This Is Gonna Live In My Head Rent Free What The FUCK

This is gonna live in my head rent free what the FUCK

At this point why do you think bakugou still wants to be number 1? It serves no real purpose and if the series is saying the rankings are bad, then there’s no reason for anyone to take this seriously sense it’ll either not be be a thing or not actually matter anymore. Is it simply something to motivate him to be stronger despite the title meaning nothing? Or is this going to be the final lesson Bakugou is going to have to learn as a character since that desire to be number 1 is the only thing he still has from where he was at the start

I think No 1 does not necessarily mean the hero rankings, but also it’s not a bad thing to strive for in itself. 

The narrative clearly established that one of the worst things of the All Might era was the passivity it perpetuated among the heroes, who felt like they were not competing in the same field so they stopped trying as hard. And even in the case of Endeavor who was the only exception, the problem was never that he wanted to be No. 1. (that was actually a positive thing), but rather that he gave up very fast and tried to achieve his goal in unethical ways and pushing his related psychological issues onto his family.

In Bakugou’s arc, similarly, his ambition is not a bad thing in itself. The question is the “why” and the “how”. As a middle-schooler, he wants to be No. 1 because he feels entitled to it on account of his exceptional quirk. After DvK, it is about his wounded pride, it’s all about seeking external validation. 

Already at the time of the Sport Festival, his public declaration is a way to push himself, a motivator. What is problematic is his attitude towards the others, seeing them as mere stepping stones, people to look down on. 

We also learn during the Sport Festival together with Bakugou that someone giving their best is a sign of respect, and all the external validation in the world doesn’t mean anything if there is no internal validation to match it. The world can’t tell Bakugou that he’s the best, unless he himself FEELS it. So he does know quite early on that an external No. 1. ranking is not the same as truly being the No. 1. 

Post DvK2, the immediate thing Bakugou does (in response to All Might saying again it’s not his fault) is to recognize Deku as a rival. Kacchan’s going to keep pushing himself, because remember, it’s a sign of respect - but what changes is that he doesn’t view Deku as a stepping stone anymore, but someone to “lift” up in the process. He starts to see and use rivalry as a tool for growth for both of them - take the fear of inferiority and turn into a positive motivator. 

So as Bakugou gets himself into his rivalry thing with Deku and tries to figure out his own weaknesses and Deku’s strengths,  it becomes clear to him that what No 1. means is more than just a strong quirk. There are ways the weak can be strong and there are weaknesses even the strongest quirks can’t spare a person from. 

So yes, saying that he wants to be No 1. is in a way the same as his original character motivation, it has a very different meaning, just as Kacchan is a very different person than he was a year ago. 

- I think he views No 1 as something that can’t be just an external trophy, but something he earns for himself by doing his best

- Still aiming for No. 1. is a sign of respect - Deku may be as strong or stronger than All Might eventually, but Bakugou went up against All Might, experienced the power gap and smiled. It did not make him despair, it made him feel fired up. 

- He understood that strongest is much more than just a question of the strongest quirk. There are many ways to be strong, and by recognizing the strength Izuku had back as a quirkless child gave him new understanding and more ways to grow than just making bigger booms. 

- Regardless of strength of quirk, they are all on the same field, because heroism in the end at its core is recognizing what the right thing to do is and acting on it. It’s not a question of power only. So this evolved Bakugou recognizes everyone as his rivals, because where he once saw everyone as stepping stones, now he sees the potential in everyone and wants to motivate and lift them up through the rivalry. 

So I feel like this scene wasn’t meant to show that Bakugou was stuck in the past, but that even if his goal seems to be the same, it has taken on new layers and meaning in light of his growth. Wanting to be No 1 was never a bad thing  - but the way he changed, now Kacchan wants to do it for the right reasons (to save people) and the right way (keep rising and lifting everyone with him)/ 

(The narrative did a similar thing with Todoroki in the same chapter, who was also tied back to his starting point of not wanting to be like Endeavor, but again, doing it the right way, for the right reasons.)

oh god are you one of those people who reads romeo and juliet as a romance rather than a tragedy

I thought I was gonna go to bed early tonight but I guess not

hey friend you just unleashed my nerdy wrath buckle up

short answer: no, I know r&j is a tragedy and I read it as such. Shakespeare didn’t write “romances”, at least not in the sense you mean (some people call his later stuff that’s harder to put into a genre ‘romances’, such as the winter’s tale and the tempest)

so no I’m not a moron thanks

here’s the long answer:

I presume you’re “one of those people” who likes to count themselves as the Specialest Snowflake In All The Land because they don’t buy into the fake cheesy idea of //romance// that everyone else so blindly believes

maybe you like to talk about how romeo and juliet were “just horny teenagers”, how they knew each other for three days, how romeo so loved rosaline thirty seconds before spotting juliet, so clearly he’s fickle and silly. they weren’t actually in love, they were just teenage idiots. because only stupid girls buy that stuff. you’re more mature than that. am I right?

well, here’s the thing, sunshine- you aren’t special. I hear this same damn argument right down to the last word every time I mention my love of this play and it ENRAGES me every time because 99% of the time this is coming from /other teenagers/. other young people talking about how this isn’t a story to be taken SERIOUSLY. it’s silly and frivolous and unrealistic. they don’t realize that this play is dedicated to them.

and it’s criticizing people just like you.

while I do believe that these two young people were soul mates (I’ll get to that later), I don’t really think this is a story about love. it’s a story about /passion/- how love and hate are only a hair’s breadth apart and their overwhelming capacity for healing or for destroying. the emotion that drives mercutio to defend romeo from tybalt. what drives mercutio to be killed at his hand. what pushes formerly docile, dreamy romeo to slay his cousin in law: it all begins to seem like the same continuous passion, enflaming the same group of people on the hottest day of the year.

as a result, love isn’t a pretty thing in this play. it’s linked inextricably to death, to murder, to chaos. love is presented as the most dangerous force in the universe. it leaves five bodies in its wake, and then at the end (people forget this) it’s what finally brings the ancient feud to an end. it’s not silly. it’s not frivolous. o brawling love, o loving hate.

and who are the conductors of this unstoppable force? who sets verona burning and then rebuilds it better in under a week?

kids.

people with a shitty understanding of this play who love to dismiss it and downplay it like to call it a “cautionary tale”- why you shouldn’t think with your dick, why you should grow up and not be so rash, be sensible.

I agree with part of this. it is a cautionary tale. but it’s directed at YOU.

you, who devalue youth. you, who underestimate teenagers and what they’re capable of, who wave off their every thought or feeling with “just a kid”. who think that love is a pretty little silly thing and that no one under the age of 25 is capable of really experiencing it. that the kids don’t MATTER.

capulet thought it- he dismissed tybalt’s rage during the party as dumb kids throwing a hissy fit. he wrote juliet off as a child who should be seen and not heard, shuffled from her father to her husband, guided by the wisdom of those older and wiser than her.

in the world presented in the play, age has NOTHING to do with wisdom. the adults range from careless (montague) to helpless (lady capulet) to blithering (the nurse). the wisest character, the most eloquent and intelligent one with the most beautiful poetry, is fourteen year old juliet. (go back and read it. whose speeches are the most beautiful, sophisticated, complex? Juliet’s.)

okay, fine, you say. but they didn’t love each other, they just saw each other and got hot and bothered and wanted to jump the other’s bones! anyway, what about rosaline?!

I’ll address rosaline first:

shakespeare likes making fun of the poets of old (take for instance his “my mistress’ eyes” sonnet, a deliberate parody of the Petrarchan model of frilly love poetry). heres another example in romeo. when we first meet romeo he’s mooning over a girl in the frilliest, stalest, most formulaic verse imaginable. we get the feeling he’s enjoying himself, basking in his misery.

notice, though, that we never see rosaline on stage. she represents romeo’s vague infatuation with the //idea// of love, the pretty image he made up in his head from reading old poems. this not only creates an incredible arc in his character, but makes his love for juliet obviously the real deal by comparison. he meets juliet and his world goes into free fall; he’s rash and violent and impulsive, and the verse that was so stale and ingenuine before shifts into some of the most famous passionate poetry in the english language. in his first scene, he asks “is love a tender thing?” he falls in love with juliet- REAL love, not the kind in poems- and comes to answer his own question: no. no it fucking isn’t.

but, you say. but they CANT have loved each other! you don’t fall in love just by LOOKING at someone!

yeah, I know you don’t.

but here’s the thing. if you aren’t willing to suspend some modicum of disbelief, you won’t get anything from shakespeare. period.

we’re already assuming that these people just happen to walk around speaking in blank verse and rhyming couplet. the plot of hamlet relies on the existence of a ghost, a midsummer night’s dream on fairies, macbeth on witches, the tempest on magic, measure for measure on the friggin /bed trick/- is it SUCH A HORRIBLE STRETCH FOR YOUR CYNICAL POSTMODERN MIND TO MAKE that characters can identify their soulmates with a look? have we reached that level of lazy cynicism as a society that magical love flowers and vengeful ghosts are believable, where a woman can turn into a boy by shoving a hat over her hair and statues spring to life as deceased loved ones, but love at first sight (a very very common Elizabethan plot device; it’s /everywhere/ in shakespeare) is just too much of a stretch?

no one rolls their eyes at hamlet because “ghosts aren’t real. are you one of those people who believe in ghosts?” no- they take it for the plot device that it is in order to get to the message of the play as a whole, and the truths of the human conditions it reveals, with the help of some purely theatrical elements.

but kids in love. that’s far too silly.

it’s really fucking sad.

and questions like yours, anon? those make me really, really fucking sad.

How would My Hero Academia would have looked like without Uravity!

So I just came across various arguments stating that “Almost nothing would have changed in MHA if we remove Uraraka from the show.” For a good 5 seconds I gave it a thought and came to the conclusion on how stupid this statement actually is. So today let's have a look at how the plot of My Hero Academia would have moved forward without our Gravity Girl, Uravity:

Izuku would have lost the entrance exam in the beginning

Lol, it's not even 3 epsiodes and we already have a big consequence of removing Ochako. Recall that when the giant robot with zero points started attacking everyone, Ochako was the only one who got stuck under the big debri and it was because Deku wanted to save her, he used his OFA Smash. All 60 points he scored were rescue points because the robot in itself was a zero pointer.

Ok now let's just assume for our convinience that Deku still punches the robot because he had to defeat it eventually, then what?

He starts falling…and without Uraraka no one to save him. Lol, just 3 episodes guys!! Just 3 episodes and the story can't move any further.

Shigaraki's plan to capture UA would have been successful

Ok seriously how many of you remember that it was it was Ochako who subdued Kurogiri which allowed Iida to escape USJ and get help from All Might and the rest of the teachers!

Otherwise their was no way Iida could have escaped Kurogiri, 13 was already in a bad condition and they would have all died right there.

The thing is, being a hero isn't just about defeating villains or looking cool but it's about taking the next step in right direction in times of need when nobody has the nerve to do it.

That's what makes a hero.

.

.

Asui would have died during the summer camp

Toga stabbed Ochako and captured Asui the minute she entered the battlefield and Asui asks Ochako to escape and get help only for Ochako to do otherwise and come to the rescue of her dear friend. She quickly makes the work of Toga with her newly obtained GMA and then we have Shouto and gang arriving the scene.

Without Ochako there, Asui would have been badly injured if not dead and Toga would have gotten Asui's blood which would have been arguably even more dangerous than Ochako because with Asui's quirk she segret poison, a big tounge to attack and overall every ability raised. So imagine.

Who will stop Deku's rampage?

This is also one of the most important things in the series. Black whip was so dangerous already convinced with the power of OFA it was causing havoc when first unleashed. No one, I repeat no one dared to go near him. Infact Shinsou was so scared that he stood their frozen despite having the perfect quirk to stop his quirk.

Now I am not saying anything against Shinsou because I know it was his first time and he did very well. I'm just saying this to describe how dangerous Black whip really was.

Who will redeem/save Toga?

3/5 of our lead have their villan foils or nemeses they're bound to save. With Shouto and Dabi, Deku and Shigaraki we have Ochako and Toga. Who will save her? The rich, bubbly run away which she failed to confide in the last time they met but we also know that Ochako had some realisation during that scene. The recent events in manga more than confirm the fact that it will be Ochako who will redeem Toga.

.

A hero who saves other Heroes with a smile

Probably one of her biggest contribution in the series! When all hope seemed lost and everyone from Heroes to Teachers failed to convince the angry mob it was Ochako who took the first step again.

Her philosophy on 'saving people with a smile' parallels Nana Shimura in more than one ways in it was Nezu who finally put it into words: Taking the first step is always hard but the step taken in right direction leads the path to greatness and gives rise to ultimate Hero that will surpass even All Might.

She saved Deku with a smile on her face, reassuring him in the very beginning that it's okay for him to be here and follows it to the end finally convincing everyone including Deku that's it okay for him to stay.

She was already a very positive influence on his life saving him from falling on his two feet in the very beginning, to giving his name a new meaning, to stopping his wild rampage and even now she's doing the same thing.

She was also the first person to pick on Asui's sadness post kamino and gathered everyone in the class so that they can settle things.

JUST BY BEING THERE, her cherry and warm presence is a comfort to not just Deku but for almost everyone around her.

Additionally she saved a lot of people during war arc and she was one of the people who were going Plus Ultra desperately while even Pros were giving up right then and there!

.

.

.

Saying that removing her will change nothing is not just objectively wrong but also biased thinking.

No because I know episode 5 is technically filler, I hope its not "useless filler" and actually contributes something to the series, like world development, some kind of character development, or maybe a message that needs to be told or something.

Hopefully we see some of the effects of Umbrella scene 2 on Marinette and Adrien because that scene felt a little underwhelming, especially after seeing everyone losing their minds over it on the internet.

I know that the Umbrella Scene 2 was supposed to mainly showcase how Marinette was taking Alya's advice (I think the theme of ep 4), listening to Kagami, show the friendship of Adrienette, as well subtly show the control Gabriel still has over Adrien (all of these which are very good points), considering what we have seen throughout Mr Pigeon 72, and how the fandom lost their minds in regards to seeing U.S.2 as romantic Adrienette development, I just don't really see why umbrella scene 2 was so significant in regards to romantic Adrienette development and felt the payoff for it at the end of the episode sort of lacked in that area.

Like I said earlier, I want to see some effects of Umbrella Scene 2 in Psychocomedian, whether it be platonic or romantic, though I hope its mostly platonic with some romance between Marinette and Adrien.

And expanding further, it would be cool to see the effects of the Umbrella Scene 2 on them individually, it doesn't really have to relate all that much to the other idk.

I know I have rambled but I tried to explain my feelings on this matter.

I also want to see Psychocomedian before the final episodes air because I am afraid it would hold no importance at all to the season

poor psychomedian no one cares about that episode anymore lmao