The name of the manga is ABOVE , is the history of a common person who is in fact the new god, in this world heroes are common sense
people with tipes of power,and in this world there gods with limeted life but powers beyond reality, these gods die and a new god comes
(but no one knows about this god stuff or even the existence of them) this god wich is the protagonist Riku (a common teenager)live in our modern world
and decided to live a normal life he works in a litlle shop (called the bet shop)every day not usisng his powers for combat vilains or became rich because
he thinks is wrong to interview in life with powers.
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The manga start in a comon day where Riku is loking at the clock at 6:37 pm with no
willing to go to work strugling to leave to bed,thinking with himself how lame is a job where you star at 7:00 pm and ends at 6:00 am,
he lives 1 mile from the bet shop so he doesnt bother thath much,after he get ready he have 15 minutes with is enought, steping out he start his routine of patting
cats on the way ,wihtout notice he arrived at bet shop, exactly 13 second before 7 oclock,he meet with his friend jun with work in the shop form 10:am to 7:00 pm,
-Jun:again?! hou do you do this? i know you don't carry any clock or cellphone,how do you come everyday wtih 20 or less seconds for change and never get late?
-Riku: dont know either, i just walk.
-After changing Jun talk about the broken door in the back,he said he spoke to the owner early that day ,and the owner says to let it
till tomorrow then the owner will fix it,after talk of some heroes he saw on televison today,the sky starts to get dark Jun say goodbye and go home;Riku works thinking in fix the door,
but he decited to do not since the problem will be solved naturally tomorrow,after 5:45 the owner son michi came in the shop, he works from 6:00 to 10:00,
after change Riku tell about the door in the back, and michi tell he's already knows about it,michi doesn't like to talk, since he's owner son he just do the 4 hour change
as a favor and don't like care for symphatize,Riku goes home ,tired he start to think about use his power to change his life,but like every day he decidet to do not,
before get home Riku sees something in a straight alley at his left side,since he's less than 5 minutes from his house he fell the need to verify,
after he turn a corner he see, an strong humanoid creature with a bronw aura coming out of his body, the crature have killed 2 heroes in that alley,their bodyes were smashed in the wall,
after the creature see Riku he ask;
-Creature:A common human,looks like the luck wasn't with you today.
The creature atepmt to smash riku's body but he just teleport the creature 30 miles away on
a empty field.
-Riku:I don't want to do this,every life is important even yours, and im not a hero either,hope he does not come back.
-Riku start to go back to his way to home,but as he walk of the alley two thieves aproach him,both are hold knives,Riku know they dindt'kill anybody,since he's not carryng nothing important just
some chips, so he decided to give the his things,the thieves surprisingly are very polite.
-Chivo:Thanks for your cooperation is really hard to rob someone this days with all those heros and those strange villains.
-But unfortunately for Chivo an heroine fall from the sky, Alicia "The White Heroin" wearing an silver armor whit a blade.
-Alicia:I hope as civilized citizens you two woldn't fitgh for a bag of chips.
-Chivo let the bags in the floors as soon he and his brother stars running screaming:THIS COUNTRY SUCKS.
-Alicia:here your bags beter go home now there is a villain around here,in fact a dangerous one.
-Riku thanked for the warning as she start running,riku finally are in home he goes staight to bed since the day was exaustive,he think about the creature he send away,
knowing that if he dind't teleport that thing both the two polite thieves and that gentle heroin would be dead by now,even thoutg he don't like to use his powers he understand is was necessary.
Riku was starting to sleep when he hear a giant noise,he look trought the window and see a big destruction,since he lives alone he doesn't have to worry about parents, so he start to run to the shelters
made in case of a villain attack as any peson do,but in the way to the shelters he sees a lot of houses that have been destoyed from stones that flyed
all the way here,as soon he notices a lot of people smashed by the rock and under the houses,he start to freeze for a moment but understand that even if he want he couldn't bring them back,he just say sorry and
return running,he rund a mile in 7 minutes and the explosiond don't stop ,Riku stop and look around,there 5 miles to the near shelter,running he woldn't make there so he decides to teleport from outside the city and
wait for the herous to solve the problem,as soon he look to outside city direction to focus he's teleport he see Jun his friend with more than half of his body smashed by a stone,he remenber the days Jun stay 1 or 2 hour more in the shop just talking to him
about heroues girls and the future,Riku consider him a precious friend,he see Jun's mother an father trying to save him even he is already dead,as aanother cok fall from the sky smashing them,Riku saw it and
lose his stregth for a moment falling on his knees, he just cry there for a second hearing stones falling from the sky,he rembember why he desn't use his powers,why he value life so much;
-Riku when was a child,have a family,a syster named Hina a mother Himari and his father kenzo,they were happy, none of them have powers,then riku start to dyscover his powers,when playing on the grass riku stops to rest under a tree,
Riku was thirsty so he start to remeber when he drink water with his hand from a river,for some reason at that moment Riku start to feel somenthing falling on his legs,when he look there's water coming from his hand,
he start to drink it till he's satisfyed,then the water end,as he come back to play his friends ask where he found water,he smile and say he's just sweating,
when he get home he come to his father an say he have powers,Kenzo ask why he think he have powers, he explain that he make water out nowere,Riku star to imagine again and in front of him water start to come from his hand,
Kenzo look terrifyed to him an scream to Riku to stop,Riku get scared,Kenzo calm down and and apologyze for screaming and say it's okay,just don't do that anymore,Kenzo take Riku to the room where himari and hina were,himari ask wath was that scream as Kenzo start to explain,
himari star to get worry,the fact is that powers is a rare thing,and for use them properly to the good of humanity those who were born in poor familyes are removed from them by the government,only the rich families could stay with them since they have the structure to create them properly,
they start to get worry thinking about what could hapen with Riku if the government discover about him,and they start to discuss about it,Riku who was starting to discover his powers dindt' understand anithyng,he star to feel what other people were feeling,thei rage,sadness,pain,
Riku dind't like that, so he wonder if he could make them happy,Riku start to imagine his good moments with his family ,and think "be happy",as soon as he thinks this they silence start,Kenzo Himari and Hina fall in the ground, Riku dind't understand in tha moment,but his powers can't change peoples
feeling or bring them to life,he could heal wounds,but his power can't give life,only take them, he fall on his knees feeling the death of his loved ones,the police arrived later after a neighbor talk about some stange noise,Riku was taken to the FFC buylding (Federal Force Control),
there Riku was hearing so many voices so many thoutghs thas he could't speak,then he was tied and blindfolded,he recieve an injection direct in the spine, due to the giant pain he start to scream and fade out,when he wake up, he was in a room sitting on a chair in front of a table with an old man
sitting in front of him,he offer a cake coffe and some biscuits,confused Riku started to eat as he finish he start to cry remembering all that hapenned,the odl man start to talk.
-FFC Agent:So your name is Riku,im sorry for what hapenned but i need to be clar,you killed both your fathers and your litlle siter,we don't know what is your abillity we believe that was somethin as a heart stroke,i believe you remeber the pain in your back,
if you touch you will fell now,it was a fuild made to stop the evolving of powers,we decided that your power was dangerous for you and the ones near you,we found a new city for you,you gonna live alone but your food and all your needs will be provided till you can provide yourself,the only thing tath i could arrange for your to carry was your name,
im sorry for you ,i hope you still could have a good life.
-the old man in fact was terrorized to see such a thing happen to a little child, but still he have to do what he's got to do.
-Riku grow alone,later he start to recieve the memories of the past gods and understand his powers,Riku ask them why he gotta to suffer that,why him,but no response came back,Riku swore to never interview in life with his powers if he could.
-Back to the present,Riku start to stand and decide to stopthat destruction,he flied next to the batlle and lands in the top of a building,he took a hooded jacket from a market,as soon as he arrive he see that the batlle is almost over,there dead heroes all over the place,the center who have over 100 buildings,was left with 3 building standintg,
riku see the 2 heroes left up confronting the villain,riku lend in the gournd and star to walk in their direction,and he see,the heroin from early was passed out , adn a hero stantidg,Agron a hero that fitgh using metal and stones around as armor,he could barely wald with some little pieces of armor most of his body was exposed,he got hit for something and flyes 50 meters away,Riku
know he dind't die,he dind't feel any death,then Riku finally see the villain who detroy the whole city and defeat over 30 powerfull heroes and kill at least 24 of them,Riku freezes when he see that the villain who make all that was the creature he send away early,AS the creature start to aproach Alicia,Riku apears in front of him,he see from the memory from the older gods,that creature was create by one of them,
Serpio,Serpio had a unique skill as a god to give tremendous power to a creature and transform himnhe take a tiger on a forest a give him conscience and a tremendous power,one of his great creations,Farzthec know for the humanity as Crawler "The Beast" one of the 3 natural dysasters.
-Crawler:You again?! Look like i will have my revenge,you run away is a thing,but i dind't enjoy the ride,there is more that i can say for tha way back,but since you pissed me off wath is your name so i can at least fell some pleasure doindg this.
-Riku:Farztech,go away,tihs is enough.
-Crawler:What,who are you?how do you know my name.
-Riku:You take so many lifes,all of them was important,even your life is important,but i can't let this continues,i don't wanna kill you,so go away.
-Crawler start to grow up while screamig in rage.
-Crawler:You?! a mere human,how could you even scratch me,i will detroy this city i will destroy you,i will detroy everifing.
-Riku:Then you leave me no choice
-Alicia start to wake up and see that 10 meters creature in front of a boy with a hood,without streght event to move she tryes to save him,she tryed to talk run away, but the voice didn't come out,Crawler start to preparate a punch,when he start to trow that puns inthe way so many dust was pushed thas was't possible to see nothing,when the dust goes away Alicia see that the creature disapeared,and the boy with the jacket where standing the,
when Crawler noticed he had delyevered such a stong punch that all the giel in the area go cleaned,when he take his hand back he see that Riku was still there,and the ground around him wasn't destroyed,but he was sure that he hit the gorund,he trow another punc direct to him,Crawler see the ground destroyed but the ground come back to what it was, Crawler start to get confused he saw the groud destroyed and saw in be restored,he start tras talking.
-Crawler:What is this?! Your grat power is fix things,is that how you gonna kill me?
-Riku:In fact you dind't understand nothing,i don't wan't to kill you,i want to stop the killing,the fact is that im porwerfull enoght to do things my way.
-Crawler:WHO ARE YOU?
-Riku:I already said,it doesn't matter,i will not kill you,and you will not kill no one anymore,i removed a tenth of a second from the time and locked you here,you can detroy much as you can this wolrd will come back to the state it was in that second,we will not meet again.
-Crawler:BASTARD!!!
-Riku came back to the real world and start to look to a line with 5 spheres floating near it,he thinks with himself(there five of seconds removed from timeline,some god must have removed four creatures from the timeline,but i don't have this memory,theyre extending those seconds,some day they might be able to come back,i wonder how such four powerfull creatures exist),
-Riku:Well is time to go home,or to the shelter since my house doesn't exist anymore,there a hero coming in,the litgh one,look like he"s gonna stay with the credit.
-Riku thows a giant blast of white energy towards the sky and teleport to the closer shelter,the litgh hero Radiant arrived in.
-Radiant:I saw a great litgh and the monter is not here,who did such a thing,look like i have tothink about that later,i should take care of this heroes ,at least the onde who still alive.
-Riku take off the hood and look to the sun finally rising in the sky,thinking,if i was not here,or decided to do nothing how would it end?!.
END episode 1
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Ps:Im nog good with singals and points,if someone can help correcting i apreciate.

This is the final phase of the first arc/saga of this new universe which has so far been well received. If you haven't read Phase One and Phase Two, I would welcome you to do so.
Now then, let's finish this arc.
Schedule

• Doctor Strange: The Oath
• The Brotherhood of Mutants 2
• Inhumans
• Captain Marvel
• Iron Man: The Five Nightmares
• X-Force
• Black Panther: War of the Worlds
• Spider-Man: The First Hunt
• Marvel Presents: The Phoenix Force - Part One
• Moon Knight
• Inhumans vs. X-Men
• Marvel Presents: The Phoenix Force - Part Two

Doctor Strange: The Oath

Get a character study director on this, I like the profile of Greta Gerwig but I fear I may be overusing her.
As the title suggests, it's a faithful adaptation of the Oath storyline from the comics, a storyline very small in scale and a lot more personal than the usual Doctor Strange adventure. For the unfamiliar, the story is about an elixir that could potentially save the world from a very specific disease, one that Wong is afflicted with, and the story ends with Strange deciding to save Wong by using the last of the elixir rather than potentially save the world. We will continue to set up Nightmare as the big bad for the final Doctor Strange film, as he possesses access to the affliction the elixir cures, and sends dark sorcerors to try and retrieve the elixir so that he can infect the world, spurring the plot of this film. One of those sorcerors is Nicodemus West who we have already used in the previous Doctor Strange film, so replace him with another sorceror.
Stephen swears by his oath and saves Wong's life at the end, and him and Christine finally get together, completing their two movie arc (Christine will play a much larger role in the plot of this film too so her relationship with Stephen should tie into the main plot instead of being just a side plot thread).

The Brotherhood of Mutants 2

Continue the feud between Magneto and Doom, plants seeds of doubt in Sabretooth to the brotherhood, get Colossus more involved in finding out the Brotherhood's true nature, make Toad a proper player in the game and expand Mystique's and Rogue's characters. I don't have a proper plot in mind but these are the general goals of this film.
This is my next genre experimentation as I want Wes Anderson to direct this. Combining his distinct visual style with old Eastern Europa will create some stunning imagery, I can already see it. He can tone down the action for a more thriller-like plot if he wants to, it's all really up to him how he completes those goals.
By the end of the film, Sabretooth leaves the brotherhood, and is approached by Xavier.

Inhumans

Create a character thriller drama, to the point of it being almost theatrical, as I want this to be a mix of styles. Think of something like Matthew Warchus' Matilda: The Musical mixed with Ari Aster's Hereditary.
Black Bolt needs to be established as a top player in this universe. While the Illuminati isn't a thing yet, there should be no mistake about the fact that not only is he the king of Attilan, but the king of all Inhumans, who are revealed to the world by the end of this film. I don't have a particular plot in mind, but something within the Inhumans would be ideal as I don't want any external threats, rather making this film a self-contained story with its own characters all within its own species. I would include Medusa, Maximus, Lockjaw, Karnak, Crystal, Triton, Quake, Ms Marvel, Gorgon and Tonaja (the latter of which I think could be reworked as the primary antagonist and eventually killed).

Captain Marvel

Get a proper Captain Marvel origin story, going from her human origins all the way to her getting her powers, no real mystery but just a straight shot. Our antagonists are Mandroid and Yon-Rogg, who while they only offer a physical threat at first, must create an emotional dilemma for Carol Danvers. This is why once again we have to get a director who will focus more on characters driving the story to get some actual stakes. Mar-Vell features too, fighting alongside Carol in the final act. We have tiny roles from Nick Fury and Bruce Banner, with Bruce being accidentally ejected into space god knows where.

Iron Man: The Five Nightmares

Adapting the Five Nightmares storyline, with a legacy villain too.
Our main antagonists are Ezekiel Stane as Titanium Man and Justin Hammer's daughter, Sarah Hammer. We have MODOK and The Tinkerer too, but MODOK doesn't die, rather escaping Tony's grasp and the Tinkerer is arrested.
Tony ends his relationship with Bethany in this film because he fully accepts that he's falling for Pepper but the movie's midpoint is where Pepper turns Tony down alongside Stane and Hammer having destroyed his current armour, saying she doesn't want to make things weird and doesn't have interest in him like that. It destroys Tony until Rhodey appears for the first time in the film and gets him back on his feet, which is when Tony reveals the War Machine armour alongside a prototype for Tony's own next armour, setting up our final protagonist pairing for the rest of the film.

X-Force

This is essentially everyone trying to be in an X-Force film while Deadpool keeps trying to turn it into Deadpool 4.
Our roster is Wolverine, Deadpool, a returning Cable, Sunspot, Cannonball, Domino, Multiple Man, Warpath and Polaris, fighting against the Worthington Industries in Archangel and the Brotherhood, namely Magneto, Magik and Colossus.
Magik and Colossus change sides by the end, being freed of Magneto's indoctrination.
Wolverine sees the err in his previous actions during Age of Ultron, trying his best to stop Archangel by making him change his ways rather than killing him. However, nothing seems to work and Deadpool decapitates him, pissing Logan off. The two bicker and eventually come to blows, turning our final act into Deadpool 4 proper as its just Wolverine and Deadpool fucking the shit out of each other. The fight has no real stakes and is basically the punchline to the setup that has been present throughout the movie, but the fight before is the one with real emotional stakes.
The movie ends with Logan and Wade simultaneously decapitating each other, and then their disembodied heads roll next to each other and have a casual one-take conversation for a few minutes in which Wade declares X-Force disbanded.

Black Panther: War of the Worlds

Possessing the same sub-title as the second Namor film, this is a continuation of that story, and deals with T'Challa's death.
Basically the main plot of it is that Wakanda and Atlantis' shaky truce gets worse as time goes on, and Namor, tempted by Storm and T'Challa's absence, decides to break the truce to declare war once again: obviously this is a war crime but if Atlantis is revealed to the world then Wakanda will be too so they can do nothing but fight back.
Shuri is our protagonist and her main arc is the arc of responsibility, realising that even if she may not be ready for the throne, she must take over to defend her country as if she doesn't, Wakanda will be helpless. I will give this movie license to kill a couple of side characters such as Namora and Monica Lynne to raise stakes but it really doesn't need to happen, I just prefer if the rosters of films aren't too bloated.
The film ends with Wakanda successfully defending itself, and Shuri deciding not to go on the offensive and spare Namor's life so he can go back to his kingdom: unlike T'Challa who went on the offensive after losing his mother. All hail the queen.

Spider-Man: The First Hunt

This is an adaptation of Spider-Man: Blue, but replacing Gwen Stacy with Mary Jane Watson. Gwen does play a short role in a flashback to flesh out Peter's story. I want to play a little fast and loose with the continuity, essentially continuing Peter's story from where No Way Home left him off but never really acknowledging if its canon or not, as May is alive, Flash Thompson is a blue eye-blonde hair white guy again (not that I have a problem with Tony Revolori, he was so funny but I don't think he would be the right choice for Anti-Venom). We have Harry Osborn as the new best friend, although he as well as every other character in the film, is unaware of Spider-Man's identity. Norman is here too, set up as a big villain before he is twist-killed by the Goblin serum as he was incompatible with the formula. We also have Dr Kurt Connors in a minor role, he does nothing outside of showing up in a lab a couple times and that's it.
Our main villain is Kraven the Hunter, who hunts Spider-Man down and comes narrowly close to figuring out Spider-Man's identity using his superior tracking abilities. However, he is off by just one apartment, knocking down the apartment next to Peter's, starting our final sequence which is almost a horror sequence as Peter tries to get out of the building while Kraven is there knowing he can't handle him in tight spaces, before the actual final fight begins in which Peter eventually wins but after some great struggles.
Post-credits: Kraven is in prison when he is drugged and wakes up in a mysterious location, untied. He looks around to see Whiplash, Mysterio, and... Mastermind. Mastermind brought them all out with a purpose: to take down their enemies together, as they can do more together than they can alone.
After the other three are out of sight, Mastermind's body changes, revealing his form was actually an illusion. He is crippled, wheelchair-bound. The damage Emma Frost and Xavier did to him was real, but not fatal.

Marvel Presents: The Phoenix Force - Part One

The film opens with Jean and Scott by themselves at home, with a reveal that they now have a child named Rachel Summers. The opening set piece is Scott and Rachel running away after Jean's possession at the hands of the Phoenix becomes apparent and she nearly kills the two of them. This first film in the Phoenix Force is essentially the Dark Phoenix Saga, Jean Grey being overwhelmed and taken under the control of the Phoenix Force. She essentially becomes another Ultron-like threat, fighting everyone all by herself at one point.
This part has essentially every mutant that has appeared in the series who isn't dead alongside the debut of the Illuminati in the form of Iron Man, Namor, Professor X, Captain America, Doctor Strange, Mister Fantastic and Black Bolt. We see Sabretooth and Wolverine in the same place finally too, brothers re-uniting after decades.
The Phoenix is a lone force, forcing people like Magneto, Xavier and Captain America to all work together to stop it, putting aside their differences temporarily. However, even that is not enough to win without losses, as Nightcrawler, Thunderbird, Sabretooth, Lifeguard and Mystique all die by the midpoint of the film. Domino dies too, saying that she's lucky she doesn't have to live through this, really setting the darkness that may lie in the future. I want to create narrative reasons for their deaths but that would require a lot of intricate set-up and payoff, essentially having to write a scene-to-scene script which I don't want to right now. Sabretooth's dead crushes Logan, and he is motivated to kill Jean but him and Scott fight over it, Scott wanting to save Jean from the Phoenix than just kill her.
However, all this time, it's clear that the Phoenix is not limited to Jean as a vessel, as there are hints of yellow present in certain characters. The final battle is another one-versus-all, with the Phoenix fighting the physical threats in one realm while Xavier and Wanda fight her together in a telepathic dimension, neither able to control her mind and only facing resistance from the Phoenix, believing it to be the Phoenix using Jean's telepathy. At one point, Logan manages to get close enough to kill Jean but just as it seems like he's going to cut off her head he is lasered away by Cyclops, which gives the Phoenix enough time to re-direct a Havok blast towards Iceman, killing Bobby and sucking away Havok's power. Scott sees his best friend and brother both destroyed, and is distraught. We see some of the yellow fade from Jean's body as it seems like the Phoenix may be losing the fight against Jean, but when the camera goes back to Scott it's clear the Phoenix actually is changing its host, and Scott, clearly affected by the Phoenix, directs a gold-accented laser at Jean's neck, killing her and releasing the Phoenix Force into the world, where it concentrates into a golden flash before latching itself onto the five closest vessels it can find: Cyclops, Namor, Magik, Blink and Spider-Woman. The Phoenix Five.
Xavier tries to stop the Phoenix once again, asking Scott to let go of the power as it would corrupt him. Scott does not respond, leading to Xavier trying to open his mind, only to find that it wasn't Jean's telepathy stopping him from taking control of Jean, but rather the Phoenix Force itself, as he is only met by a laser from Cyclops to his head. After they had seemed to have finally put their differences aside after years to stop Jean, Scott kills Xavier.

Moon Knight

Get Christopher Nolan in a room, get him to read Moon Knight's All New All Different series, let him work his magic.
For the unfamiliar, Moon Knight's ANAD run is focused on mental illness and illusion more than the superhero aspect of Moon Knight. I think Nolan is possibly the best mindfuck director in the history of cinema, so he could work wonders with this concept. Complete creative freedom given to him, I don't want to taint his filmography.

Inhumans vs. X-Men

Showing more of Magneto's capability to turn people with his words, he is now the head of the Worthington company alongside Mister Sinister, and the two take a lot of known mutants, primarily from the brotherhood, and put them together into their own 'X-Men', a name which isn't owned by anyone since pretty much everyone is scrambling for power and don't really know what they're doing in the wake of the Phoenix Five. Cyclops and Blink are recruited too, but keep their involvement secret from the other three in the Phoenix Five.
This X-Men team is tasked by Magneto with taking down the Inhumans who he sees as mutantkind's biggest threat, this acting as our arc ender for the Inhumans as they don't play a big role in the Phoenix Force storyline.
Inhumans: Black Bolt, Medusa, Maximus, Karnak, Lockjaw, Crystal, Quake (dies), Triton, Dazzler
'X-Men': Magneto, Phoenix Cyclops, Phoenix Blink, Beast, Toad, Rogue, Quicksilver (switches sides)
Attilan does lose Quake but manage to fend off the Brotherhood by defeating Phoenix Blink and proving they can't be defeated just yet.

Marvel Presents: The Phoenix Force - Part Two

The Phoenix Five essentially hold the world hostage, their great power causing fear amongst everyone. This is where we finally get Krakoa as a haven for mutants, ruled over by the Phoenix Five.
After the events of the Inhumans vs. X-Men, Black Bolt talks to the rest of the now expanded Illuminati: Iron Man, Captain America, Doctor Strange, Beast, Mister Fantastic and Black Panther, and they agree that the next infringement from a Phoenix Five member must result in response. Sure enough, Phoenix Namor, separated from Atlantis after his Phoenix powering, tries to regain his kingdom, and this is the last straw.
Cyclops and Iron Man talk, and Cyclops gets angry before the two fight and eventually Tony is forced to flee, knowing Cyclops will win. The Phoenix Five decide to go on the offensive against the Avengers, and that's the rest of our plot: Avengers vs X-Men. Of course this is different, as the 'X-Men' is really just the Phoenix Five while the Avengers include non-Phoenix Five mutants.
The Phoenix Five arrive at the Future Foundation building and decimate it, with Ben and Johnny sacrificing themselves so that Reed and Sue can get away. By then, Captain Marvel arrives, sensing a great cosmic force and holds the Phoenix Five in place for some time before the rest of the Avengers and mutants come, starting our final big battle.
Cyclops is fixated on loss after losing Jean, and focuses on the closer pairs, and the Phoenix Five eventually succeeding in killing Captain Britain (brother of Psylocke), Scarlet Witch (sister of Quicksilver) and Colossus (sister of Magik).
Magik does not realise that Colossus was a target too, and when she sees him die something clicks in her as he cries out to her for help. A seed of doubt. Cable goes to defend Colossus although he knows he is too late, and is attacked by Magik, although Cable is just able to block it, before he is killed by Spider-Woman from behind, who looks at Magik with suspicion - it was clear she was holding back. Storm and Shadowcat are trapped around three members of the Phoenix Five while the others try crowd control, and the two try their best but are outmatched, and they die too.
However, the heroes finally strike first blood when Iron Man uses one of Blink's portals against her and fires a Unibeam through it, hurting and distracting her before Black Bolt finally speaks for the first time, destroying her body. Magik manages to break free of the Phoenix spell after an internal struggle, but the Phoenix Force realises this and immediately kills her from the inside, but not before Magik manages to suck the power from Namor and Spider-Woman into herself. The explosion of power fractures the force into nothingness, leaving just the last piece of it inhabited within Cyclops.
Phoenix Cyclops fights harder than ever but is eventually halted by Rachel, his daughter. He hesitates but continues to fight nonetheless, although it is once again clear that Scott may have one hand on the wheel as he always seems to miss Rachel. Eventually Black Panther manages to get a vibranium cover over Scott's eyes which he takes a minute to get off, time in which the Phoenix Force works on pure instinct in fighting everyone off. Scott finally gets it off and tries to fight again but stops in place and clutches his heart. The camera moves into Scott's body to reveal the Wasp blocking an artery, and she expands out of Scott, killing him and releasing the last of the Phoenix Force which Doctor Strange contains within a mirror cage before its destroyed by a combination of a lot of people's powers.
Post-Credits: Reed and Sue re-form the Future Foundation, not as a building but as a team, with Wolverine and the Wasp joining.
That brings us to the end of The Phoenix Arc, the first of three arcs of this universe. The Phoenix came and was destroyed. The mutants peaked but lost their leaders, the Avengers and Illuminati were formed, the Inhumans were revealed to the heroes, and the Fantastic Four came together and were destroyed.

The Battle of the Trench, also known as the Siege of Medina, took place in 627 CE during the time of Prophet Muhammad in Medina, Saudi Arabia. This significant event marked a critical moment in the early history of Islam. While Khalid ibn al-Walid had not yet embraced Islam at the time of this battle, his subsequent contributions to Islamic military campaigns demonstrate his strategic brilliance and exceptional leadership.

1. Context and Significance: The Battle of the Trench occurred when a coalition of tribes, led by the Quraysh from Mecca, launched a massive assault on Medina. The Quraysh sought revenge for their earlier defeats at the hands of the Muslims and aimed to crush the emerging Islamic state. In response to the approaching threat, Prophet Muhammad devised a defensive strategy that involved digging a trench around Medina, known as the "Trench Strategy." This innovative defensive measure proved crucial in thwarting the enemy's advance.
2. Khalid ibn al-Walid's Role: During the Battle of the Trench, Khalid ibn al-Walid fought as a key commander on the side of the Quraysh, opposing the Muslims. Although not a Muslim at this point, Khalid's military acumen and tactical skills were widely recognized. His presence added a formidable element to the Quraysh forces, raising their confidence in their ability to overcome the Muslim resistance.
3. Challenges and Military Strategies: The Muslims faced immense challenges during the Battle of the Trench, as the enemy forces vastly outnumbered them. The trench acted as a strategic defense, effectively impeding the Quraysh's advance and neutralizing their superior numbers. The siege lasted for several weeks, testing the resolve and unity of the Muslims.
4. Outcome and Impact: Despite the Quraysh's persistent efforts, the Muslims' defensive strategies and resilience prevailed. The severe weather conditions, along with the strategic trench, hindered the attackers' progress. Frustrated and unable to breach the defenses, the Quraysh forces eventually withdrew. The successful defense of Medina during the Battle of the Trench bolstered the morale of the Muslims and established their position as a formidable force in the region.
5. Khalid ibn al-Walid's Conversion: Following the Battle of the Trench, Khalid ibn al-Walid witnessed the strength and unity of the Muslims and the divine assistance they received. Recognizing the truth of Islam, he embraced the faith and converted to become one of the most renowned Muslim commanders in history.

The Battle of the Trench showcased the military genius of Prophet Muhammad and the resilience of the Muslims against overwhelming odds. While Khalid ibn al-Walid fought against the Muslims during this battle, his subsequent conversion and remarkable military achievements illustrate his transformation into a revered leader of the Islamic forces. The Battle of the Trench remains a testament to the strategic prowess of both Prophet Muhammad and Khalid ibn al-Walid, solidifying their places in history as key figures in the early growth and defense of the Islamic state.

I just ran a session of Grant Howitt's one pager 'The Beast' in which players take on the roles of 'low rent' monster hunters trying to defeat a randomly generated beast in 1700's eastern europe.
It's a fun game that delivers a lot of instant flavour but I wasn't able to turn up much advice online for what works when running a session. I knew I didn't have a lot of time to prep a story/session flow so I came up with a simple mechanic to help give the session momentum.
I got a bag and placed in 6 poker chips - 3 green, 2 black, 1 red. The idea is that whenever the hunters change location/scene or spend a long time in the same location they draw from the sack. Green means nothing untoward happens. The first black chip means the beast attacks a location on the map (determined by a dice roll). The second black chip means it attacks the party directly. Red was an encounter with the beast's minions.
You could tweak the numbers for a different balance but I think the core idea gave the game a fun tension and made the beast feel a bit more present throughout. It also put pressure on the task of figuring out the beast's weaknesses.
Anyhoo just wanted to put that out into the universe and add to the conversation available around what's already a fun one shot engine.
Edit: including a link in case anyone wanted to try the game and support Grant's work - https://gshowitt.itch.io/the-beast
Second Edit: Typos

So, I have had the 4 Divine Beasts beaten for a couple of years now, because I just felt like I wasn't ready for Calamity Ganon. Anyway, today the Diablo IV servers shit the bed around 3pm and I couldn't log on so I decided, what the hell, I am going to find and fight Calamity Ganon! and I did. I finally beat him!

Hello once again. No, I'm still not shutting up about this. The end of the 2022-2023 season is drawing to a close and I just felt like letting you know how it ended for Dinamo Bucharest. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, I wrote a series of posts on this subreddit about the history of Dinamo Bucharest (the craziest football story, bla bla bla). If you are curious to find out about it, I will link parts 1, 2, and 3 for you, along with the update that I posted back in the middle of May. This one right here is meant to wrap up the whole thing, one final update on what's been going on at Dinamo Bucharest. And no, no one asked to but I'm doing it anyway.

The last fixture

So, the last time I told you about your (now) favorite Romanian football club, we still had one more match to play in the Romanian Second League playoff. We were tied on points with Otelul Galati and if we could get a better result than them in the last fixture, we would be promoted back to Romania's top flight. Our opponents in the last match would be the leaders and already promoted side, Poli Iasi. They won the playoff by a landslide, having an 8-point lead over second-placed Steaua before the last game and they also allowed 10 of their players to go on vacation earlier, some of whom were regular starters. So in theory, Dinamo had a pretty easy job of obtaining the 3 points that we needed. All that was left was to hope that Otelul wouldn't win their match against 6th-placed Unirea Dej.
However, real life isn't always as easy as it is on paper. Dinamo started the match poorly, conceding in the 8th minute due to a clumsy mistake from our goalkeeper, who literally passed to ball to the opposing striker. Poli Iasi then made it 2-0 after some more chaotic defending from us. We managed to get one back, however, in the 23rd minute and the score at halftime was 2-1. We even had a free kick near the end of the first 45 minutes, but we sadly hit the crossbar. Everyone believed that we would bounce back in the second half as, again, Poli Iasi had nothing to fight for anymore and our determination would be enough to turn the tables on them.
But, once again, reality hit us like a ton of bricks and the home team made it 3-1 in the 49th minute. Dinamo were completely dominated for the rest of the game and even conceded a 4th goal with ten minutes left to play, losing the game 4-1. This came as a huge disappointment to a lot of people, as many of us believed it was finally time for lady luck to be on our side for once. But in the end, we couldn't get the job done. Again. Luckily, at least Otelul won their match as well, defeating Unirea Dej 1-0 at home. Why luckily? Because at least the players wouldn't have to live with the thought that if they had won, they would've been promoted. At least this way, their result was irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
The most worrying aspect of them all was regarding the players' morale, as the promotion/relegation tie was going to take place about a week later, so they needed to forget this failure and focus on what was to come. It would be the second year in a row when Dinamo would find themselves in such a tie, only this time they would try to climb back up in the Romanian First League, rather than fighting to stay up. Our dance partner was going to be former 2-time Romanian champions, FC Arges Pitesti.

Promotion battle: the first leg

The first match took place in Bucharest at the largest stadium in the country, the National Arena, in front of a crowd of 25.000 strong. The fans were hopeful, but optimism wasn't exactly at an all-time high, as we were clear underdogs for this bout. We had what looked like a weaker squad and very little experience in playing against first-league teams. What Dinamo did have was a lot of heart and the support of thousands of people in the stands. They sang loudly even before the match began, in an effort to both encourage our team and intimidate the opposition, who weren't used to playing in front of large audiences.
We had our first corner of the match in the 15th minute. The cross was aimed at the near post, and our player there deflected it to the far post for a teammate who headed it in, and just like that, we opened the score. 9 minutes later, we got a free kick from about 30 meters out. The shot hit the wall and bounced inside the box toward one of our players, who tapped it in to make it 2-0. It all seemed too good to be true, but Dinamo was actually dominating the match.
in the 28th minute, FC Arges gave away an easy ball close to their box, allowing striker Alexandru Pop to score with a sublime goal from the 18-yard line. With five minutes left to play in the first half, French midfielder Lamine Ghezali received a ball near the center of the pitch and went on a solo run, dribbling past two opposition players and then scoring with a slick lobbed ball of his own. No one could believe what they were seeing. Dinamo was leading 4-0 at halftime. FC Arges' players were in shock. They had a huge chance themselves shortly after Dinamo opened the score, but conceding that second goal messed them up completely, being incapable of any sort of reaction from that point until the end of the first half. Dinamo was like a hungry beast that smelled its prey's blood, being absolutely relentless and attacking with everything they had.
FC Arges did look like they were bouncing back in the 2nd half though, even pulling one back after 10 minutes of play. Fans may have been a bit fearful of an away team comeback at this point, but it wasn't to be. In the 56th minute, Spanish midfielder Dani Iglesias tried his luck with a long-range effort, which got deflected by an FC Arges player into his own net, bringing the goal difference back to 4. Six minutes later, Ghezali did a wonderful give-and-go pass near the middle of the pitch, sprinted toward the FC Arges box, and slotted it in calmly, making the score 6-1.
Dinamo had a few more chances after this through players that were brought on during the match, but their eagerness to score themselves instead of offering simple assists for their teammates ruined said opportunities. FC Arges could've scored as well toward the end but only hit the crossbar with a shot from the edge of the box. After 90-something minutes of play, the ref blew his whistle and Dinamo won the match 6-1.
This was by far the best match we've played all season. Despite going up against what seemed like a stronger side, the boys kept their cool, played like a real team, and won the game in dominating fashion. For the first time in who knows how long, fate finally seemed to be on our side. We only had like 2 misses the entire match. Almost every shot that we attempted went in. It was a more-than-perfect result for us. However, we were not done yet, as we still had the second leg to play.

Roles reversed

A year ago Dinamo played their first promotion/relegation tie, which they lost. Back then, we barely looked like a team. There was just a group of people brought together to play football, with no chemistry, no team bonding, nothing. The atmosphere at the club was horrendous, we played terribly and deserved to get relegated. This time it was different. We looked not just like a real team, but a family. We now had an identity, a style of play, and for the first time since the '15-'16 season, a head coach who would spend a complete season in charge. The hellfire that was the second league cleansed us of a lot of dead weight. We now only had people at the club who were all fighting for the same purpose. We no longer had "big names", there wasn't a "him" at the club anymore, there was only "us".
On the other side, there was FC Arges who were in the same position that we were last year. They reached the promotion/relegation tie in the last second, narrowly avoiding a direct fall. They went into the first match away from home, lost, and were now afraid of going down. And just like Dinamo last year, the atmosphere over there was abysmal.
One of their players, Andreas Calcan, got interviewed after the match and at one point told the reporters "Maybe you should ask our foreign players what they think about this result." This clearly indicated that there was a rift between their players and were not all on the same page. During the match, one of FC Arges' players was brought off when the score was already 6-1. He could then be seen on the touchline kicking a water bottle and trying to rip his shirt off.
It was also a known fact among Romanian football fans that FC Arges players had one or two unpaid salaries. However, news broke out after the match that the board paid the wages before the first leg, but only for some players, driving an even bigger wedge between them. But wait, there's more!
FC Arges was lucky enough to receive state funding for rebuilding their stadium. Every legal aspect was taken care of, so their second match against Dinamo was going to be the last match they ever played on their old home ground. However, given that they were thrashed 6-1 in the first leg and were unlikely to turn things around, they probably didn't want their last ever match there to be one where they got relegated. So they moved the event to a different city altogether, claiming that their stadium's floodlights weren't working.
The day before the second match, things reached an even more ridiculous point. FC Arges sent an official letter to the Romanian Football Federation asking them to withdraw Dinamo's license for the next season, in an effort to remain in the first league. Also, one of their main investors went into a live interview on TV, claiming that they had received "information" that some of their own players got paid to "fix" the first match. This says more about the type of people at FC Arges rather than Dinamo, but I still thought I should mention these aspects just for the sake of it.

Promotion battle: the second leg

The stadium for the second match was filled to the brim. Even though the arena only had about 8000 seats, the atmosphere was red-hot. FC Arges wasted no time and went on the attack from the first minute. In the 14th minute, they had already opened the score through a long-range effort courtesy of their team captain, that got deflected off of a Dinamo player. The very next minute, Arges made it 2-0 after a counter-attack. Some minutes later, they had two more huge opportunities, but both efforts went over the bar.
Things weren't looking bright, as Dinamo was in the ropes. Though we had a 5-goal advantage from the first leg, it was already clear that nothing was decided yet. Luckily, we managed to calm things down by lowering the tempo of the game and keeping possession of the ball. Dinamo even scored in the 40th minute through the one and only Ghezali, by far our best player this season. The score at halftime was 2-1. There were 45 more minutes of purgatory to endure.
Shortly after the second half began, FC Arges made it 3-1 after a corner kick. In the 51st minute, following another corner, it was already 4-1. It was bad. FC Arges were more and more determined to turn things around and Dinamo weren't looking like they could weather the storm. Forget Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund bottling their league titles. If we would somehow lose this tie after winning 6-1 in the first leg, we would be the laughingstock of the world.
Right when things were seemingly going in FC Arges' direction, Andreas Calcan, the player who subtly criticized his foreign teammates after the first match, got a second yellow card and was sent off in the 55th minute. This completely killed his team's drive and they even conceded a second goal five minutes later. Arges tried to stay on the attack, but that spark from the beginning of the half wasn't there anymore. In the 94th minute, the ref blew for full-time to make it official: DINAMO IS BACK IN THE FIRST LEAGUE!
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Celebration after the second leg against FC Arges
It was a weird season, to say the least. We started off with a terrible run, losing 5 times within the first 7 matches, and were hoping to at least avoid relegation to the 3rd tier or bankruptcy. We had even less money than the previous year, we weren't allowed to sign any players during the winter break, we couldn't afford to pay the salaries of the ones who were already at the club, and it looked like we were never going to get rid of our former owner, Dorin Serdean.
However, this is where we can remember a message displayed by our supporters a number of years ago: "True defeat is giving up on your dreams." And that's the most important thing that we never did. We never gave up (jeez, I'm starting to sound like John Cena.) Even when the situation looked like it couldn't get any worse, we kept the hope alive. Not the hope for promotion as that seemed like a fantasy, but the hope of keeping Dinamo alive.
We, the fans, kept going to matches, donating money, and doing whatever was in our power to "keep the engine running". The players, the coaches, the employees, everyone at the club kept doing their job as best as they could, even though there were months when they received no payment for their work. Their devotion through these hard times was immeasurable and we could never thank them enough for believing in the cause until the very end.
As cliche as it may sound, this is what happens when you don't give up and keep working hard. We hit rock bottom but through our collective effort and, I need to say it, a LOT of luck, we pulled through in the end and turned fantasy into reality. We got the promotion, we now are hoping to get financial stability, and then finally start making progress and get back to the top of the league. Though the recent years have been dreadful we did not forget about the good times, and the thought of reliving them one day is what kept us alive.

A story ends, and another one begins

And this is where we end things. This has been the story of Dinamo Bucharest, the craziest football story you've never heard of...until now. Sure our story will continue long after this post of mine, but this is where (hopefully) the "crazy" part of it has reached its conclusion. We now have new ownership, new management, people who (again, hopefully) will start investing serious funds into Dinamo and bring it back to glory. We will HOPEFULLY enter a new era, one of normality. One where we will mostly be talking about football and not scandals. But, if things do go south again (God, please no), I may just return and let you know about it. Sure, scandals will still pop up here and there, we are in Romania after all but, (for the last time) hopefully, we won't be hearing about arrests, backstabbing, fraud, mutiny, throwing matches, or owners who can't/ won't invest at the club ever again.
For one last time, thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.

There's a character mentioned briefly in BotW and TotK: The "Ancient Hero" from the first Calamity 10000 years ago that sealed Ganon at the time. We see him briefly in a tapestry from BotW and then in full detail as an armour set in TotK. Most fans quickly came to the conclusion he was a Zonai, being a new race of beast-like peoples with similarly dark fur. Ultimately, though, I believe this isn't the case.
For starters, they aren't actually that biologically similar. Take a moment to look at Rauru and Mineru, the last of the Zonai according to the game. While they share dark fur and beast traits, the resemblance stops there. I'll go from general to specific, here, so refer to the pictures or your own as you need. For starters: The fur! I don't actually think the Ancient Hero has any, or if he does, it's incredibly fine. On the model of Link, they simply swap the colour of his skin to match the dark fur on the torso, and up at his ears, it lacks the fluffiness and colour differentiation present on both Mineru and Rauru. Then there's the proportions: Rauru and Mineru are all torso. It's not always made clear in the cutscenes due to framing, but both of their torsos' make up over half of their whole height, and they have rather stubby legs. Ancient Hero, instead has legs making up a more human percentage of the body. (This particular one may be a limitation of the armor being applied to link -- ultimately it still needs to be rigged to similar dimensions or there would be clipping issues.) Next, the Ancient Hero has three toes, beastly feet, and digitigrade ankles. Despite their beastly appearance, Rauru and Mineru have human legs and even humanoid feet, and it's reasonable to assume all Zonai did as the Zonai Wing device also features skeletal, five-toed, humanoid feet. Next, the third eye: Rauru and Mineru both have a third eye on their forehead, and this third eye is also depicted in a variety of Zonai artwork so it is fair to assume Zonai all share this trait. The Ancient Hero, however, does not. While there is an ornament adorning the location of one on the armour, no matter how I look at it I don't get the impression there is an eye there. Lastly... tails! Rauru and Mineru don't have them. The Ancient Hero has a quite prominent lion-esque tail that you can see in gameplay.
Now, biological differences alone can't really make this arguement. We've only seen two Zonai, and they are directly related, being brother and sister. Their biology might also be altered by their role as royalty, like King Dorephan compared to average Zora. It's also possible the Zonai are just a race with higher biodiversity than we've seen in the other sentient species of Hyrule. So... I have other points!
The next one is a simple placement of timing. The ancient hero and the first Calamity are not the same event as Rauru's Imprisoning War against Ganondorf as depicted in TotK. While we don't get an exact timeframe from the game itself, the Imprisoning War seems to be an event prior to the First Calamity, and by quite a number of years. Sheikah technology is undeveloped and the Hylians seem to be a tribal people with little development outside of what the Zonai give them. By the time of the First Calamity (which is 10000 years before current day), Sheikah technology has propogated to the point they created the four Divine Beasts and countless guardians to fight. Additionally, Zonai technology is completely absent from the depiction, which you wouldn't expect if such a high-technology race was still present and available. Additionally, both Impa and Purah recognize you as the Ancient Hero at a glance when they see you, despite having no knowledge of the Zonai and expressing shock when seeing the ruins. Finally, Ganondorf explicitly refers to Rauru and his sister as "the last of the Zonai" prior to the Imprisoning War, and Rauru doesn't deny this or make any sign that this is untrue.
There's one problem with my theory though... As much as I wish to deny the Ancient Hero being a biological Zonai, based on both physicality and timelines... he's wearing Zonai armour. Both the colour, shapes, and symbolism on the armour of the Ancient Hero's Aspect all align with Zonai culture, in fact, it's identical to the Zonaite armour set with the exception of a lack of helmet. It's hard to deny the armour itself is Zonai... but why can't it be? My theory is that the Zonai constructs imbued the armour they had with the aspect of the hero, but the armour isn't actually something he wore. Refer back to the Ancient Hero as presented in the tapestry. While there are a variety of colours on different parts of his body, so we can assume he was wearing some kind of clothes or armour, the locations of no particular colour actually line up with where the Zonai armour is. Ergo, he probably wasn't wearing it.
So... where does this leave us? The Ancient Hero isn't a Zonai, nor is he any of the races that remain in Hyrule today. My theory is it's actually sequel -- or I suppose prequel bait. The Zonai were almost entirely unmentioned in the original BotW. They are referenced at one set of ruins that are completely optional, and that's it. Weird to elevate a mystery so small if you didn't already have plans for it, eh? I think that's what's happening here. Whatever the ancient hero is, it is something for us to ponder over to hold our interest for the next game. Dare I say, a prequel set in the first Great Calamity? As for what his race actually is, I can only guess it is a new incarnation of an old beast race like Wolfos or Mogma. I don't really expect it to be an entirely new species like the Zonai a second time in a row, but Nintendo's done weirder things before.
So, whaddya think? Did I overlook some gaping hole? What is the Ancient Hero, and why did they model him like that?

Before I start this essay, let me be clear: Shuumatsu is one of my favorite mangas right now and also this my favorite fan-community for the past two years, i am not, by any stretch, implying that shuumatsu is a bad work of fiction, i believe it is a fantastic one... but no work of fiction is perfect, the writers are but human too and as such will have their weaknesses to their craft, and I, personally, believe that the notion that the authors struggle with the most is the literary notion of "killing the baby", and i wanted to write on it to share my view on the matter.
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"Killing the baby" is a notion that refers to the fact that an author should be able to scrap and discard notions that they really likes or plot-points that they believe are cool in favor to having a cohesive and balanced narrative. Or, in other words: never fall in love with an idea so much that your story has to adapt around that idea instead of the idea around the story.
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And I believe Shuumatsu's writers sometimes fall in love way too much with "things that sound cool" but that from a narrative perspective may be jarring, or result in some instances into Deus Ex Machina or characters with cool but unexplored aspects that are never brought up after.
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In the first two-three rounds this problem was rather small, because the world was starting to get their footing it meant that more freedom was allowed and the mangakas were able to make up the power-dynamics of the manga of both sides slowly. But as the manga went on, more and more small problems start to emerge narratively.
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Some are small: the idea that Heracles' powers are his labors is a really cool idea, but ultimately if you only show three of them and the remaining nine are never heard of or referenced after you have to question what was the point of tying the powers to the labors. This is not narrative-breaking by any means, but it is obvious that the idea of the powers being the twelve labors is a cool notion that we don't get to develop at it's full potential because the writers moved on from it. It is something that "sounds cool" in theory, but the moment the authors decided to not pay attention to that idea anymore because they only wanted to use three of them it becomes just that, a cool *IDEA*, not something with a narrative pay-off.
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Some are medium: Like the first four rounds having the humans be the underdogs of the round power-wise, forced to be smarter and face the fact that they'll never be on the same level as the gods unless they work around their own limitations or have some divine power of their own... a notion that, while really cool, gets abandoned more and more as time goes on with the human side and the god side being equal from the moment the fighters step into the arena. This is probably a result on the writers wanting to write something a bit less formulaic, but it does contradict the notions set up during the first rounds. This is because the writers at first thought that "the underdogs are the humans" sounded really cool... and then they no longer did... so instead of either sticking to the first set notion or justify narratively why suddenly the humans were generally equal to their rivals from the get-go they simply ignore it and move on, pretending as if that was never the case. Again, both the humans as underdogs and the humans as equals are cool ideas, but having both in the same manga can be tricky to pull off if you don't address it. As a result, we have debate on characters like Thor and Lu Bu, because with how the fight went either Thor is a beast that must be at leaps and bounds beyond 95% of the rest of the ragnarok, or Lu Bu is not as strong as he was portrayed to be, seeing how the disparity between this two fighters (considered to be equivalents and that the only difference between them is their species) is telling us that the gods will be better at combat in every instance by nature to the point where "the humans being equivalent is not enough, if the humans go in relying only on their abilities they will die, they will have to get creative"... again it is a cool idea, but not one that held up specially well beyond the first four rounds.
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And, in some instances... We have BIG problems writing wise because an idea "sounds too cool to pass" but is executed somewhat poorly:
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-This is where the Deus ex machinas start rolling, this is where Buddha is able to volund with Zerofuku despite Zero being dead and, according to the rules of the ragnarok, ERASED, for several minutes.
A really cool idea and works fantastically for the themes of the fight... but it makes little sense in-universe... I get that Buddha is the creator of the Volund and as such he could have a more powerful version of it... but Buddha basically created a volund with someone with an ERASED soul because he touched a stick... it's the equivalent of a valkyrie getting killed and then a human making a volund with her left arm only... it's weird when you think about it.
It's a good idea, but I don't know how well it fits with the rules of the universe.
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-This is where characters get more ideas presented than the narrative can handle, this is where Qin (god forbid the absolute shitshow that will happen in the comments because of what i'm about to say) has five stances of a martial art, an eye-ability of shared pain, a backstory where he dealt with a divine being contradicting the previously set rules of the manga, a curve of fighting ability in his backstory that has a couple of plot-holes in them, a revolund that had no set-up and an armor called "the best defense" that did basically nothing during the fight because he was already avoiding most of the attacks and it got destroyed the first time it got a direct hit (not that it matters because it was able to revolund anyway, instead of knocking the valkyrie out like it happened with R1 when Randgriz got destroyed by Thor's Hammer), a fighter that looses an arm but it has no impact on how well he can still move or fight, a fighter that despite being told by the narrator that he can barely move and his vision is blurry and is barely standing up manages to pinpoint and raise the sword to the perfect millimeter needed to destroy Hades' spear, and a character that shouts "I WANT TO WIN TOO" like Sasaki and, while it was obvious that the intent was that he was talking about the fact that he always was doing what others expected of him and this was him fighting for himself at long last this was not set up well, because outside of his backstory where he mentioned it ONCE that problem was never brought up before or after and even in his backstory that seemed to get resolved by the time he was a teenager. It's a really cool set of ideas, they are not implemented in the best way.
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As a result we have a controversial character with a split community. (All of this ideas are really creative and engaging... roll them all into a single character with only 9 issues to develop him in a manga that is supposed to be about TWO characters at once and you will have a bit of a mess writing-wise. I assure you, if a couple of this ideas were scrapped and the authors only kept a few of these and developed them better instead of adding idea after idea into the pile, Qin would be a much better regarded character...
keep the backstory, keep the bubbles, keep the personality, keep the result of the round but erase the ChiYou interlude, say that the seeing Ki thing was what ChuYan taught him as a martial art and he developed it to the extreme instead of trying to pull the "he fought so much he unlocked a new ability", make him enter with the sword in hand from the beginning, allow him to play with the martial art, bubbles and sword and ditch the ChiYou five stances except for crossbow and i'd say you'd have a much MUCH more generally beloved character instead of a controversial one... because what we have is a character that doesn't seem to fit with the rest story-wise because he has too much on his plate. This is just an example, not saying my version is better, i'm just saying that there are ways to keep the general feel for the character without needed so many notions to make him work.)
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I don't want to make this longer but there are a couple of other examples.
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"Killing the baby" is an extremely important notion, it allows for balance among the characters and it allows for more solid character-writing and also makes stories flow better. Shuumatsu is a fantastic work of fiction, but it does struggle to scrap cool ideas (as any of us would, if you are a creative person or write for characters you understand how hard it is to spot when you are blinded by a concept). That is natural, as authors who are passionate for their work and craft can sometimes be blinded by that passion and fall in love with a character or an idea, and while that love is a perfect catalyst to write fantastic stories it is a double edged sword, where if you are not careful it could put a tiny dent on an otherwise perfect story or character.
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I won't bother you anymore, this is long as heck as it is, and i realize that this will probably be my most controversial view, post and essay. it is not easy to crticise something you like and it's even less easy to do so in a community that you adore, so when you all throw tomatoes at me... throw the ones without the rock inside, please, those hurt.
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But tell me what you think, i'd love to hear your opinions on this.

I made a offhand comment yesterday to clear up a misconception about Guilliman and the Emperor, and found today to my surprise that I had managed to provoke the wrath of the reddit hivemind. Normally I would just shrug and move on, but the thing is that Guilliman's title of Imperial Regent—and how exactly he acquired it—is a significant plot point in the Dark Imperium trilogy. It's specifically the reason why he is so bitter towards the Emperor. An Emperor who can still speak clearly and say something like "you will assume this title and do these tasks" is not an Emperor that Guilliman would renounce.
Remember that Guilliman was revived on Macragge, far from Terra, and it was on Macragge that he learned about the past ten thousand years. And he did not take it well, to say the least.

Guilliman’s anger spilled over, and he span on his heel, staring up at the woven Emperor with accusing eyes. ‘Why do I still live,’ he snarled. ‘What more do you want from me? I gave everything I had to you, to them. Look what they’ve made of our dream. This bloated, rotting carcass of an empire is driven not by reason and hope but by fear, hate and ignorance. Better that we had all burned in the ires of Horus’ ambition than live to see this.’ Guilliman is shocked, angry, depressed, and who can blame him? But he can’t show it. None of it. He needs to stay calm, and strong, and in perfect control. For everyone else’s sake.
Anger surged through the Lord of Ultramar, and he clenched his fists with the effort of self-restraint. He imagined destroying this chamber, tearing it apart and hurling its wreckage around like a wild beast. He dared not, lest these strangers in his Chapter’s livery see through his facade. Though he wrestled with despair, the Primarch knew that he could not let his weakness show. Calgar, Tigurius, Agemman, all the others – they looked at him as though he were the Emperor himself. Guilliman was painfully aware of his symbolic quality, and of how desperate and dark the hour had become. He must show nothing but strength to his gene-sons, lest his despair taint their hearts, too.

But not all hope is lost for Guilliman, because he knows that on Terra, his father still lives. On Terra is the one person to whom he can turn to for help, for guidance, for just a second of relief from the crushing weight of responsibility. A person for whom he need not pretend that he has all the answers and lie that everything will be all right when it’s screamingly obvious that he doesn’t and it won’t be.

The Primarch announced his intention to set out upon a great journey. Once before, when the Dark Gods had threatened the Imperium of Mankind, the Primarch of the Ultramarines had reached Terra too late to do his duty. He would not make that mistake again. Guilliman intended to journey to Terra, to kneel at the foot of the Golden Throne and ask his father for guidance.

- Gathering Storm: Rise of the Primarch
So off he goes on the Terran Crusade, battling his way through Magnus, and Kairos, and Huron, until he finally reaches Terra and drives Chaos back from the moon. Then he turns around to find the Battle of Lion’s Gate in full swing, another struggle in desperate need of a saviour, and dutifully plays his part yet again. Then he gets the grand tour of Terra’s decrepitude, and gets to see just how far the Throneworld has fallen.

We could not hide just how desperate things had become. He could see for himself the unnatural storms raging in the atmosphere, and witness the darkened profile of the defunct Astronomican fortress. He could see the walls stuffed with defenders and the smouldering, half-derelict stretches of the city beyond the walls. Perhaps worst of all, even when we got him inside the intact precincts, to the holiest and the most immaculate of our citadels, he looked at them as if they were some kind of insult.

- The Emperor’s Legion
And finally, exhausted, embittered, but enduring nonetheless, Guilliman gets to see his father.

He had gone in to see what his father had become. Guilliman had been thousands of years dead. He had spent subjective years lost in the warp to come to Terra, only to find an empire of ruin laid starkly before his disbelieving eyes. All building to this fateful moment.
‘Father,’ he said, and when he had said that word, it was the last time he had meant it. ‘Father, I have returned.’ Guilliman forced himself to look up into the pillar of light, the screaming of souls, the empty-eyed skull, the impassive god, the old man, yesterday’s saviour. ‘What must I do? Help me, father. Help me save them.’
He looked at the Emperor of Mankind, and could not see. Too much, too bright, too powerful. The unreality of the being before him stunned him to the core. A hundred different impressions, all false, all true, raced through his mind. He could not remember what his father had looked like, before, and Roboute Guilliman forgot nothing.
And then, that thing, that terrible, awful thing upon the Throne, saw him.
‘My son,’ it said.
‘Thirteen,’ it said.
‘Lord of Ultramar.’
‘Saviour.’
‘Hope.’
‘Failure.’
‘Disappointment.’
‘Liar.’
‘Thief.’
‘Betrayer.’
‘Guilliman.’
He heard all these at once. He did not hear them at all. The Emperor spoke and did not speak. The very idea of words seemed ridiculous, the concept of them a grievous harm against the equilibrium of time and being.
‘Roboute Guilliman.’ The raging tempest spoke his name, and it was as the violence a dying sun rains upon its worlds. ‘Guilliman. Guilliman. Guilliman.’
The name echoed down the wind of eternity, never ceasing, never reaching its intended point. The sensation of many minds reached out to Guilliman, violating his senses as they tried to commune, but then one mind seemed to come from the many, a raw, unbounded power, and gave wordless commands to go out and save what they built together. To destroy what they made. To save his brothers, to kill them. Contradictory impulses, all impossible to disobey, all the same, all different. Futures many and terrible raced through his mind, the results of all these things, should he do any, all or none of them.
‘Father!’ he cried.
Thoughts battered him. ‘A son.’
‘Not a son.’
‘A thing.’
‘A name.’
‘Not a name.’
‘A number. A tool. A product.’
A grand plan in ruins. An ambition unrealised. Information, too much information, coursed through Guilliman: stars and galaxies, entire universes, races older than time, things too terrifying to be real, eroding his being like a storm in full spate carves knife-edged gullies into badlands.
‘Please, father!’ he begged.
‘Father, not a father. Thing, thing, thing,’ the minds said.
‘Apotheosis.’
‘Victory.’
‘Defeat.’
‘Choose,’ it said.
‘Fate.’
‘Future.’
‘Past.’
‘Renewal. Despair. Decay.’
And then, there seemed to be focusing, as of a great will exerting itself, not for the final time, but nearly for the final time. A sense of strength failing. A sense of ending. Far away, he heard arcane machines whine and screech, close to collapse, and the clamour of screams of dying psykers that underpinned everything in that horrific room rising higher in pitch and intensity.
‘Guilliman.’ The voices overlaid, overlapped, became almost one, and Guilliman had a fleeting memory of a sad face that had seen too much, and a burden it could barely countenance. ‘Guilliman, hear me. ‘My last loyal son, my pride, my greatest triumph.’
How those words burned him, worse than the poisons of Mortarion, worse than the sting of failure. They were not a lie, not entirely. It was worse than that. They were conditional.
‘My last tool. My last hope.’ A final drawing in of power, a thought expelled like a dying breath. ‘Guilliman…’
It felt to Guilliman like his mind had exploded. There was a blinding flash, and the king and the corpse and the old man overlaid and overlapped, dead and alive, divine and mortal. All judged him.
Guilliman staggered from the throne room.

- Godblight
There is the fruit of his efforts, and what bitter fruit it is. That is what he journeyed across the galaxy, through fire and fury and hellspawned horror, to find. A psychic monstrosity bludgeoning him with raw power and the harsh truth of his reason for existing. An indifferent creator whom he had genuinely loved. And one that wouldn’t—couldn’t—guide him, because that hideous thing on the throne is so far past coherent human speech that concepts like titles and commands are a bad joke. He is alone. Alone in a galaxy of nightmares, without even the comfort of the lie of hope.
And worst of all, he still can’t show any of it. He can’t tell everyone that his hopes were shattered and his responsibility redoubled, and that he must carry it all on his shoulders with no help from his father. He can’t tell anyone anything.

Guilliman emerged grim-faced, his skin ashen. He gave orders that the lords and ladies of power be assembled, for he had news to give them, that he would assume the role of regent as his father commanded, and work towards the restoration of His Imperium. But he would not say what he had seen, nor what the Emperor had said. To those who dared asked him, he presented a stony silence.

- Avenging Son
The only thing he can do is keep pretending that all is well. Do not give in to doubt or fear, my sons. Keep calm and carry on, for I am the Imperial Regent and my father watches over us and everything is as it should be.

‘I can feel His love for humanity,’ said Mathieu. ‘I can feel it all around me!’ He hesitated in his rapture. ‘Tell me, oh lord regent, truthfully – does the Emperor love us, my lord? Do not say I am wrong!’
Mathieu’s question pushed Guilliman deeper into melancholy. More than anything, he yearned to speak with his foster father, Konor, one more time. He had been a noble soul, one who could be trusted. A true father.
‘My lord?’ said Mathieu
‘The Emperor loves us all,’ lied Roboute Guilliman

- Dark Imperium
As if that wasn’t enough of a burden, the only ones who know the truth taunt him about it.

‘I know with unshakeable certainty that I perform the duty I was created for. That I fight for the preservation of mankind.’
‘Then you do not fight for the Emperor?’ asked Mortarion, his voice an insinuating rattle.
‘I fight for what He believed in.’
‘An advocate’s quibbling. You fight for yourself.’
‘I remain a champion of humanity, whereas you are the lackey of evil.’
‘Am I?’ said Mortarion. His wings beat softly. ‘Then tell me, Roboute, if our father were so good, look me in the eye and tell me that He loved us all as any father should love his sons.’
Guilliman stared at him, his jaw clenched in anger.
Mortarion laughed. It began as a wheezing in his lungs, thick with phlegm, rattled up his dry throat, and clacked his teeth together behind his breathing mask before hissing out in puffs of yellow gas. ‘You know, don’t you, Roboute? You’ve seen it.’ He wagged one long, skeletal finger at his kin. ‘I knew something was different about you.’ He leaned close. ‘You spoke with Him on Terra. Tell me, what did He say? Did He plead to be released? Did He beg you to be set free from His Golden Throne?’
Guilliman said nothing.
‘Oh, my brother, it cannot be,’ Mortarion said in mock horror. ‘Did He say nothing? Is our father dead?’ He stood back and shook his cadaver’s head. ‘Of course He isn’t, is He? Not in any real sense. Beings like Him are beyond mortality.

- Plague War
I am no primarch, no transhuman demigod, but I still remember when I was nine and I had to take my five year-old brother to the park at night so he wouldn’t hear our parents shouting at each other again. How it felt to smile and tell him yes this was normal and of course everything was fine and wasn’t it great that we had the swings to ourselves? The sheer bloody unfairness of having to carry a burden that shouldn’t be yours, and smile through it, because someone even more vulnerable needs you to tell them that it will be all right. The lie sticks in your throat, and it burns.
That’s what the title of Imperial Regent means. That’s why Guilliman is so bitter. That’s why he renounced the Emperor as his father.

‘You saw, my lord. You saw your father’s light!’
‘He is not my father,’ Guilliman said. ‘He created me, but I assure you, priest, that He was no father. King Konor of Macragge was my father.’

- Plague War

Hello everyone. I'm a little late to the game, but I'm currently playing BOTW and have completed over 60 shrines and obtained three divine beasts. I know I'm not close to fight Ganon , but I've spent the previous few hours gathering as much material as possible in preparation for a future attack. My son enjoys seeing me play because he enjoys the plot, the combat, and the puzzles. He began to love Link so much that whenever we went to the woods, he would grab a stick and shout, "Daddy, look, I'm Link." My problem is that he also wants to play the game, which I know is difficult for him. This, along with the fact that he uses all of the weapons, potions, food, and meals, forces me to restart. I tried to start a new game with him, but he found it annoying because he didn't have all the gears and going around with three hearts is difficult. So, are there any other parents out there that are playing this game with their children? What exactly have you done? Can I make a duplicate of the game and let him play on this profile?

Hi, I'm Dart, a wannabe writer and aspiring mangaka. I'm currently writing a story about Hunting but the Hunting is primarily Giant Magical Beasts that threaten humanity. Here's the outline of the plot: 800 years ago, the known world was destroyed by various wars and pestilence and only 30% of humanity survived. However, another continent was discovered teeming with all sorts of new lifeforms and able to house humans and they conquered it. However, the greatest threat to humans is no longer war, weapons or pestilence. No the greatest threat to humanity is now the dangerous Beasts that roam Pangea. 800 years later, Hunters exist to defeat Beasts and protect humans. (Note: this story is not AOT or Kaiju no.8. It's more like HxH and One Piece with its Beasts, and characters, many of whom are very unique.) Hunters must undergo a prestigious Exam to gain licenses which is very deadly with a pass rate of 30 percent. The main character Kon is a teenager who grew up listening to the stories of his grandfather's hunts decides to be a Hunter and hunt the mythical Dragon. What I need help with is how to write story arcs to such a story since I've got characters etc. In mind but don't really know how to write story arcs. What I do have in mind, is the story looks and feels like the world's of my four inspirations and has themes from all but its main theme is "Bravery to chase and complete ones dream".
Thanks guys for your suggestions and advice!

I'm bored at work tonight and I have 6 hours left in my shift. Please don't read this if you want something insightful I'm just working through my thoughts about the current state of discussion online. I wanted to write up a small thing over Destiny's latest video and focus on the YouTube comments. The more I see discussions in these spaces the more I don't know where I could actually go to have a genuinely thoughtful and good faith discussion online. YouTube is obviously a biased selection of the more idiotic type of comments but all over this subreddit and all over Twitter I will see paragraphs written about things that seem to just be ill informed and presumptuous from the start.
I'm not even a hardcore Destiny fan, I think I've posted in this subreddit twice. I watch a lot of his YouTube videos but I've only tuned in to a couple streams over the years. I enjoy most of his podcast appearances and respectful debates and I avoid the shouting matches and heavy drama stuff for the most part. I really like his takes on culture and relationships and they've helped me grow a lot in my personal life. I see so many fans of his or what I assume are fans of his commenting on videos and tweets and threads. They feel less like people who found a personality they enjoy and relate to and want to learn and grow from, and more like fanboys trying to imitate someone they think is cool. To me it feels like if you idolize Destiny you would want to take his advice and incorporate it into your life and not just try to do what he does because he looks cool doing it.
I once replied to a tweet he made about the East Palestine situation talking about my personal experience because I live in Ohio and I heard about it all as it happened before the conspiracy theorists latched onto it weeks later. Destiny's tweet was about how the news reported it when it happened and no one other than those close to it cared so they stopped reporting on it. I replied confirming that I heard about the news as soon as it happened because I only live a few hours away. We were updated on the situation throughout the day and I paid attention to it because I needed to know if I had to stay away from tap water if any chemicals had made it into the Ohio River. Me and my girlfriend were both worried about it. Someone, who I assume is a Destiny fan, replied to me along the lines of "Do you think Destiny cares where you live?" And I couldn't even think about how to start replying to them because of how weird they had read my tweet. Destiny said it was reported on and no one cared so they stopped reporting on it. I confirmed that it was reported on locally and it wasn't like the media was ignoring it. Somehow that was taken as me being contrary to Destiny and I was replied to by a fan derogatorily because of that.
It feels so weird to me how people are so comfortable jumping to conclusions and firing off replies with so little thought. I would be so embarrassed if someone pointed out something super obvious I overlooked in my smug dunk I just posted. I've heard IQ is based off of pattern recognition and it almost feels like people will recognize what they think is a pattern of a bad argument, not actually read the argument, fire off a nonsensical dunk and move on. When you actually assume someone has thought through a position then it's not hard to interpret a message in good faith and talk about it if you disagree.
Anyways, onto my main point. Destiny posted this video on his YouTube channel earlier today and as I was watching it and listening to his takes on things I was tying it back to things he's said previously on his self defense takes. I listened to his conversation with Pisco and remembered him talking about how he was planning on writing up a justifiable defense for killing someone over a blade of grass.
One of the clips in the video is a woman on TikTok filming a man and asking them repeatedly why they grabbed her wig off her head and just kept walking. The man appears to be drunk or out of it and just keeps smiling and mumbling as she keeps shouting the same questions over and over asking him why he would do that. The man was working for a law firm and ended up getting fired over the clip. Destiny was talking about how recording this after the fact and going after someone's job is a bad thing to do and he would consider it worse than calling the cops or beating the man up in response. He says going after someone's livelihood like that is a really bad thing to do in his opinion.
Looking at the comments on this video most are addressing that clip of the lawyer who got fired. I see this comment with 38 replies. The comment seems genuine enough and the replies seem genuine enough. Most seem to be arguing over whether snatching a wig and someone's hat is equivalent and could be justified with force. Some are arguing that snatching a wig could genuinely cause physical harm to the person and the response was warranted. I only see a couple comments addressing what I would call the meat of the issue. Is blowing up someone after the fact and going after their livelihood a justifiable response to assault?
With respect to Destiny's kill someone over a blade of grass thing. If you were to beat up someone for snatching your wig or call the cops on them and report them for assault, that feels like an entirely different beast than going after their job and their livelihood. Recording a confrontation after the fact and trying to blow them up over it seems more like revenge and less like self defense to me. I could be convinced that you could be justified in killing someone if they tried to take your wig and things escalated. It does feel to me like going after someone's job because of something they did that is no longer a threat to you is a bad thing.
I don't really feel sorry for the guy for being a dumbass, but I do think the revenge filming for doing a bad thing and reporting them to their employer is a bad thing to do. Everyone does dumb shit every once in a while. I would be screwed if I was held liable by my place of employment for dumb shit I did off work years ago when I first started.
The same way it feels wrong for payment processors to deny your transactions based on the work you do, it also feels wrong for employers to fire people for dumb things they do off hours that are not related to the company.
Other comments feel a lot less thought out and I can't ever imagine myself comfortable posting something similar. This comment seems so obviously dumb to me. I dont even watch the vods and I remember his position on this clearly. His problem wasn't someone throwing an egg at him. It was that someone posted his current location online and encouraged people to go to him and throw an egg at him. If someone posts where you are and says hey go assault this person then it's probably fair game to dig through their public info and report that behavior to an employer. I don't know if I would necessarily call it a good thing or say I agree with it but it definitely isn't "My assault bad, this assault ok" Just a dumb nonsensical dunk that doesn't hold up to scrutiny. If you watch Destiny and believe when he says he thinks about his positions why would you assume he just makes random justifications that don't hold up? How do you think he got through arguing about the egg thing when it happened? Why would you mischaracterize his position so much for this? To me it feels like someone saw a pattern of logic that was almost close to another pattern of logic, threw them both together and sent a comment off. Why write off someone who is very popular for debating and thinking through positions so easily? Destiny is known for knocking down paper tigers over and over again because he can argue their side better than they can. Why would he have such a flimsy justification here?
This comment could have a point if Destiny hadn't addressed it specifically in this video. He doesn't feel like assault and attacking someone's livelihood is equivalent. Especially after the fact. Argue against that point, not the point that he already addressed. As a side note, the phrase "This is such a weird take from x" annoys me. Just say you think it's dumb, why try to characterize it as them being contrary to their values or something. If you agree with their stuff but this one feels off to you, investigate that. Don't just be like "huh that's weird" and give it no further thought. Why is it weird to you? Why do you think it doesn't line up with other things they've said? Does it actually go against their values or are you misinterpreting something?
This comment is some of that good remedial shit. So cocky and so off the mark. His whole point is the reason she's recording it is for clout and to get the guy in trouble. He says he would rather the guy get beat up or reported to the authorities than try to hunt down the guy's place of employment and get his job taken away from him. If you actually disagree with that take then argue against that take not these stupid mischaracterizations of his takes that make him easy to defeat. If you can't argue against the actual position and you have to make it dumber so you can win you're just giving yourself a participation trophy.
I know YouTube comments are supposed to be the bottom of the barrel but honestly I feel like I see the same shit just as poorly thought out all over Twitter and all over this subreddit. I don't think most people engage in discussion on social media in good faith and I wouldn't know where to go to actually do so. It all feels like poorly thought out dunks and seeing people be smug about it is just annoying.
Hopefully that all doesn't come across as an aimless string of run on sentences and I actually communicated my thoughts coherently. No TLDR for this, it's not an important post. Read it or don't. Feel free to roast me on not communicating my thoughts effectively. I'm kind of just shooting my thoughts into the ether here, I don't even know if this could be considered an actual effort post.
Also just to note, posts like this are exactly what I'm talking about. At least some of the comments here are reasonable.

She was the first of her kind, the first child born with both mortal and divine blood flowing through her veins. Her mother was Nyx, the goddess of the night and moon while her father had been a talented amd ambitious sorcerer. Their love was forbidden and the gods tried to force Nyx to turn her back on the mortal, Nyx adamantly refused and eventually gave birth to a daughter.
As the child grew so did her power, reluctantly the gods had little choice but to acknowledge her amd so the time came for her to be tested. They wished to see whether she was worthy of taking her place amongst them, they believed she woukd be honoured but they neglected to take into account the mortal side of her. Why should she live amongst those that considered her less? She had the power to claim the mortal world and rule it as her own kingdom.
Turning her back on her divinity, Mephala sort to take control of the mortal world and shape it in her image. Sure the mortal races would resist but she would bring them to heel. She created a new type of sorcery, a sorcery using blood. She gathered followers and taught them this vile sorcery, granting power to those not lucky enough to born with magic and creating the first blood shamans. Her acolytes weren't enough and she would need an army, one she found within a primal group of orcs. With her blood sorcery she corrupted and changed them, creating the first Urai.
Within the ranks of the Urai, she choose the strongest amd twisted them even more, these would become the blood marked. With everything in order, she brought war and started with the continent of Elythia. Divided, the mortal races were quick to be overwhelmed and driven to the brink of defeat. It was only when they banded together that they managed to resist, heroes arose and blessed by the gods themselves they were able to to eventually defeat and vanquish Mephala. They believed that defeatimg Mephala would cause her forces to collapse and they were partly right, her followers scattered and her armies fled and disbanded but she was a corruption. Whilst her physical form perished, her influence remained, at least in secret it did.
1500 years passed, history became legend and the world moved on.....
Panic gripped the city of Harwatch, citizens huddled behind its great walls while guards stood alongside adventurers, mercenaries and almost anyone capable of holding a weapon or flinging a spell. Commanders barked orders whilst those in charge struggled to understand what they were seeing, of course they knew what they were seeing but processing it was another thing entirely. They knew the enemy advancing was Urai, many adventurers had taken at least one job to drive away the red skined brutes. What was difficult to comprehend was the numbers, Urai were tribal and rarely gathered in groups more them a dozen strong and never more then two dozen. Now they were seeing around a thousand making their way towards the city. If that wasn't problem enough, the champion of the city, a high ranked and valiant knight was nowhere to be seen. Unbeknownst to all but a few, the champion was at that moment clutching what remained of his arm, the cold hands of death slwoly closed in around him as an assassin moved to finish th job....
Hey there and thanks for reading this long. Currently I'm looking to start a new Role play set in the world that I have started to create. It is a medieval high fantasy world, think dungeons and dragons style. I'm looking for a partner 21+ that enjoys world building and character development, one that is happy to throw in their own ideas to not only develop the story but the world as well. Ideally I would love to create a story that combines action, adventure, drama and romance. As for roles, well I have nothing set in mind and so an oc could be anything, open to almost ideas. Please know that I only use discord, third person and looking for a partner that writes at around the adv. Lit level. Thank you amd feel free to send a message if this interests you.

Contains urine references and sacrilegious themes. Not sure if that needs a context warning.
Just having fun here, but the idea is that the narrator is peeing while her sink faucet drips at the same time—and she turns it into a divine competition of who can stop ‘dripping’ first. Haha. Thanks! … … … “Drip”
I rise to my cathedra, A pale and white bowl—immune to my guts. Tarnished by ammonia and sin, A pious crystal turns yellow.
The communion is interrupted By another spout— A sterling faucet belts out A more saintly and pure song.
O my, I am tickled By this antonym game. The warm waters beneath me Are not very just or bonafide.
No, not anymore Leaky tap. Each drop, a race to devout dominion. And I, dirty and organic
Trying to outrun your righteous pipes. How foolish. The ongoing war between man and its industrial baby Has reached my timid bathroom.
You, sir have consistency— But I, a beast of twenty Have adaptability. My flesh shrine
Adjusts to your calculated speed. Mind and un-matching bodies Each a harmonious chorus.
But you do not fool me! O no, rusted pipe. Your saintly choir will not finish Before my yellow devil.
A split in between my legs instead of my hooves— But do not be deceived, O holiness O no, do not be deceived! For I am still the Beelzebub.
My unholy choir has come to a dry halt And now I know I have won. God is dead— Yes, God is dead!
I rise again with my horns above me While you still drip on— But your efforts are fruitless, O Lord— I will not wash my hands.

“The men of Isra’el went out from Mitzpah, pursuing the P’lishtim and attacking them all the way to Beit-Kar. Sh’mu’el took a stone, placed it between Mitzpah and Shen, and gave it the name Even-‘Ezer [stone of help], explaining, ‘Adonaihas helped us until now’.”-1 Samuel 7:11-12

Alrighty, let’s get our bearings.
So with supernatural help from the Lord, the Israelites have just mopped the floor with the Philistine army.
The “supernatural help” I’m referring to was the loud thundering from the heavens and a feeling of terror the Lord had caused to well up within the enemy soldiers.
As a result, the Philistines were scattered in all directions.
When we examine this story closely, we see the Israelites really didn’t have to do any fighting at all.
The Philistines had crossed over the border into Canaan to punish Israel for holding what they saw as unlawful assembly at Mitzpah.
But before they could make any headway, the Lord struck their butts down!
Historically, we can see the defeat was just as psychologically devastating as it was physical.
The Philistines were so humiliated that afterwards they ceased stepping foot into Israel for quite some time after that.
The battle also resulted in a power shift and a new political reality coming into place.
The victory was memorialized by Samuel erecting a stone site near the battle site.
Keep in mind, this was the same site where Israel had lost 34,000 men earlier fighting the same enemy.
The Lord had in his sovereignty and divine providence tipped the scales back from one direction to another.
The Philistines had been put back in their place by divine decision.
As a result, Israel enjoyed several years of peace.
This period would give them the stability they needed to to transition from a loosely held together alliance of tribes to a united nation ruled by ONE king.
And that’s your takeaway for today.
God reverses the fortunes of men at His will.
All Israel had to do was repent and obey…
And then the Lord took care of the enemy for them…
It was grace through and through.
They didn’t need superior weapons or manpower.
All Israel needed to do was surrender to the Lord.
And the same goes for you too…
All you have to do is repent and obey…
You don’t need to be cool…
Or possess crazy amounts of money or power…
Just surrender to the Lord…
And let His Grace flow into your life unstoppable and unhindered.

Race Information

• Name: Great Ocean Road Running Festival - Half Marathon
• Date: May 21, 2023
• Distance: 21km / 23km
• Location: Apollo Bay, Australia
• Website: https://greatoceanroadrunfest.com.au/
• Time: 2:53 (21.1km) / 3:09(23km)

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	Finish?	Yes
B	Sub 3h	Yes

Splits

Mile	Time
1	I am a moron. Didnt even know this was a thing.

Training

A group of friends take part in the Great Ocean Road running festival each year. A few opted for the 6km or 14 but most chose the 23km. As a spry 31-year-old, I was brimming with an audacious belief in my own invincibility, a sentiment fueled by an intoxicating cocktail of youthful arrogance and a naively optimistic faith in my dormant athletic abilities. Flashback to that one glorious day I decided to sign up for a half marathon without having ever subjected myself to any form of formal training. Oh, the folly of it all! The idea seemed as bright as a neon sign in a dingy dive bar, lighting up my brain with the thought that surely, the regular trek between my couch and fridge would have prepped me sufficiently for the 21.1 kilometers of asphalt that lay ahead. Little did I know, I was about to embark on a punishing odyssey of sweat, tears, and perplexing questions about why all these people had camel-like humps on their backs.
Reality, that formidable party crasher, finally made its grand entrance two weeks before the event. It dawned on me that perhaps the herculean task of conquering a half marathon required a bit more preparation than a daily sojourn around my workplace. So, laced up and full of fiery resolve, I set out on my maiden voyage - my first run in nine years. There I was, huffing and puffing through a modest 3km, my lungs shrieking out in protest, and my mind coming to the frightening realisation of the task that lay ahead. With the tenacity of a stubborn mule, I persevered, collecting a grand total of 27 kilometers over a grueling fortnight. It wasn't the recommended half marathon training plan by any means, and the gap between my actual preparation and the upcoming event yawned wider than the Grand Canyon. But, true to my initial hubris, I was undeterred, believing that sheer willpower and my incredible talent of cramming at the eleventh hour would somehow translate to running prowess. It was a leap of faith that would have made Evel Knievel wince.
My final run, a modest but ambitious 6.5km, commenced with a spring in my step but ended with a mysterious sensation in my hip flexors that could only be described as a warning from my body. It was as if my muscles were murmuring in some cryptic biological Morse code, "Buddy, we didn't sign up for this." Over the following days, the cryptic murmurs evolved into a persistent nagging ache, like a petulant toddler pulling at my pant leg, making each step feel like I was wading through a quagmire of discomfort. My running aspirations were suddenly replaced with a simpler, more primitive goal - walking without grimacing. It became apparent that even a jovial trot to catch the bus was a mission impossible soundtrack away from a full-blown hip rebellion. Thus, the cruel joke was on me: instead of a rigorous last-minute training regime, I found myself in an unintended taper, hobbling around and fervently hoping that rest, ice, and sheer denial would heal me in time for the impending race. The irony was thicker than a bowl of oatmeal, and significantly less appetizing.
Despite my misadventures, I was nothing if not relentless. Waving the white flag just wasn't my style. The prospect of backing down felt akin to conceding defeat, and so, like a cowboy stubbornly mounting a bucking bronco, I decided to ride out the storm. At the unholy hour of 3:30am, I stirred from my uneasy sleep, my resolve as ironclad as my hip flexors were questionable. Driving to meet my friends, I was greeted by the inky black pre-dawn and a collection of unspoken questions, "Was I a fool for pressing on? Did I have what it took?" Yet the quiet camaraderie and the electric anticipation in the air quelled my doubts. There, amongst the quietly crashing waves on the rock face, decked out in my running gear that felt more like a warrior's armour at this point, I was ready. Ready to face the daunting half marathon, ready to test the limits of my resilience, and more than anything, ready to prove that my audacious endeavor was not the lunacy that, on multiple occasions, it appeared to be.

Pre-race

Pre-race preparation involved 6 weetbix, a gummy worm, and some ibuprofen to take the edge off. Knowing the pain that lay ahead, I simply tried to work out a gait that would allow me to finish and tried not to exacerbate the pain.

Race

Look, it was dreadful. With the starting pistol's blast, the collective rush of adrenaline, and the sea of determined faces all around me, I put my best foot forward into the ocean of asphalt. The race was on! My hips, however, were less enthusiastic about the ordeal. From the get-go, they delivered their protestations in no uncertain terms, like disgruntled tenants raising a ruckus. Each stride felt like an uphill battle, my muscles screaming louder with every kilometer. By the time I had hit the 5km mark, my body was staging a full-on revolt. The persistent sting had escalated into a searing hot protest, like fireworks going off in my hip flexors. Grudgingly, I conceded to my body's pleas for mercy, slowing my pace to a walk. The pride of the warrior within me crumbled a bit, but I wasn't ready to throw in the towel just yet. The race was far from over, and if I had to walk, limp, or even crawl to that finish line, I was going to get there, come hell or high water.
As I trudged along the breathtakingly beautiful Great Ocean Road, my appreciation for the scenery was tempered by the symphony of discomfort my body was orchestrating. Majestic cliffs and rolling waves framed my torturous journey, their beauty a stark contrast to the sheer physical adversity I was enduring. The azure expanse of the ocean matched only by the limitless pain that held me in its unyielding grip. Every single step sent a jolt of agony through my protesting hips, each stride akin to walking barefoot on a path of hot coals. To add to this, a wicked stitch wove itself into my side, a cruel embroidery of distress. My knees, too, joined the chorus of complaints, throbbing with a rhythmic intensity that could have kept time for a marching band. As the kilometers dragged on, exhaustion cloaked me like a heavy, wet blanket, making every step feel like I was fighting against a strong undertow. The crisp sea air and the stunning tableau of the Australian coast were marred by the storm of pain brewing within me, a tumultuous tempest that I was determined to weather.
In the throes of this epic saga of endurance, I was not alone. My comrades-in-arms, two stalwart friends, shared in the agony of the quest, their trials and tribulations echoing my own, albeit to a far lesser extent. We trudged on, bound by the shared misery of our circumstance and the collective strength of our determination. Our conversation, typically rife with jovial banter and witticisms, had now taken on a new cadence: the cadence of survivors. We talked less, saved our breath, and let the simple act of being there for one another speak volumes. The synchrony of our suffering became a strange source of comfort, a reminder that we were in this together, come what may. Counting down the remaining kilometers became our mantra, the numbers a lifeline that tethered us to the ultimate goal. Every time we announced a kilometer conquered, it was a small victory snatched from the jaws of the Herculean beast that was the half marathon. Our journey was one of grit, grimace, and grunts of effort, an odyssey punctuated by the enduring power of friendship and the human spirit's unwavering resolve.
Like Icarus who dared to flirt with the sun, I had challenged the impossible and, in doing so, singed my metaphorical wings. Yet, unlike the tragic Greek hero, my tumble was met not with a fatal end but with the sweet taste of victory, albeit laced with the bitter tang of exertion and pain. My strides, whether they were apprehensive trots at the start or the painstaking shuffles towards the end, all culminated in the glorious moment of crossing the finish line. The official timer sneered a final verdict of 2 hours and 53 minutes for the half marathon, and 3 hours and 9 minutes for the added punitive kilometers - a time that made me slower than 92% of the pack. That statistic did little to dampen my triumph. For it was not in comparison to others that my victory lay, but in the audacity of taking on a task so monumental, in the defiance of pain and odds, and in the resilience to keep going when every fiber of my being screamed to stop. I had run a race that was so much more than just a half marathon. I had run a race against myself, against my limitations, and came out on the other side battered, bruised, but oh so gloriously alive.

Post-race

The race's aftermath found me in a two-week waltz with a limp, my body a living testament to the fierce battle fought and won. I weathered a sea of concerned inquiries from friends, family, and co-workers who had the combined look of awe and 'I told you so' in their eyes. But underneath the lingering aches and shared commiseration was a newfound spark of determination. My body may have been temporarily out of commission, but my spirit was invincible.
Far from being a deterrent, the ordeal has ignited a fire within me, as if the grueling half marathon was merely the spark needed to set ablaze my dormant potential. I find myself not cowed by the experience, but eager, excited even, to push my boundaries further. With the ghost of the race looming behind me, a quiet echo of my past recklessness and current grit, I am ready to throw myself into the fray once more. But this time, with wisdom on my side and a resolve forged in the crucible of the Great Ocean Road, I stand ready to see what feats I can truly achieve when I properly set my mind, body, and spirit to the task.
It was the beginning of a new chapter, one that was filled with promise, potential, and an utter absence of preparation. Next up: Melbourne Marathon. See you mongrels there!

What is the extreme terror which I remember more profoundly than my profoundest euphorias? Do you know if informed professionals have anything cogent to say about such profoundly transporting feelings of terror? In posing these question I wish to bracket, or set aside, all the usual things that doctors emphasize, such as hallucinations and delusions. I'm mainly interested in the feeling.
Reading too much about global public affairs has always been a good way to get the paranoia going in me. I improved my life dramatically when I cancelled all my subscriptions to news magazines and newspapers and limited my online exposure to news and debate. I still keep my mind active with metaphysics and other things which are remote from the moral horror of the world at large.
I'm personally astonished that anyone can be transported so far, into a waking nightmare in which the world is a huge frightening puzzle and none of the pieces seem to fit. I don't even hallucinate much, but my thought processes go into explanatory overdrive, reaching an array of wild conclusions to explain the living terror and the signs from god.
Is psychosis necessarily dominated by the feeling of fear? I've had long periods dominated by fear to the point that the world around me starts changing in spooky ways that aren't "in my mind", i.e. that others witness and comment upon consonant with my own undisclosed fears. I've also had allegedly psychotic content which is not fearful but is in fact gentling and calming and reassuring.
When I have a pure euphoria, of a kind in which it is just obvious that the world is blessed and pure, and god is my right hand person, I don't feel fear. In fact I feel fearless. What's more, I think everything is absolutely hilarious, and I will fall into hilarity at the drop of a hat.
For example, do you get "paradoxical laughter"? (This is the name doctors give it, with all the puzzlement of zookeepers faced with a strange unclassifiable specimen.) I get paradoxical laughter. I will start laughing at the very same time as tears are flowing, or when I am in the middle of a good long rage session. Hilarity is bigger than anger, bigger than sadness. Hilarity eats all anger and sadness whole. It reminds me of klezmer music in which melancholy and zaniness can be found in the same song or the simultaneously in the same musical refrain.
When I was doing some systematic reading several years ago, I found another image to describe the triumph of laughter over fear, in Mikhail Bakhtin's analysis of late medieval laughter:

It was the victory of laughter over fear that most impressed medieval man. It was not only a victory over mystic terror of God, but also a victory over the awe inspired by the forces of nature, and most of all over the oppression and guilt related to all that was consecrated and forbidden ("mana" and "taboo"). It was the defeat of divine and human power, of authoritarian commandments and prohibitions, of death and punishment after death, hell and all that is more terrifying than the earth itself. Through this victory laughter clarified man's consciousness and gave him a new outlook on life. This truth was ephemeral; it was followed by the fears and oppressions of everyday life, but from these brief moments another unofficial truth emerged, truth about the world and man which prepared the new Renaissance consciousness.
The acute awareness of victory over fear is an essential element of medieval laughter. This feeling is expressed in a number of characteristic medieval comic images. We always find in them the defeat of fear presented in a droll and monstrous form, the symbols of power and violence turned inside out, the comic images of death and bodies gaily rent asunder. All that was terrifying becomes grotesque. We have already mentioned that one of the indispensable accessories of carnival was the set called "hell." This "hell" was solemnly burned at the peak of the festivities. This grotesque image cannot be understood without appreciating the defeat of fear. The people play with terror and laugh at it; the awesome becomes a "comic monster."
Neither can this grotesque image be understood if oversimplified and interpreted in the spirit of abstract rationalism. It is impossible to determine where the defeat of fear will end and where joyous recreation will begin. Carnival's hell represents the earth which swallows up and gives birth, it is often transformed into a cornucopia; the monster, death, becomes pregnant. Various deformities, such as protruding bellies, enormous noses, or humps, are symptoms of pregnancy or of procreative power. Victory over fear is not its abstract elimination; it is a simultaneous uncrowning and renewal, a gay transformation. Hell has burst and has poured forth abundance.

When I am euphoric, truly and purely euphoric, without the aid of drugs, it is a triumph over fear and all reasons for fear. I feel like I can bear all the pains of the world like it's water off a duck's back. When I have these feelings, I tend to jump to the conclusion that it's because I am god, but if I am god then so is everyone, only some of us forgot.