Well, well, look who's inside again

Which is all to say once again that no one is doing it like Mob Psycho 100. Because Mob is unambiguously the most powerful entity in the world and he goes "Okay but that's not very interesting. Being powerful isn't a personality. I'm gonna try to improve myself in ways that matter."

I think that would be fun because it would offer them plenty of advantages but also nearly as many disadvantages. Like yeah obviously Riddle is going to go full unhinged tyrant on everyone's asses, they've seen Alice in Wonderland they know the Queen of Hearts, but Riddle having his breakdown because of his restrictive childhood and then overblotting would be like... okay wait no what the hell IS going on?

It would also still provide a mystery, maybe even more of a mystery than canon, because how come this world connects so strongly to a bunch of fictional films from Yuu's world and yet is so different? What from those films is reliable information, what actually intersects with the history of this world, how does it impact the situations at NRC, etc? What about the live action remakes? What is Mickey Mouse?

Like imagine the total mindfuck of a semi-casual Disney fan just waking up in the Twinkified Villain Boarding School version of their childhood films, absolutely figuring out Malleus as soon as they see him because that's definitely Hot Boy Maleficent, getting thrown by Silver because which villain is that is that like Frozen or something shit they didn't watch that one, assuming at first that Kalim is going to be Jafar because the Housewardens seem to parallel the villains but then oh nope that's the Sultan, Jamil is Jafar. In hindsight the aesthetics should have been a big clue, they'll keep an eye out for that in future. Etc, etc.

Ignihyde arc just throws them entirely because they're like, wait why is Hades a gamer? What is with the robot boy? Cyberpunk Pinocchio?

They pretty quickly figure out that the overblots are going to hit every house at least once, and they're going to hit the student who most closely resembles an iconic Disney villain. Journal full of notes wondering if it's like, the ghosts of Disney villains past trying to take back their lives by monster-ifying their bishounen expies? Ghosts are definitely a thing ("Casper?" underlined and question marked). Speculating on whether the Twisted Wonderland can only be influenced by properties that Disney owns the rights to. Are non-animated features on the table? Will Marvel and Star Wars expies start showing up in hot boy form at some point? Tron??? Or is it more like a cartoon/animated universe crossover deal? Could non-Disney classic animated films show up? They have a list of properties they aren't sure are Disney or not (Anastasia? No that wasn't... was it? Surely someone would have mentioned Rasputin by now if that was the case...)

Then they remember Kingdom Hearts exists and they have to construct one of those conspiracy theory boards to try and keep track of what they remember of the plots from the 3 games they actually managed to play and the online synopsis they browsed, and how that might impact their current situation.

Luckily they haven't seen any signs of Final Fantasy characters but they're not discounting the possibility that everyone's going to have to fight Sephiroth just yet.

For a long time, tumblr had tags and no other search function. You wanted to find a post that wasn't tagged, you had to go to Google and type in your query and add "site:tumblr.com" and hope for the best.

As it is now, that method is STILL better than our native search function most of the time, but the quality of tumblr's native search function isn't really what's important here, what's relevant is how they implemented it.

See, the search bar in the upper left corner of the site - you used to type in something there, and it would take you to posts tagged with whatever you searched. Then, one day, they quietly rolled out an update that instead brought you to a search page that pulled up nearly every post that even mentioned your search term.

This...did not mesh well with the site culture.

Because, see, we had an etiquette guideline - do not post your negativity in the public tags. Why? Because people go into the public tags to find content about things they LIKE. Posting hate in a public tag was basically seen as being a raging dramamongering pissbaby troll LOOKING to start a fight over petty nonsense.

So imagine, suddenly, you log in one day, and someone's sending you anons angry about you allegedly posting hate in the tags, when you have NEVER done so. You use what you THINK is the tag search function to prove it, and - what the hell? Your UNTAGGED post about how annoyed you are with your notp...is appearing there???

So people started censoring things like that. Usually not because we all think the thing we're complaining about is profane (though sometimes it does get a giggle to think of it as such), but to keep it from showing up when people are searching for what they love and to prevent pointless drama. To avoid looking like some asshole troll going onto a fan forum specifically for The Blorbo Show and making a thread entitled "THE BLORBO SHOW SUXXX AND YOU ALL SUCK FOR LIKING IT!!"

And now it's just part of our site culture, for both peacekeeping reasons and petty glee.

It runs the gamut on how big the favors he's owed, who owes him these favors and how happy they actually are to actually repay these favors.

There are everyday people in his neighborhood that owe him the equivalent of a ride home from work. There are heroes that owe him their lives or their careers. There are major villains that owe him more than they could ever possibly pay if he ever made good on the promises they made to him.

Some owe Mecha Man Blue, some owe Robert Robertson the Third, some the random fake identity he was using at the time he met them and helped them out. All of them, though - no matter how reluctant they might be about it - would answer if he ever called on them to settle up their debts.

He never does, though.

Because Robert is Robert, at the end of the day.

And because Robert thinks - believes with the certainty of a priest giving a sermon - that he's nothing but the empty space between all the things Mecha Man is supposed to be.

The idea of reaching out, of asking for help for something he feels is his duty alone to handle, for anything at all really, is anathema to everything Mecha Man and the legacy that came with it and the dead father that condemned him to such a life had taught him. A betrayal to the very life he'd dedicated himself to and the grave he'd been promised was waiting for him since his earliest memories.

So he never calls in any of the favors, just collects more and more and more of them over the years until the number of debts he's owed rivals the stars in the night sky.

Not until he starts working with the Z-Team.

He can't and won't use any of the favors he has piling up for himself, no matter how much easier it'd make his life, but for them? He'll make good on those old debts for them.

Prism suddenly fighting for her life against dozens of armed and dangerous super villains in what should have been a simple call to get an angry couple to calm down? When it becomes clear that no one else on the team is going to be able to get there in time before something bad happens, Robert reaches for his phone, calls a number he hasn't even thought of since it was given to him over a decade ago, and cashes in a favor.

For a moment, Prism thinks the situation has gone from bad to apocalyptic as one of the biggest, scariest, most dangerous villains in the entire country just casually walks in seconds after Robert told her he was going to get her help. But then said villain just... helps her? Guarding her like his fucking life depends on it while dropping bodies with a terrifying amount of ease, not letting any of the other villains she'd been trying to take on even look in her direction.

He politely offers her a handkerchief to wipe some of the blood off her face after everything is said and done. Tells her to let "that feral hellcat Robertson" know that accepting this as his debt being clear would be an insult and to keep his number on hand in case there's something actually worth his time that Robert wants to cash in that favor for.

Attempts to get answers about how Robert knows the Dispatch universe equivalent of Ra's al Ghul or why the man owed Robert a favor go unanswered.

(There is a non-zero chance that he's Robert's ex.

Flambae is seething about that fact, but only because he hates not knowing things and totally not because he has any strong feelings about Robert possibly having dated a villain, let alone one that Flambae might not actually be able to beat in a fight.

Not that he'd, you know, fight someone over Robert or anything.)

And it all just keeps happening.

Someone on the team will be in trouble, or will need help with something or any number of things, and Robert will make a call or text someone or - in one memorable instance that led to a powerful demon queen of hell showing up - draw a complicated symbol with his blood and boom. Problem solved.

The Z team has no idea how Robert knows these people (they can't all be his exes...right?) or how he's managed to rack up so many favors over the years or what about him makes it that everyone actually shows up and delivers when he calls those favors in.

What they do know is that Robert clearly hasn't been using his wealth of connections and the debts owed to him for himself. Man is sleeping on a plastic lawn chair because he doesn't have a bed even though last week a minor god of wealth and prosperity showed up to save Sonar's ass after a crypto scheme he got involved with (predictably) went south.

Obviously, in order to make sure they aren't stuck having to help random future assholes out when Robert ends up calling in the many favors they now owe him for helping them out so much, they're just going to have to help this poor, sad bastard themselves.

(Robert keeps trying to tell them that if they feel like they owe him any favors they could repay him by not aggressively trying to take care of him.

She’s the only one he can trust for this job…

Me: *unmutes it*

You grow up thinking you're a bastard child because EVERYBODY knows that your "father" was such a fucking pedophile there's no way he had sex with your "mother" at the age she had you. This is a horrible position to be in, but you take some comfort in it as an adult because this means you aren't actually in the line of succession and thus should easily be able to get out of it once your "older brother" has an heir.

You find out you look EXACTLY like the previous emperor.

So now you have to contend with THAT fucking horrifying realization, and the multitude of things it means.

A) OH GOD NO

B) You are a walking traumatic trigger for A LOT of women in your life and around you by simply looking the way you do. (As if Jinshi didn't already have SEVERELY complicated feelings about his appearance. Yet one more reason to be happy about the facial scar.)

C) You are, in fact, actually in the line of succession.

But at least the original plan still works! As long as your brother doesn't die before he gets an heir to an old enough age, you should be fine!

You do not yet know that you are in fact the current emperor's oldest son and therefore the heir due to baby swap hijinks.

If this information becomes known not only to you but to LITERALLY anyone else, you will never be able to escape becoming the emperor. (You would rather die.)

Your real parents know. The woman you are madly in love with also if not outright knows, then deeply suspects it.

You do not know that your brother's staunch insistince on prepping you to rule is because of this. You think it is because the current heir is still an infant and thus could die at any time.

You do not know why losing Ah-duo feels like losing a mother other than the obvious age gap and care she has shown for you.

what if the search team caught the Phantump

and they have to report to the family that their child may never come back as themself, but … perhaps you should have a look at this Pokémon. you might recognize it, or maybe it will recognize you

and okay, it may be a little bit harder to communicate with their little one now, and the future they imagined for the kid may not be a possibility anymore, but they found their baby, it’s right here, it’s safe, not to mention capable of pulling some sick magic tricks so nothing will ever be able to hurt it again

how many Phantump do you think live with their human families still, either because a rescue team caught them and sent them home, or because they found their way back eventually

how many children have kid siblings who just so happen to be Phantump, or big siblings who act like kid siblings because Phantump don’t grow up the same way human kids do

is there a network for people whose children have turned into Phantump so they can trade back and forth and let their little ones grow up into big strong Trevenant and move out into forests of their own

how many family reunions involve a Trevenant lumbering out of a nearby forest like [EARSPLITTING INHUMAN SCREECH] “oh hey, Brenda’s here you guys, welcome home Brenda”

just 

think about this for a moment ok

This is so predatory it genuinely makes me sick. I promise there are real people out there who would love to talk to you, chat bots will not solve your loneliness, they'll only make you feel worse.