#personal takes

THANK YOU FOR ASKING.

Utowin is a former class clown who somehow became entrenched with the prissiest, most straight-laced kid around. I have head canons that are silly and affect nothing (but become slightly more serious as we progress).

Utowin hogs the covers, either from the bed or whoever happens to be in it.

Utowin seems like the kind of kid with a huge sweet tooth, but he cares more about sharing than having.

Utowin is the kind of person with tons of friends, he's so likeable!, but if you asked him he'd only count two, maybe three as people who would consider the friendship mutual.

Utowin puts on a lazy, unbothered kind of air but its just because he grew up too fast. Easthies is part of the reason that happened. It's classic class clown bs, but he is actually deeply concerned about everything. Empathetic to the point of anxiety, even.

Utowin will become a much bigger part of the story because he, along with Luluci, are the ones who care enough to ask questions. This is a huge point of contention in his strained, verging on brittle relationship with his best friend.

I think Shen Yuan was an entitled asshole in his first life and that Luo Binghe was fucked up by the time he met Shen Qingqiu (regardless of it was Yuan or the genuine article) due to how similarly manipulative and cruel both his variants can be.

Also that Shen Qingqiu and Yue Qingyuan are fine for the time they exist in and that the crimes against Binghe pale in comparison to his own after in PIDW.

Omg thank you for the question!

I don't have any extremely hot takes or anything, I think I follow alot of other people's mindset, so here's my... Lukewarm takes.

1. Kon el's stories and development went downhill ever since the Lex Luthor retcon. Yes we all love the baby daddy jokes, but Lex has way less influence on Kon's origin than some people make it out to be.

2. It became clear to me that alot of people who are hating on the usual non-comic fans tropes are also people who haven't read the comics they're complaining about. But now instead of the more cringey but wholesome and harmless headcanons, we went into the opposite direction of making Alfred into the bad guy, and treating Jason like the devil. They're all complex characters with their own reasons behind what they did.

3. Speaking of complex characters, the discourse surrounding Bruce and Oliver's parenting is so dumb.. They are both bad parents, it's acknowledged in the text constantly. They were both young bachelors in over their heads about raising children into vigilantism, they both had seperate moments of acknowledging their mistakes and either apologizing or making up for them through the years. Their mistakes are not something that can be compared, either.

4. Someone not favoring certain characters is not always because of any social biases.. Acting like comic book fans "have no excuse" to not like XYZ character is outrageous. People may not be in the same circles as you, they might be reading something entirely different. Someone may not be a huge fan of Cassandra Caine.. Because they're reading JSA 1999. This kind of attitude will only drive people away from reading the comic you like.

5. This one is a personal taste.. I don't like the idea of Damian referring to Bruce as "baba" and I know this is exclusively a fanfiction pet peeve, and fanfic writers can do whatever they want. I just personally see the inclusion of random Arabic words mid-sentences to be out of character. Same can be said for the overuse of "Akhi" (translation: my brother) especially since that's not an overly used word.. Baba feels too casual for Damian's character, but again, write whatever you want, I'm not the fanfiction police!

And look, I love Claudia, and if she was allowed to grow up, she would be a fuck-ass vampire, but she wasn't. She was a kid forever stuck as a kid and as someone who was also a kid and very much Not Happy About That, I think it would be torture to live a life that way.

how is no one realising , that yhwach didn't hold back his quincy abilities- he held back his SHINIGAMI abilities.

What Yhwach did was take the quincy powers and IMMITATE shinigami powers. Which is the reason why Ichigos bankai was so baffling.

Because what it is, at its base is a Quincy Vollständig. with the key difference being that instead of absorbing the environment's reishi it pulled from Ichigo's inner reserves and then concentrated and amplified.

So yes- Byakuya was right.

It was a fake bankai, because it only imitated a quincy's take on it.

Which explains why, well there was nothing really for Ichigo to learn, to master about his bankai unlike other shinigami. Because the only thing too master was just the concentrated amount of spiritual pressure.

I know non manga readers won't know this as this was cut I believe from the anime because of screen time. But the reason Ichigo survived his fight with Kenpachi- aside Kenpachi basically limiting himself, is because of ブルート・ヴェーネ aka blut vene.

Ichigo was stabbed in the chest, bleeding out. When he reached out, when 'Old man Zangetsu' communicated with him, telling him they needed to work together- 'old man Zangetsu' made the decision to activate blut vene to stop the bleeding.

Because as he stated the only thing he cared about was saving and protecting Ichigo.

He only let Zangetsu , Shiro, teach Ichigo the bare minimum. Hell the fact Ichigo goes through the series into the TYBW Arc with only a Getsuga Tenshou and his amplifying hollow powers.

And for once it's not the bloody shounen disease nope.

It's a bloody stylistic plot related choice made by Kubo.

I’m gonna be completely honest, I more enjoy reading other people's theories than making my own up, so I’m just gonna talk about some (probably) already existing theories and add my two cents:

Consider this a diary entry explaining some of my thoughts on a few Critical Role characters. Avoid reading this post if you don't want my takes on Keyleth, Fjord, Ashton, Orym, Imogen, Percy, and Caleb.

So, I've noticed a common trend with my favourite characters across a variety of fandoms. I personally am an individual who gravitates towards characters with integrity, and rules for themselves that they follow. Characters that have lines in the sand that they can draw and then defend. It doesn't necessarily have to be rules put in place by society, it can be ones they made up for themselves. These characters oftentimes end up becoming the moral centre of their party, which adds another fascinating angle as they try to navigate maintaining their morals with a wider group filled with diverse opinions.

I suppose that is why Keyleth was my favourite Vox Machina character from pretty much the get-go! Her integrity was what endeared me to her throughout the entire campaign. She had opinions of what she thought was right and wrong, and she tried her hardest to enforce that view. Were there times when she learned she was wrong, yes. But she kept what she learned in mind and adjusted her internal monologue to see fit. Keyleth's integrity and unwillingness to engage in the overly amoral actions of Vox Machina created a lot of interesting dynamics.

In campaign two, Fjord quickly became my favourite for very similar reasons. He was the one to ask Beau to apologise to Toya and insist that the party help the Schuster kids so that they wouldn't be put in an orphanage. He also maintained a certain level of honesty with the rest of the party about his history and his mysterious dreams. In this case, Fjord wasn't necessarily 'good' (as he was comfortable with doing some pretty shitty stuff), but he still had expectations of himself and rules that he would not break.

I guess that is why Asthon and Orym are currently my favourite members of Bells Hells too. They both have convictions that they will not stray from and a certain level of integrity that the party honestly needs. Now, whether or not they are right is another discussion entirely, but the point is that they have the courage to stick to their guns even when the group is leaning in another direction.

People have been complaining that the takes on Imogen Temult are unfair, and some of those takes are unfair! But I won't shy away from the fact that Imogen is my least favourite member of Bells Hells (I still think they're all fantastic - including Imogen herself). She is my least favourite for exactly the reasons above. Imogen supposedly has internal rules, but we've seen her be more than happy to break them when they don't suit her at a given moment. She's said that she hates to pry into people's minds and that she avoids it wherever possible - but we see her willingly dive into the minds of people like Dorian without their consent. Imogen has stated that Laudna is the most important person in the world to her and that she loves her more than anything - but Imogen cannot look Laudna in the eyes and tell her that she won't side with Laudna's murderer. That doesn't make the character any less interesting, but it definitely makes it harder for me personally to like her.

I've seen a handful people across socials imply that if you like Percy or Caleb, but not Imogen - it's because she's a woman. This is where I wholeheartedly disagree. While the overly negative opinions of Imogen are harsh and unwarranted, Imogen is the first character whose allegiances I am genuinely uncertain about. Percy and Caleb have said and done truly awful things; I think we can all agree on that. And while they have considered leaving the group, it was under very different circumstances. For the longest time, Percy had nothing waiting for him outside Vox Machina, so the only time I feared he would leave the group was when he died (since Tal confirmed he would've been happy to stay dead). Caleb too, had very little beyond the Mighty Nein and he considered leaving them on multiple occasions. But never once did he consider leaving them to join their enemy. Now, had the M9 faced the Cerberus Assembly earlier in the campaign, that might have been different - but I never feared that Caleb would switch sides in the campaign we did get.

The thing is, Imogen does have something waiting for her: Lilliana and Predathos. I'm not sure about her allegiance, and that's where Imogen, Percy, and Caleb are different. While what Imogen has said/done has been tame compared to what Percy and Caleb have said/done - I know that the line Imogen is toeing is one neither of the others had dared to cross. Percy would never have considered joining forces with the Briarwoods, Thordak, or the Whispered One. Caleb would never have dared to join sides with Avantika, Obann, or Trent. But Imogen might.