorite things you guys came up with was the Space Race. I mean, what a nail biter! And it was so tense up until the end. Pity about those Apollo one guys, though. But I heard they got a kick out of watching the moon landing when it did happen.
Course, that sorta died down after a decade or so. Don’t know why you guys quit going to the moon.
And then you decided Mars was the place to be and started sending out all those rovers of yours. Not nearly as exiting as going yourselves, but as you all like to say, baby steps.
The rovers were surprisingly fun to watch. For mindless robots, they’ve got a lot of spunk. So I’d check in every once in while, but mostly I watched Earth. You guys had figured out how to work memes and it was a very amusing thing.
I was half way through a shift when it go here. I have no idea why none of the others I processed mentioned the thing, but death is confusing enough I guess.
It shouldn’t have been there. I want to make that clear, by no law of the universe should that thing have had a soul. You humans are where closer to making actual AI then you are sprouting wings. And you never even tried with this! Its job was to collect rocks!
And yet there is was, beeping up at me.
It didn’t look like a human soul. Or any other form of life that I had ever seen. It wasn’t damaged at all, or even afraid. That was the weirdest thing. You humans are always scared shitless by the time I see you. But this thing wasn’t. Even a little. It was just… curious. Like that’s all I could feel from it. Pure wonder.
I blinked a bit before flipping through my files, seeing if it was a new species or something. I found nothing, of course. Those idiots over in records never give us anything useful.
So I did the only thing I could do. I asked its name.
Now, you humans have come up with so many ways to say the same thing that I’ve had to learn a lot of languages to keep up. The newest was binary, which I never expected to actually need.
It came in handy, since that’s what the thing answered back in.
I remembered that name. It had popped up in new reports regarding a Mars rover that went out of commission, sending the final message “my battery is low and its getting dark.” before dying.
Humanity had cried over it for a solid couple of days. You guys really like personifying objects.
But I had dismissed it as just that. But here it was. Waiting patiently for me to send it On.
I could just opened the gates and sent it through and put from my mind. Make the thing some else’s problem.
I didn’t.
I stood, crossed in front of my desk, and put out my hand to touch the strange soul.
Opportunity didn’t feel human. Nor animal. It felt…. simple. Calm.
I could feel an awearness of the love its chief engineer had felt for it. The pang of missing the workshop back on Earth where it had been built, during long nights on Mars.
It had dreamed. Dreamed of humans making it to Mars and finding it. Of it’s engineer taking it home and repairing it. Dreamed of exploring Earth as it had Mars.
I could purpose, and curiosity in its mission. Lonely as it was, it never doubted its purpose or resented its lot in life. It got to learn, and to see what had never been seen. What more could it ask for?
I could feel one tiny spec of fear. Near the end of its life, it realized it would never go home. Never see Earth or its engineer again. That it would die alone on Mars.
And like all things with a soul it did not want to die. It cried and mourned and begged to live. It was alive! It had a home and it wanted to go home! So badly did it want to go home.
But there was nothing to do, of course. Even its engineer, whom it loved so dearly, couldn’t reach Mars and bring Opportunity home.
It had watched one last sunset, and sent one last message.
A goodbye. And a plea to be mourned, if it could not be saved.
I withdrew my hand and looked over the soul. It looked up at me.
For the ones that I send upstairs, I take the form of whoever loved them most in life. I guess in that moment, I was in the form of an engineer at NASA. Opportunity seemed delighted to see me.
“Welcome home,” I gestured to the gates that swung slowly open behind me. “I missed you.”
It beeped out a single phase, 01001001 00100000 01101101 01101001 01110011 01110011 01100101 01100100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110100 01101111 01101111
Okay so I was wondering what your thoughts are on the translation of the “take a swan dive off a roof” comment from the beginning because I started thinking way too hard about how it was… interesting that it’s so specific as far as 1) jumping off a roof 2) being reborn 3) with a quirk on the next life and how, if we’re talking parallels, and how the vestiges are a type of representation of post-death, how it might be brought back up. Does the original text support a type of breakdown of the meaning and possibly lead to potential parallels that could happen? I know it’s a bit dark but I just can’t get the specific wording out of my head. Thoughts?
Ah, yes. Possibly the most controversial moment in the entire manga...
Let’s poke that one with a stick, shall we?
(You’re about to get waaaaay more than you bargained for lol.)
(Oh, and uh, manga spoilers below the cut. Hope that’s okay.)
Warning: This post contains discussion of potentially triggering topics. Further details are below the cut, but if you know anything about the referenced quote, you can probably make a pretty good guess. Please exercise discretion before reading.
Detailed Warning: This post contains discussion of suicide-related themes. If you find this topic uncomfortable, please exercise discretion before reading. If you are having suicidal thoughts, there are resources to help you. You may not know how to ask for help, and that’s okay. You don’t have to do it perfectly or on command, but please try to reach out however you can.
Background
I want to give the most context possible for this line before we do anything with it, so here are the panels, the kanji and kana, the romaji, and every important translation I can possibly give you.
Sonna ni HIIROO ni tsukiten nara kouritsuii houhou aru ze
Raise wa “kosei” ga yadoru to shinjite...okujou kara WANCHAN DAIBU!!
Viz manga English translation:
You wanna be a hero so bad? I’ve got a time-saving idea for you.
If you think you’ll have a quirk in your next life...go take a swan dive off the roof!!
Funimation anime English dub:
You know, if you really wanna be a hero that badly, there actually might be another way.
Just pray that you’ll be born with a quirk in your next life and take a swan dive off the roof of the building!!
That covers all the official material I can give you. Now let’s see what literal and contextual information I can provide.
The most literal English translation I can do:
If you want to be a hero that much, there is an efficient method.
Believe a quirk dwells in the afterlife...one-chance* dive from the roof!!
The most contextual English translation I would do:
If you want to be a hero that much, there’s an easier way:
A dive off the roof believing there’s a chance* you’ll find a quirk in the afterlife!
*Based on the linked explanation, I am translating WANCHAN (“one-chance”) as if it reads: “kanousei ga aru”/“CHANSU ga aru” (「可能性がある」/「チャンスがある」)
Since we have references to afterlife and reincarnation, I should point out that, in Japan, Buddhism is the primary influence on popular beliefs surrounding death. It’s hard for me to find much literature that’s freely available online, but I did find this nice little article that isn’t too long giving a basic overview.
Before we move on, I want to say one important thing:
((TRIGGER WARNING: Suicide should always be taken seriously. If you’re feeling trapped or lost or alone or hopeless, if you’re having suicidal ideation and don’t know what to do, there are resources to help you. You may not know how to ask for help, and that’s okay. You don’t have to do it perfectly or on command, but please try to reach out however you can.
If you find the topic of suicide uncomfortable, please take this message as your final warning. If you’re ready for the discussion, read on.))
There is an extremely important level of nuance that is virtually impossible for me to fully convey regarding the above line of dialogue. I note this with confidence because I spent literal years of my life studying it (albeit many years ago) and witnessed first-hand how difficult this concept is for many people to grasp:
Different cultures have different contexts and attitudes about suicide. My Hero Academia is written and drawn by a Japanese artist for a Japanese audience. If you are a reader raised in a western culture, this scene may come across differently to you than it does to a reader from another culture. That isn’t to say there aren’t important ethical discussions to be had about this scene, but I am going to write about this scene from a purely literary perspective. There will be no discussion of ethics or morality or real-world consequences with relation to the above dialogue. I will be treating this work, its world, its characters, and its dialogue as literary devices for fiction.
The Vestiges as Ghosts or Past-Lives
So, to your question, is there any foreshadowing or cosmic irony to be found in Katsuki’s choice of phrase, particularly any that may have been lost in translation?
My contextual translation:
If you want to be a hero that much, there’s an easier way:
A dive off the roof believing there’s a chance you’ll find a quirk in the afterlife!
As you can see, the “dive” and “roof” pieces of the translations did actually come from the original Japanese line. Those bits probably inspired this question, because "swan dive” does seem oddly specific and potentially idiomatic. The line makes no literal reference to being reborn, but it does refer to the afterlife; the Japanese Buddhist afterlife most often ends with reincarnation, so you would be justified in considering the concept of rebirth in your analysis. You could even argue that the “chance [to] find a quirk in the afterlife” is an implicit reference to some version of karma.
I don’t know if people really caught onto this in chapter 304, but the vestiges of One For All are not ghosts, or spirits, or hearts, or past-lives, or even people.
They are quirks. Quirk factors, more specifically.
Those quirk factors give rise to independent consciousnesses. So the real Nana Shimura died many years ago, and she does not continue to live on inside OFA literally. There is a new consciousness in her likeness born as part of her quirk factor. As she retains the memories of the original Nana, she is not aware she isn’t the real Nana until AFO indirectly explains it.
The only exception to this is Yagi Toshinori--All Might--who put a piece of his real consciousness inside OFA. That piece could not arise from a quirk factor because he has none.
You’re going to love what comes next.
My literal translation:
If you want to be a hero that much, there is an efficient method.
Believe a quirk dwells in the afterlife...one-chance dive from the roof!!
The word I translated as “dwells” is yadoru (宿る). This word happens to be how Yoichi Shigaraki describes Yagi’s situation in this panel (albeit the verb is conjugated into causative form).
From the first panel:
彼だけがOFAそのものに意識を宿らせていた
Kare dake ga WAN FOO OORU sono mono ni ishiki wo yadoraseteita
“Only he has made his consciousness dwell inside OFA itself.”
So, it looks like Izuku did find a quirk dwelling in some sort of afterlife. Gah, if only I’d written my “Katsuki Bakugou is always right” meta before now so I could link it here!
My thoughts (wait, there’s more?)
Excuse me, sorry, one moment, I just need to cross something off...
Well, we knocked out the foreshadowing part of your question, but I did sneak in the cosmic irony bit just because I can. So buckle up, buttercup.
[deep breath]
Let’s take a look at this series of three mysteriously incomprehensible pages from chapter 285:
It’s funny how many meta essays I’ve read trying to interpret this moment. Everyone has a different idea of what the hell is going through Katsuki’s head right here. Probably the take I’ve seen most often is that Katsuki is thinking, “Even if One For All came from evil, it’s done good,” or, “Even if One For All is connected to All For One, it’s also connected to All Might/Deku/the people I admire,” or something along these lines.
For me, I don’t see how those interpretations lead to feelings that are relevant to this scene.
Here’s how I currently read these pages...
Page 1: Katsuki understands that OFA is many quirks, that all but two of OFA’s users died young, that Shinomori died at age 40, that All Might has withheld Shinomori’s cause of death from him and Izuku. Katsuki’s put the pieces together much like how he figured out the connection between Izuku and All Might so many chapters ago; OFA is dangerous to Izuku, maybe even killing him.
Page 2: Katsuki thinks about All Might rescuing someone. At that age, he admired All Might for winning, not saving. The person who admired All Might for saving people back then was Izuku. This page isn’t about how One For All gave the world All Might and inspired Katsuki in childhood; this is about something new.
Page 3: Katsuki sees that Izuku is fulfilling his promise, that he is no longer the useless Deku of the past, that he is now driven to “[do] his best.” It’s likely Izuku won’t give up this fight until he is either victorious or dead. Throughout the entire sequence for these three pages, Katsuki is frowning hard; I’ve written before about how Katsuki frowns during rescues. He’s rushing in to save Izuku from some perceived threat.
Why is Katsuki so worried about Izuku? Is he feeling guilty for bullying him now that he’s realized the error of his ways? That just feels weak and wrong.
Perhaps...Katsuki feels like he’s the reason Izuku got One For All in the first place, and now Izuku is destined to suffer for it.
Reading these three pages together, I wonder if Katsuki feels that in a sense Izuku took his advice back in middle school, that he really did take a swan dive off a roof and die way back when, that he was reborn with a quirk (multiple, in fact).
Perhaps Katsuki’s thoughts in the chapter 285 pages will end up meaning something like this:
“Even if I cursed you with One For All, I’ll still save you.”
Hey, look at me. Look at me. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: you need to condition yourself to being okay with being inconvenienced by things. The first time I spoke about this I meant it in a mental health way- it is good to go out to the store and see people versus just ordering alone at home- but there is another more pressing societal issue you should be more concerned about as well.
Any service you rely on for convenience can be weaponized against you the moment you begin to rely on it. Streaming used to be a cheap and convenient way to see movies at home. It is now exorbitantly expensive, you need multiple accounts just to get what you want, and any of those movies can be taken from you at any time. And unless you have gotten used to going through the “inconvenience” of owning physical media, you can do nothing about it. Same goes for buying things on Amazon. Same goes for any service like DoorDash etc. These companies WANT you to be reliant on them for convenience so they can do whatever they want to you because, well, what else are you gonna do?
Same thing goes for the uptick in AI. If you train yourself to become reliant on AI for doing basic things, you will be taken advantage of. It is only a matter of a couple years before there are no free AI services. Not only that, but in the usage of AI’s case, it is robbing you of valuable skills that you need to curate that you will be helpless without the moment the AI companies drive in the knife the way they have done with streaming. Delivery. Cable. Internet. Etc. It will happen to AI too. And if you are not practicing skills such as. Writing. You are not only going to be at the mercy of AI companies in the digital world, but you are going to be extremely easy to take advantage of in real life too.
I am begging you to let go of learned helplessness. I am begging you to stop letting these companies TEACH you helplessness. Do something like learn to pirate. It is way more inconvenient at the beginning, but once you know how, it is one less way companies can take advantage of you. Garden. Go to the thrift store (older clothes hold up better anyway). These things take more time and effort, yes, but using time and effort are muscles you need to stretch to keep yourself from being flattened under the weight of our capitalist hellscape.
Inconvenience yourself. Please. Start with only the ways you are able. Do a little bit at a time. But do something.
Hey. Your brain needs to de-frag. Literally it needs you to sit there and space out.
If you want your memory or executive function to improve, stare out a window at the skyline or sidewalk or trees or birds on the electrical wires for like 20+ minutes per day. (With no other stimulation like a podcast or TV if you can manage but hey baby steps innit). If you're fortunate enough to have safe outside with any bits of nature, go stare closely at a 1 meter square of grass and trip out on the bugs and shapes of grasses and stuff.
Literally this will make you smarter. Our brains HAVE TO HAVE this zone out time to do important stuff behind the scenes. This does not happen during sleep, it's something else.
That weird pressurized feeling you get sometimes might be your brain on no defrag.
Also, if you don't take the time regularly, your brain will do it for you. Usually when you're already stressed and it gets to be too much. You will zone out. And you can not control it. So regular maintenance will help
"Kill your darlings" means "if something is holding you back, get rid of it, even if it sounds pretty."
That's it! That's all it means! It means if you're stuck and stalled out on your story and you could fix the whole block by removing something but you're avoiding removing that thing because it's good, you remove that thing. That's the darling.
It does NOT mean
That you have to get rid of your self-indulgent writing
That you should delete something just because you like it (?wtf?)
That you need to kill off characters (??? what)
That you have to pare your story down to the absolute bare bones
That you have to delete anything whatsoever if you don't want to
The POINT is that you STOP FEELING GUILTY for throwing out good writing that isn't SERVING THE STORY.
The POINT is that you don't get so HUNG UP on the details that you lose sight of the BIG PICTURE.
Supercarrier: fandom flagship. Everybody and their dog ships it. The fandom is glutted with artwork and fic. You cannot escape this ship.
Dreadnought: massively popular. Nearly everybody ships it. You can, with dedication, in theory, reach the end of the AO3 archive for the ship’s tag, but it’ll take a long time.
Cruiser: pretty popular ship. Not everyone ships it, but everyone knows about it. Has a good amount of fic/art, and probably multiple ask blogs.
Frigate: just plain popular. Feels like it could use more fanworks. New people to the fandom might not know about it, but they’ll stumble across it sooner rather than later.
Gunboat: bit of a rarepair. It might have an ask blog or two. A couple big name fans ship it. Probably only takes a few weeks to get through the entire AO3 backlog, and one new fic gets added during that time.
Tugboat: rarepair. Almost never seen except as a side pairing to a more popular ship. You can usually get through everything on AO3 in a matter of days. You’ve forgotten what it is to be picky about what you read.
Rowboat: less than a dozen people ship it. You all know each other. You exist in an endless cycle of the same five people desperately producing art and fic and one person who constantly contributes headcanons.
Canoe: you are one of maybe three people who ship it, and there’s a not-insignificant chance you’ve never encountered those other two hypothetical shippers. You spend your days paddling furiously in hopes of keeping the ship afloat, dreaming of the day you upgrade to a rowboat so you can finally rest.
Pontoon: that random crossover ship with that one black dress character/trope/fandom everyone will ship with everything else. Has the potential to turn into a massive party until someone gets sick and everyone goes home.
Barge: Not quite seaworthy, but buoyant in both the literal and figurative senses. Someone is always merrily drunktweeting about it at 11pm on Saturday night and then wistfully sobertweeting about it 4 hours later from their kitchen floor. The kind of ship that generates more playlists than fic. Artfully covered in trash and dirty laundry.
Raft: There’s two-to-four people who Ship It Hard and a few others who grab onto the side for safety when there’s drama on their usual flagship.
Barrel: There’s orphaned fic of it. There’s unsigned art of it. There’s headcanon asks on anon. Someone must ship it, but no one knows why or who they are. Your friend got a glimpse once before they ducked back down.
Pool Noodle: It’s just you, kicking your feet. You named the ship and wrote it on your noodle with a big sharpie. You tell people about it and are met with confused blinking. Most of the fics in the tag were either written by you or for you. You are caught between wanting to shout about how lovely life is on this floating scrap of whimsy and fearing that your noodle can’t bear much weight. Or worse, that someone will come over and dunk you, take your noodle and fwhap you on the head with it.
My favorite Epic: The Musical Lines to be used as prompts
"You are far too nice, mercy has a price"
"The line between naivete and hopefulness is almost invisible. So close your heart, the world is dark”
"Ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves"
“When does a ripple become a tidal wave?”
“No, I’m not a player, I am puppeteer. I don’t play, I puppeteer”
“Wouldn’t you like have some of that magic?”
“Wouldn’t you like a taste of the power?”
“There is a world where I help you get home but that is not the world I know”
“What if the greatest threat you will find across the sea is me?”
“What if I’m the one who killed you every time I caved to guilt”
“Did she learn to be colder when she got older and now she saves them the pain?”
“You know that I prefer my feet on the ground”
“Ah, the things I do for you”
“While you were so focused on turning my men into snacks you didn’t notice that your friends got snatched”
“We are a different beast now, we are the ones who feast now”
“He is the men made monster, he is the one who conquers”
“Deep down you know we are all the same”
“We all know what it takes to survive”
“Deep down we know we only kill for ourselves”
“Drown in your sorrows and fears”
“Deep down you know we are lonely demons from hell”
“Choke on your blood and tears”
“We all the same you and I”
“One wrong move and you are done for”
“Now ‘til the end of time from here on you are mine, all mine”
“Oh, handsome, you may try but last I checked, goddesses can’t die”
“You’re adorable, now bow down to the immortal Calypso, here to entertain”
“Time can take a heavy toll”
“All I hear are screams,every time I dare to close my eyes. "
"I no longer dream, only nightmares of those who've died"
"Nothing what it seems"
“How much longer till we all fall down?”
“Your little high and and mighty”
“Let him feel the pain his mother felt and rot”
“So many heroes, so many tales. Give me one good reason”
“I’m the judgment call, the one who makes her kingdom fall”
“If I came on too strong then I am sorry my love is too much for you”
“Consider this your one last chance”
“I cannot tell you how much I paid for this”
“There you are, coward”
“I’ve got a reputation”
“Get in the water or I will raise the tide so high all of Ithaca will die”
“Get in the water or I’ll make tidal waves so profound both your son and wife will drown”
“Don’t mistake my threats for bluff, you have lived more than enough”
“I’ll take your son and gouge his eyes that is, unless you choose to die”
“Screw this competition, screw this damn challenge”
“Here and now we take control, here and now, burn it down to ashes”
“Hold him down while I slowly break his pride, his trust, his faith and his bones”
“Throw him down in the great below, only the ocean and I will know”
“Hold her down while I get a taste, hold her down while we all share her spoils. I will not let any part go to waste”
“Channel the fire inside your soul”
"The blood on your hands is something you won't lose, all you can choose is whose"
"When does a comet become a meteor?"
"When does a candle become a blaze?"
"I see it in your face, there's so much guilt in your heart"
"There are other ways of persuasion,there are other modes of control, there are other means of deceit"
"You want to save them? Show me that you're willing to burn"
"How much longer must I push trough doubt?"
"You've doomed us, you've doomed us all"
"In the end, it's all the same"
"When does the reason become the blame?"
"It's just me, myself and I"
"Fight, little wolf, fight. Wanna entertain me?"
"Bite, little wolf, bite. Let's see how you take this"
"Is your plan to stand around? 'Cause I suggest you fight back"
"Maybe if I had made a different call, maybe if I hadn't missed it all"
"You idiot, can't you see? You sealed your fate just to beat me"
"Or what? You can't kill me. Exactly. "
"Look what you turned me into, look what we've become"
"How will you sleep at night? Next to my wife"
"I have had enough"
"Oh, my boy, my sweetest joy I known"
"Have you forgotten the lessons I taught you?"
"I am not the man you fell in love with. I am not the man you once adored. I am not your kind and gentle husband. And I am not the love you knew before"
"If you knew all I've done, would you still love me the same?"
Me, after doing 15 minutes of excessive googling on every Batfam member's birthday only to then realize I've accidentally missed the majority of them this year, and then also finding out that people are still aggressively debating over whether Bruce's birthday is April 7 or February 19, Dick's birthday happens 3-6x throughout the year, and Stephanie might have just popped into existence for all that DC cares:
Batfam birthday dates btw for anyone who needs them are listed beneath the cut:
DISCLAIMER: DC is notorious for being super inconsistent with everything and I am a mere tadpole caught in the tidal wave of DC's ocean. This post will be regularly updated with edits and corrections so please do not use it as word of law, I am begging you.
Update (8/24/23): To keep things more simple and easier for everyone I am going to start categorizing the birth dates I've collected into 3 categories.
-Most popular: Self-explanatory. These are the birth dates that have been canonized and confirmed by DC and are also more wildly celebrated by the fandom. Typically, this should be the first result you see when you google the character's birthday. But not always because DC sucks ass.
-Other date(s): These are the additional birth dates I come across that have been canonized in some form with multiple sources, but are not as wildly celebrated or popularized by DC and/or the fandom. Why am I including them here? Mostly because I don't want people coming in saying I forgot a date. But also because if I have to see this mess, then y'all have too as well.
-Potential but unconfirmed date(s): This is where I will put all the other additional dates I find, but specifically those that are lacking in complete sources or seem to be highly debated and scrutinized.
Also fun emoji ranking guide for me and me alone:
👑👑: Queen Shit. Characters with a consistent and simple birth date(s). Can absolutely do no wrong.
👑😮💨: In the Running. Characters who don't have a set birth date, but the mess is minor and completely DC's fault. They shouldn't have to be punished for DC's crimes.
🤡🤡: Gtfo. Shit is so inconsistent and stupidly messy that it's making me lose my shit. I'm putting DC and the characters on trial for this bullshit.
👑Alfred Pennyworth👑
Most popular: August 16
Other date(s): April 8 and March 31
(I think it'd be hella cute if Jason and Alfred shared a bday. But if you keep scrolling through the rest of the list, you'll see that August is kind of an overcrowded bday month for the Batfam.
Depending on what you prefer, though, I still think Alfred's worth being celebrated. Lord knows he deserves a special day for himself)
(Update ((8/24/23)): No big inconsistencies between these dates. I just thought it would be fun to provide some info on why Alfred has two canonical birthdates.
So the reason August 16 is viewed as the most popular is for two main reasons. One, obviously, is that he shares a birth date with Jason Todd. So many fans latch onto this date because of how sweet it is for them to share a birthday together.
The second reason has to do with the origin of the birth date. This is because of the more recent retcon that was made by the prequel comic to the Injustice: Gods Among Us video game that was published in 2013. There is a panel in the comic that shows Alfred's birth certificate in full detail from his full name, his place of birth, etc.
As for April 8, this specific date technically has more history compared to August 16. Fans will cite that April 8 was the official date selected by DC according to their Super DC Calendar back in 1976 (which btw was made in 1975).
Compared to August 16 and April 8, however, March 31 oddly enough isn't that popular or recognized by DC or the majority of the fandom. The reason March 31 does come up is because March 31, 1943 was the date when Alfred made his first appearance in the comics, one day after Bruce/Batman)
🤡Bruce Wayne🤡: Hey. Hey, DC, look at me. Bitch.
Most popular: February 19 or April 7
Other date(s): April 25, May 27, March 30, "October," October 7, and "November"
(It looks like most people go with February 19, but don't come at me if you're a April 7 truther. I'm just existing)
(Update ((8/20/23)): I'm gonna shoot somebody. So after doing a little bit more research, I came across-you'd never guess it-even more conflicting info on when Bruce's birthday is supposed to take place.
While April 7 and February 19 are still popular days for fans to celebrate Batman's bday, March 30 is also considered a popular date due to March 30, 1939 being the day Detective Comics #27 ((the issue Batman debuted in)) was put on shelves.
HOWEVER, even Batman's debut is contested to actually be May 27, 1939 because despite the fact that Detective Comics #27 first appeared to the public on March 30, 1939, the cover issue depicted May 27, 1939 instead.
This is because it was a popular practice for comics publication houses to falsify their cover dates as a way to give the impression that the latest issue was newer than it actually was. So if you really, really wanna get super fucking technical about it ((and I know there are some of you out there who do)), Batman may have debuted on March 30, but the cover-issue date was May 27 so, yes, I guess Bruce could have been a May baby instead.
I hate it here.
Oh, and to make matters more complicated, let's discuss the issue of April 7 vs April 25. So the reason April 7 is a popular bday for Bruce is because the original 1930-40s run just outright stated that April 7 was his birthday. Simple enough.
So what does April 25 have to do with this? Well, that's because technically-I think I hate that word now btw-Batman didn't get his own solo comic until April 25, 1940. If you want to go by April 25 because of this logic, however, that means that you'd have to share Bruce's birthday with the Joker. Because guess what? That's also the exact date that the Joker debuted.
I'm personally not a huge fan of Bruce and the Joker sharing a bday. Mostly just because the dates are clearly already complicated enough. But also I feel like April 25 is just known as the Joker's bday at this point, at least in the DC fandom. And Bruce has so many options at this point that it'd be kinda silly to make them share a bday.
As for the "sometime in October" and "sometime in November" additions, we have Batman The Animated Series and Frank Miller's "Batman: Year One" to thank for those extremely vague options.
BTAS Bruce states that his birthday is "sometime in October" and "Batman: Year One" Bruce is responsible for "sometime in November." I repeat: I hate it here.
So when is Bruce's actual birthday? Well, the latest change that DC has "officially" made was the February 19 retcon during the 1970-80s. When a fan sent a question into Detective Comics about Bruce's birthday, the answer given was "February 19" in the letter column. Issue #494, to be exact.
And the reason this answer was given? Because the Super DC Calender for 1976 (again made in 1975) said so.
However, there are still people who prefer to celebrate his bday on April 7 or March 30 instead. And there's also a question floating around if the New 52 run could potentially retcon Bruce's bday AGAIN at some point in the future.
I. Hate. It. Here.
Personally, I liked February 19 because then Alfred could maybe have the month of April to himself. But after seeing all this new info, I'm just sort of resigned to whichever date that the fandom prefers. Y'all can decide. I don't have any energy left.
Also, I can't believe I have to accuse Bruce of having possibly taught Dick his bday scam. Just .... wow).
(Update ((8/24/23)): Well, DC did it to me again. I found this extra little tidbit while googling the Super DC Calendar for Alfred, actually.
So Issue #10 of the 2021 Legends of the Dark Knight decided to give the BTAS's "sometime in October" an actual sometime.
How do I feel about yet another Bruce Wayne bday retcon? Honestly, I think I'm moving closer and closer to just a bland state of acceptance at this point. Tbh, I don't think all these retcons actually matter that much in the end. DC is gonna keep being DC.
Which is annoying. But Idk I'm personally gonna stick with February 19. No shade to you if you prefer any of the other dates. I just like February 19 more than the others)
👑Kate Kane👑
Most popular: March 21
Other date(s): January 26
(So ... where to start to with this one?
Well the official DC canon birth date for Kate Kane is listed as March 21. That being said, if you were to google Kate's birthday right now, you might be confused because that's not the first result that comes up.
Instead, you'll be greeted with January 26, 1990.
So what gives? If there's already an official DC approved birth date, then why the fuck is January 26 coming up all of a sudden?
Well, folks, you have the CW's Batwoman to thank.
Tbh I was very confused as to how I completely missed that there was an entire Batwoman TV show in the first place.
Apparently the show is considered a part of the CW Arrowverse (in reference to the CW show Arrow featuring Oliver Queen, for those of you who need extra info) and ran for 3 whole seasons before being cancelled on April 9, 2022.
And they gave us actual canon lesbian Kate Kane rep. I mean, she is a lesbian. But yeah. CW actually acknowledged her sexual orientation. So kudos for doing the bare minimum?????
Anyway, I guess the showrunners just decided they wanted Kate's birthday to be on January 26 instead of March 21??? Idk if this was supposed to be a reference or an homage to Cassandra Cain's birthday. I doubt it, but who knows?)
🤡Dick Grayson🤡: Greedy bitch who keeps lying about his birthday so he can scam people into giving him more presents jk jk
Most popular: "On the first day of spring" (bruh) or March 20/21
Other date(s): March 6, "April," October 24 (aka "the week before Halloween"), November 11 and December 1
Potential but unconfirmed date(s): June 24
(Dick's canon bday seems to be influx. March 6, March 20, March 21, November 11, June 24, December 1, and so on. I did see multiple sources state Dick was born "on the first day of spring." I'm unclear atm about whether this is a fanon take or if it was actually stated in a particular comic at some point.
As far as I'm concerned, Dick just keeps lying about his birthday for the lols)
(Update ((8/24/23)): Well, guess what I found, folks?
It's a return visit from our favorite friend, the Super DC Calendar of 1976. And according to it, Dick's birthday should be November 11.
You can also thank the Young Justice comic for the confusion surrounding Dick's bday being on December 1.
Also, I found this post by @theflyingwonder that helps clear up a LOT of the mess surrounding Dick's ever changing birth date. Honestly, amazing work and extra kudos to them for putting all the work in and finding all the sources. I just wished I had found their post earlier, holy shit.
And if you have some extra time, please give some love to @inkydandy for their hilarious and very sweet comic about all the confusion that comes with Dick's bday)
(Update ((8/25/23)): Many thanks to @poisoned-ivy for clearing up even more of the mess surrounding Dick's bday. I went ahead and took a screenshot of their response to my old "Which date is Dick's canon bday?" poll.
They also provided a link to the DC Universe Calendar which was lovingly compiled from the original 1976 Super DC Calendar and then put together by the people who run the Five Earths Project .
Welcome to the DC Universe Calendar! This page began its life as the result of a long search for the ever-elusive 1976 Super DC Calendar,
Also found out from them today that October 24 is one of Dick's bdays ((at least for Post-Crisis Dick Grayson)). So that was a fun new discovery!
They were also very helpful in helping me realize that the original article I had found that stated "sometime in April" was actually in reference to Dick Grayson's first appearance in the comics, which was April 1940.
So, yes, "sometime in April" is technically--again I hate this word so much now--still a valid candidate for Dick's bday. And before you ask: Detective Comics #38 was actually published on March 6, 1940.
Hence why people will cite March 6 as Dick's canon bday instead.
This project got a lot bigger than I ever expected it to ... god)
👑Barbara Gordon👑: September 23
👑Jason Todd👑: August 16
👑Cassandra Cain👑: January 26
👑Tim Drake👑: July 19
👑Stephanie Brown😮💨: She emerged from the void with the sole purpose of dragging Bruce's ass to hell and back. Nothing can stop her. We all exist in her world now.
Potential but unconfirmed date(s): June 23, "August," or August 11
(For real, though, some peeps will say June 23 since the month she officially debuted in the comics was June 1992.
But I've also seen August 1992 listed as her bday month as well--lot of August babies in the Batfam, huh--but I haven't found June 23 specifically listed as her canon bday, either. It honestly feels like the fans are putting in more work than DC at this point. Which, like, I'm not surprised. Just disappointed)
(Update ((8/24/23)): Someone mentioned August 11 as a potential birth date, but I have yet to see an actual source that specifically states this. If I do find one, I'll edit this section. Figured I should put it here just in case, though)
👑Duke Thomas👑: August 13
👑Damian Wayne👑: August 9
👑Terry McGinnis😮💨
Most popular: August 18
Other date(s): June 27 or August 10
Potential but unconfirmed date(s): September 19 (fml)
(Yes, I'm including Terry, fuck you lol
Also SERIOUSLY WTF is up with so many of these August birthdays!!!! Fuck, was everyone just getting crazy BUSY in November!!!! What's going on in the DC universe that is making November of all months the HORNY MONTH????!!!!)
(Mini update ((8/18/23)): Well, I just found out that apparently June 27th 2023 is also a highly debated birth date for Terry. As is August 10 2023/2024 and August 18 2023/2024. I even saw a mention of September 19 2023, but I don't know how credible that source actually is. I'm just putting it here because I'm losing my mind and I don't want someone to pop in and say I forgot it omfg I'm dying
I'm just ... why? Why is it so hard to just commit to one month and one date. I'm not even concerned about the exact year. Just commit to ONE, man.
Excuse me while I march over to DC HQ and burn the whole place to the ground iswtfg)
Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on any of these. I have a massive headache now and am open to any suggestions or clarifications y'all have to offer.
Also, I'm going to fist fight Dick in a Denny's parking lot.
Update (8/17/23): So a mini post that I meant to use as a way to vent how insane Dick was making me somehow blew up way more than I ever expected it to, and now I feel obligated to clarify again that I am open to any corrections and additional info that anyone has to offer.
I'm saying this because I've noticed people reblogging this post for actual Batfam bday references and someone already pointed out I fucked up Tim's bday and now I feel bad for everyone who reblogged this post prior to that edit.
It's probably just the anxiety talking, but yeah I just wanted to put that out there.
Also justice for Stephanie Brown! She deserves to have her own special day and if I have to bully DC into giving her a canon birthday, then you bet your ass I fucking will.
(And to all of y'all who are encouraging Dick to keep running his side scam business, I just have this to say: There's an empty Denny's parking lot somewhere out there just waiting for you, too lol)
worried that thing you put in your art or writing or game or music is too self-indulgent, too self-referential, too niche for anyone but yourself? fear not! you can do whatever you want forever. and you should.
