#like half of my saved lore panels are about this

[wormsin]

"Bruce’s protective control and Dick’s perfectionist caregiving are core dysfunctions for their characters" oh this is such a beautiful, and perfectly fitting, way of describing them that ive ever seen! and it's really interesting to note that, their dysfunctions are.. how do i say it, 'complement' the other's? giving a 'perfect' looping feedback?

like, bruce's protective control pushes dick's perfectionist self to work even harder--to achieve the impossible and essentially makes him more desperate to take care of bruce, and in return this pushes bruce's protectiveness to another whole new degree which then lead to his need to keep everything under his control become even worse. and that makes it harder for them to break from the cycle (am i making sense? i hope im making sense)

hold my beer, I'm using this as an excuse to write the Bruce & Dick enneagram meta in my head.

"He's so determined to prove he isn't like Master Bruce it scares me. In their own way they are so similar that I thank heaven for the differences." - Alfred Pennyworth Batman 1940 #438

I've mentioned before that I use enneagram typing to characterize Bruce and Dick. like all personality typing, it's unscientific bogus. (this one is sold as a business tool lol.) but i find the types compelling.

first of all, their types

Bruce is an 8, the challenger or protector. an 8's ego is attached to the idea of vengeance—destruction of self or others out of a sense of injustice. if the person has a huge ego, has a deluded perception of the world, it is tied to the idea of vengeance. their "holy idea" is truth, which is basically a core value and potential. their trap is justice, which they think is the right path, but it will actually keep them stuck in their bullshit.

[Dick calls Bruce out on going too far as he's breaking down after Jason's death. Batman 1940 #439]

an 8's deepest fear is being controlled, harmed, or violated. their base desire is to be influential, self sufficient and protect themself. their temptation is to think that they are self sufficient.

like, you see why I like this for Bruce.

Bruce saw his parents being murdered and his reaction to that trauma was to control himself and create a powerful alternate ego that gets vengeance on Gotham's criminals and protects the innocent.

[Bruce appealing to family court to take in Dick. Batman 1940 #439]

at his worst, Bruce is a control freak who doesn't let anyone help him and has a warped sense of justice. so much emotional armor.

[Bruce possessed by Antithesis and lashing out at Dick, which Dick correctly identifies as a fear reaction. Teen Titans Year One #3]

at his best, Bruce is a strong leader, is willing to do what is right even at personal cost, wants to protect and help others fairly, and strives to create a better world.

[Bruce creating a victims advocacy program. Batman 1940 #217]

tl;dr Bruce is driven by fear of loss and compensates by controlling his world and protecting himself and others.

Dick is a 2, the helper or giver. 2's ego fixation is flattery, pleasing and giving to others in order to be liked. their "holy idea" is freedom/will; there's several interpretations of this but for Dick I see it as wanting others and himself to be free of metaphorical shackles and to fly. the 2's trap is also freedom: from having personal needs and needing others.

2's fear is being unlovable and their base desire is to be loved unconditionally. their temptation is to deny their own needs and be manipulative.

[Dick hiding his sadness as he leaves Wayne Manor for college. Batman 1940 #217]

[Hugo Strange psychoanalyzing Dick's relationship to Bruce. Batman Gotham Knights #11]

Dick is constantly pushing himself to the limit to be the perfect hero and mentor, and wants to help others but doesn't accept help himself. he maintains an image of being the bringer of light. I think being raised as a performer made him associate doing well and making people happy with love and family; after losing his parents he searched for that unconditional love from Bruce, being a hero, and romantic partners.

at his worst, he's prideful, and both ignores his own needs and sacrifices himself for others in order to get those needs met.

[Dick killing himself to save people in nuclear-bombed Bludhaven and feeling good about it. Nightwing 996 #116]

at his best, he is compassionate, helpful, parental, and warms the hearts of others.

tl;dr Dick is driven by fear of not having love and family, and compensates by caring for others and being perfect.

[Dick having a nightmare during a month's long mental breakdown. Nightwing 1996 #117]

you are correct: Bruce and Dick's personalities complement each other at their best and worse.

at their worst, Bruce is emotionally withholding and pushes Dick away. this is out of need to protect himself; any emotional intimacy or love is a threat because what if they die? Dick interprets this as not being good enough for Bruce's praise or a place by his side, and tries to be better. no matter how far gone Bruce is, Dick has to be the exceptional one who stays and loves him. the fact that Dick always comes back to him and gets under his skin makes Bruce lash out or become more controlling. so the cycle continues!

"That's what eats away at you at night—not just that you're forever in his shadow—but that you love him. That you're the loyal son who has never been allowed to truly help—never permitted to save him from himself." - Hugo Strange, Batman Gotham Knights #10

at their best, Bruce uses his own traumatic experience and leadership to better Dick's life. Dick is a ray of light for him. their fears are eased in relation to each other, they both help others and improve their world.

[Alfred remembers Dick early in his Robin career. Batman 1940 #438]

I think they have a lot to learn from each other. but they can also be deeply stuck in this dysfunctional cycle because they can both hold onto their negative delusions.

"I love Bruce. He's my family. But I couldn't bring him out of the past... I was sacrificing my own future. I don't want that for you... Trust me, Tim. At some point... you have to set yourself free." - Dick, Batman Urban Legends #10. demonstrates a healthy Dick's relation to an unhealthy Bruce.

#long post #bruce wayne #dick grayson #meta #brudick #batman #ask worm #i have so many panels I could pull as evidence #like half of my saved lore panels are about this #god i spent so much time on this #i'm right about them

[linkspooky]

What are your thoughts on the Al ghuls?

My second favorite dysfunctional family (behind Slade Wilson, his ex-wife, his butler, his children and Terra which I collectively call the DeathFam). The Al Ghuls specifically Ra's Al Ghul and Talia are my favorite batman villains, sometimes anti-villain, and in Talia's case sometimes Anti-Hero (My Girl's got range.) Since you asked my thoughts I will try to give them as organized as possible but warning there are a lot.

1. On The League in General

The League, the Lazarus Pits, and the mythology surrounding them is one of the coolest parts of DC Lore in general. In my opinion the best portrayals of the league are when they are one hundred percent genuine about their ideals. One joke I like to make is that Poison Ivy and Ra's are both environmentalists, but unlike Poison Ivy R'as actually has a plan and resources. Ra's love for the world and his desire to save it is at the core of his character, and the reason he will not let himself die, or let go in any real way because his work is not done.

One aspect I do not like about the league is that they are supposed to be antagonists, but I wish Ra's plan was more developed than "kill a whole bunch of people so the resources can be split amongst the survivors." That's such a disagreeable plan Ra's point to make about how the whole planet is dying and nothing superheroes do is really fixing that problem is kind of lost. It's also as dumb as movie Thanos idea to snap and destroy half the life in the universe. If I were to tweak it, I would make Ra's agenda more in line of a communist revolution. That is get rid of the capitalistic systems that drive the destruction of earth's natural resources for endless production and profit. That change would make some of the leagues motivations and methods much more sympathetic.

The league would still be villains however, because even if in this tweaked versions their methods are understandable they're still a big huge cult. Which is an aspect that a lot of fans and sometimes comic writers seem to miss. In the microcosm (Ra's personal family) and the macrocosm (the whole league) the league is a cult centered entirely around Ra's ego, his ideals, his wishes. Even if you can sympathize with their ideas of revolution and go "Hey, that might work" the League is still going about it the wrong way because they constantly prey upon vulnerable minors and people on the edge of society and then raise them up into loyal pledges to a cause. A lot of real life fringe groups do this too. In this version the league recruits members because it's easier this way, which is in line with Ra's character. The whole conflict with Ra's is that he just will not let go of control, he talks about how he wants an heir to take over everything but that's never going to happen because he won't even let himself die. You could fix this too, take the league out of Ra's hands, reform it, and it could be a more genuine force for good. So yeah, my take is less the league isn't good because they assassinate politicians and have more revolutionary ideals, but rather the league is bad because they regularly groom minors.

2. Ra’s Al Ghul

Here is a comic panel of Daphne from Scooby Doo sword fighting Ra’s Al Ghul, mostly because I love it. 

Ra’s is THE Batman villain for me. If the Joker represents Batman’s completely anti-thesis, then Ra’s is Bruce, all of his ideals, his nobility, taken to their most logical extreme. He’s the definition of the noble demon. If you want to ready story arcs that I think show off Ra’s at his best, there’s the “Tower of God” storyline where Ra’s finds all of Batman’s measures against the Justice League he prepared in case any of them turned evil and then decides to use them himself. Then there is “Injustice 2″ which is one of the better depictions of Ra’s where he is at his most genuine to his goal of environmentalism and even at points sits down at the table to talk with the superheroes in a more peaceful manor on how they could be doing better. 

If the Tower of God storyline did not explain it to you, Ra’s reflects Bruce in good aspects and bad ones. The same relentless dedication that Bruce has to saving Gotham, Ra’s applies to the whole world. Ra’s also like other batman villains shows how a generally positive trait like Bruce’s insane levels of dedication can easily turn into a flaw. Bruce has no powers just his martial arts training, but just will not give up under any circumstances. Ra’s determination gets him into a horrible cycle of corrupting himself worse and worse over the years both due to overuse of the pits and also frustration at a world that refuses to change, and also shows in his inability to surrender power in any real way. 

The way Ra’s treats his direct family, and the league as a whole is also a dark mirror to Batman and the Bat Family. Now, I don’t believe that Bruce is raising up hero sidekicks as child soldiers... Suspension of disbelief people! However,  Ra’s genuinely does treat all of his children as tools for his agenda. As much as he has the capacity to love them, their needs and desires will always come second to his use for them. Ra’s is undeniably a groomer not in the sexual sense but in the sense he is using his position of power raising up and manipulating these minors to shape them into what he wants them to be. 

Ra’s also represents Bruce’s paranoia and the times where he abuses his position as patriarch of a family to manipulate his kids lives. Ra’s is undeniably the one who holds the most power in the Al Ghul family, and he uses that imbalance in power entirely to his own ends. What he creates is a cycle of generational abuse that lasts all the way until Damian.  Ra’s also represents Bruce’s sometimes toxic ideas of masculinity turned up to 11. My man is a 400 year old misogynist. He is obsessed with ideas like divine birthright, dynasty, legacy as shown by the way he once again treats his children. His oldest son is disqualified for being albino and therefore having a defect, Nyssa and Talia are disqualified for being born women. The fact that Bruce represents his ideal heir and he is a man with money and power the peak of what society considers is masculinity is you know, telling of his opinions towards gender. Bruce and Ra’s are both carriers of family legacies, who devote all of their money and power to their genuinely good goals, but Ra’s seems to believe that might makes right, the money, resources and bloodline he has makes him inherently better or even chosen. Which cycles into the reason why he will never let go of said power. 

3. Talia Al Ghul 

Talia is my favorite member of the family, she is also hardest to talk about because she suffers from two things number one being wildly different depending on the writer, and two orientalism. Now I won’t discuss this much not because I don’t think it’s important but because I’m not qualified to talk on such subjects and a practicer of the “stay in your own lane” philosophy. The orientalism in Talia’s character is undeniably there, and also a part of a pattern in DC where female brown mothers are regularly villainized to make their white fathers look better. I think Grant Morrison’s take on Talia is inherent dehumanizing of her and kind of reducing her to a plot object, and also a deviation from the original ideas her character was meant to represent. I think also Talia has a habit of being reduced to her relationships to the men in her life rather than her own person with you know thoughts and feelings. Women have those. The league also as a whole is orientalist as a concept there’s really no getting away from that. 

Just as an example of how Talia and Damian’s relationship could be better depicted than it currently is in comics. There’s a storyline in the fourth season of Young Justice that I really like (even though I don’t like the cartoon that much) which explores the family dynamic between Cheshire, Roy and Lian. Cheshire attempted to stay with Roy to raise Lian for awhile, until she went back to the lifestyle and could not give it up. Her sister Artemis eventually goes after her and it’s revealed that Cheshire left Lian with Roy not because she chose being an assasin over her but Cheshire believes she is inherently bad and harmful person and has too much in common with her abusive father and if she is in that kid’s life she will only hurt them. It also ends on a hopeful note that if Cheshire puts the work in on becoming a more emotionally healthy version of herself she could return to that household. 

Now that that disclaimer is out of the way (please don’t yell at me for this I love Talia. If you want to discuss it further please use my askbox, I don’t like it when people reblog my posts to argue with me.) The most interesting aspect of the Demon’s Head is the generational abuse storyline. There’s no two ways about it, Talia repeats the cycle with Damian. That’s what makes abuse generational. Once again the whole storyline from conception of Talia having a secret love child with Bruce is kind of orientalist but you have to work with the plotline you got. At least until somebody retcons it. 

Now I am going to go on a long diatribe on how Talia repeating a cycle of abuse that starts with Ra’s does not make her an inherently bad person. This is where I am qualified to talk because I’ve done a lot of research into this subject! Talia grew up in a cult. Not only that she was the direct daughter of the cult’s leader. In the microcosm Ra’s family is what you would call a Narcisstic Family Structure: a family centered around one person’s individual needs where the other’s needs go underlooked. In the macrocosm it’s a goddamn cult. 

People view members of cults as either stupid, or immoral for joining because they imagine it could never happen to them, but the way cults work is by preying on vulnerabilities every single person has. 

No one joins a cult voluntarily; they are recruited into it. There is lack of informed consent. Everyone has vulnerabilities. Possible situational vulnerabilities include illness, the death of a loved one, breakup of an important relationship, loss of a job, or moving to another city, state or country. [x]

Haruki Murakami wrote a book named “Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche.” It is a non-fiction book containing several interviews of victims in the aftermath of the Saren Gas Attacks. This is a real life event where the Aum Shinrikyo Cult convinced its members to release Saren gas in several subway trains. While the attack was viewed by society as an act of fringe extremists, the cult was made up of members who were educated people, doctors, lawyers, who were still somehow convinced this was a good idea. 

The interviews highlight many intriguing aspects of the Japanese psyche. Work was a high, if not central, priority for most of the interviewees. Isolation, individualism, and lack of communication were also strong themes which were common throughout many accounts of the attacks. Many of the interviewees expressed disillusionment with the materialism in Japanese society and the sensationalistic media, as well as the inefficiency of the emergency response system in dealing with the attack.

The book also includes Murakami's personal essay on the attacks, "Blind Nightmare: Where Are We Japanese Going?" In this essay, he criticizes the failure of the Japanese to learn from the attacks, preferring to dismiss it as the extreme act by a group of lunatics rather than analyze the true causes and prevent similar events from occurring in the future.

I bring this up once again to reinforce the idea that anyone can be preyed upon by a cult, and Talia was literally born into that environment. Clts also operate with a specific method of cutting off their members from the outside world to cut off their ability to leave (BITE: Behavior Control, Information Control, Thought Control, Emotional Control). Talia grew up in an environment where most likely all her social interactions and her contact with the outside world was controlled by Ra’s and only Ra’s because in most versions her mother dies early in her life usually in some horrific way. 

That’s not even getting to the kind of parent that Ra’s is. He is always a really outwardly loving parent to Talia, but that love comes with a big huge asterisk. Ra’s loves his children until they either have a defect, or they decide to be someone other than what he wants them to be, at which point he either cuts them off, or relies on emotional manipulation to regain control. Talia’s only parental figure was both extremely loving, but made it clear that love was conditional. Even if Talia tries to live up to Ra’s expectations of her and be what he wants her to be, she’s immediately disqualified from actually taking on the mantle she was groomed for her entire life by being a woman. Even the original concept of Talia’s character who is much more anti-hero than anti-villain chooses her father over Bruce at times because Ra’s conditional love is what she knows, whereas Bruce’s love for her is something she does not understand fully even if she desires it. 

I’m going to bring up my favorite comic book character Terra here. Terra was also a character who her creators have said several disrespectful things about and she was not created by the best of intentions. However, Terra is a unique character because she is one of the few grooming and CSA victims who is allowed to be downright unlikable, to show her trauma in what are considered to be traditionally bad ways. She’s a character with flaws and agency and stuff. Terra represents a specific kind of fifteen year old kid who usually does not get help and adults believe is a lost cause. Characters who carry Terra’s trauma either magically get over it, or they are just reduced to weak, pitiful shells. I’d rather have Terra be the mess she is than either of those things. It’s honest to a reality that certain people face, and also shows victims who would not normally get sympathy. 

I just went to great length to establish the horror of Talia’s upbringings so she’d undeniably be affected by it. I won’t even mention what kind of mother Talia is because wildly depends on the author, but the decision to raise Damian in that cult rather than try to leave is her perpetuating the cycle. This is something that happens in real life too, parents who are preyed upon by cults will either drag their kids into it, or raise them up in that same life when they are young and vulnerable. It’s undeniably something she did to Damian and deserves to be called out on. 

If Talia shares Ra’s nobility and idealism she also reflects his bad qualities as well, his belief in special people, of causes that succeed individuals, of noble purposes. Especially since these are toxic ideas that Ra’s has essentially forced onto her. I don’t even think Talia is past the point of redemption or incapable of learning to be a better mother, because while abuse is a chain it’s also a chain that can be broken. 

4. Damian Wayne / Al-Ghul

To begin with I don’t think Bruce is a good parent to Damian, and Talia is a bad one. They both kind of fail Damian in equal and totally different ways. I don’t believe Robin is a child soldier, but right away making Damian Robin is kind of a mistake because Bruce makes him Robin to try to fix some perceived flaw from being raised by the League, when really Damian is more or less just a ten year old kid reacting how any ten year old kid would if they were groomed their entire life and had that kind of destiny practically forced upon them. 

The difference between Talia and Damian is of course, Damian got out of there which gives him a unique opportunity that Talia didn’t to make connections outside of the League and to the outside world and therefore learn to think in different ways then how he was raised to think. Damian represents the chance to break the cycle of generational abuse passed down from grandfather, to mother, to son. 

Because like I said Damian reserves the right to call out his mother for not choosing to put him first, but at the same time Damian undeniably loves his mother. Even in the storylines where they have a strained relationship at best Damian is fiercely loyal to her because essentially Damian and Talia want the same thing which is to have a loving family of their own, and to be their own people outside of their usefulness to other people (cough, cough, Ra’s). 

Damian’s character arc tends to repeat a lot but there are more modern storylines that are pushing Damian in this direction where his goal is a reconciliation of the past and to be able to move on with a healthier version of their relationship. Ra’s getting shot in the head helped a whole lot. 

Damian represents a chance to break the cycle for both himself and his mom, because like I said Talia isn’t an inherently bad person, or a bad parent, she just like anybody else has an opportunity to grow and develop as a person especially if one day she gets to finally move on from the league. People can be influenced by circumstances, but also circumstances change and in better environments people have a chance to do better. Damian isn’t obligated to forgive either parent for the ways they’ve failed him but at the same time he clearly wants a connection with both of his parents, and is willing to work with them on it. 

It is funny how Damian typically gets portrayed as the edgy Robin, because in my mind he’s actually one of the most normal ones. He acts like a thirteen year old boy, with the needs of a thirteen year old boy, he desires a normal life outside of capes and costumes. He just has been told he’s the chosen one all his life and that’s had an effect on the way he views the world. Damian has every chance to break the chain that Ra’s started though, and that’s probably where the comics should go if they didn’t repeat the same plotline with him like nine million times. 

#league of assassins #league of shadows #batman #ra's al ghul #talia al ghul #damian wayne #al ghul family #demon's head #dc #dc comics #dc comics meta

[exoid-the-locomotive-monarch]

I think since today’s the day, I should get off my chest what I think about Homestuck and the epilogues: the former is good and the latter is like an uncooked steak covered with diahhrea.

To elaborate, Homestuck is a cake that used too much baking soda and cooked in the oven for too short, its the same size as a cake but the outside is too airy and the inside is mushy and liquid batter, disgusting.

But there’s this middle part, between the layers that’s delicious as all hell, it uses grandma’s secret recipe and the chef was running a rush order, it’s a miracle he used the perfect ratio of egg to sugar to flour and milk, you can’t deny most chefs wish they could prepare a cake this good, and when one ingredient is off and it was underbaked, many critics would absolutely drop a solid 9 to a 5/10. It’s still good in my heart.

Now leaving the metaphors, I love this comic to an autistic degree. Its art direction and narration perfectly mix the feel of a strange adventure game published by some studio pushing the boundaries but had no budget so they end up reusing assets from stock images for most of its run, and for the second half abandoned jpgs for minimalist bean shaped heroes.

It has multiple flash animations, interactive walkarounds, and plenty of callbacks and reference to its own story beats and panels, it’s really good and even the secondary characters have a lot of dimension to them! The big issue was the pacing, and by god did Act 5 Act 2 cone out the miracle it did, balancing troll to human conversation perfectly, never abandoning the kids, and leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for the mess the trolls were about to make for themselves.

I even like act 6. Yeah I said it. Caliborn is funny, Calliope is eh, Roxy is the obvious character with the most going for her, Dirk has a good arc about his own struggles, but between him and the alpha kids, not so much. Jake had an arc for him to realize who he can be and his linits and how he should stand up for himself, and Jane was learning to trust her friends while being able to sleuth out manipulation or bad actors. Some of these words are in past tense because Hussie was now ping ponging to the boring 3 years where the kids are separated by dream bubbles and a long yard, almost never interacting with each other’s side of the 3 year journey (minus one DISTACTION by Rose and John hammering Bec’s head in with COOL NEW BREATH POWERS)

The pacing was a whole lot and openbound was a waste of time for 10 characters the fans could play with as dolls, but Act 6 Act 6 united both alpha and beta parties to actually do stuff.

But Hussie was also developing a (STILL UNFINISHED) adventure game(s) for his two new kidsonas that were going to give Alternia more breathing room and two new kidsonas an adventure to expand on the lore of Beta earth Roxy, Jake Harley, and a dead flighty broad.

After delaying when the comic should have ended by one and a half years, Hussie says “fuck it” and drops an awesome flash where everyone fucking dies. I was sad a little bit but remembered the comic had to end with the good guys winning so I just slogged another 500 pages watching a cool concept unfold: alter the timeline to unfuck the doomed timeline and fix the time paradox that would cause Lord English to not exist. Cool yeah?

The problem was after undoing 2000 pages of characterization Hussie needs to redo those 2000 pages and give characters worthwhile new arcs to solve, make everything both hunky dory on our way to the finish line but also start a new problem from railroading the characters into this new chance to win the game, and are clearly still coping or ignoring their other timeline’s struggles.

The best Hussie could do was 750 pages.

Build the new universe, kill the bad guys, save the troll race, finish Dave, Dirk, and Roxy’s character arc’s, we’ll finish the rest in a new timeline, the epilogues stuff. Drop in some vague shit at the last minute like “Ultimate Selves” “Aspect design and destiny” and some lip service to how these aren’t the same kids John knew, the look like them but they’re ever so different.

Then for like 6 months that was it, then the credits explained what happened to them and where they are now, and what’s unfinished.

Bonus updates we see a human cosplay space fish horns Hitler, a troll cosplay an immortal time demon hellbent on wrecking the corpse of every Universe he is aware of, and a carapacian cosplay a teleporting radiant dog demon that killed 3 parents. This was for Halloween.

Jane gets kidnapped by the goons you loved back when the comic only had 4 kids 3 adults a dog, some 4 chess friends, Jack, the midnight crew and the felt, and then she mind controls Jack and says she is going to get political.

Also the woobified side characters Wayward Vagabond and Oeregrine Me dicant are no longer “the deterrent of the original bad guy” and “silly marketable plush character who was once a veteran of the bloodiest massacre in Sburban history” they’re dead.

So what an ending huh, that was overwhelming, also unfinished. That epilogue should really tie in loose ends and end the narrative stakes of a work of fiction to a calm and satisfying pace like a traditional narrative does, boy oh boy can’t wait to expect that from the postmodern work of Homestuck hahahahahahahaha.

#homestuck #413 #15 year tumblrversary #15 years ago #webcomics #happy 413

[fancyfade]

Hi I read your post about the bat boys dynamics, now how the fandom been handling it for years been pissing me off as someone in a blended family.

Now I have a step-turned adopted brother, him and I meet when he was 4 and I was 9. We’re currently estranged, but for the most part it took me….I want to say a year to see him as my brother properly. Not saying I hated him, but to form a bond.

Now the problem with the bat boys, well I want to say Damian histories with them in general. Is writers BARELY gives depth into their bonds and most of the time it seem meaningless. Vs how you and even Arabian batboy pointed out how their bonds with female characters seem more fleshed out as the writers put effort in making their bonds…for the most part…looking at you Williamson.

I am no eugenic, but there a difference between my bond with bio sister vs my bonds with adopted siblings

My issues is how the Batfamily fandom try to force a nuclear family dynamic into the Batclan…when writers clearly show that half of the time they see them as a militia vs a found family.

Oh and the writers personal bias, like in Gotham war where Tim told Damian he always saved Bruce vs the latter only fighting him….is there any goddamn archives at dc for writers to check up on characters lore?

Sorry I just want to air this out, because this bat brothers fanon been driving me up the wall. They are brothers on paper, but none of them are each other keepers if that make sense?

I think it makes sense. I'm sorry to hear about your estrangement.

And yeah a lot of time fandom wants to act as if the fact that they're all adopted (or biologically related) to Bruce on paper means that they'd have the exact same relationship people might have if they grew up together in the same house, but like... that's a drastically over-simplified thing. like i remember getting into an argument* with someone who was adamant that Damian should fanboy or look up to Tim b/c Tim is his older brother and people do that stuff IRL. But like... a) not everyone does b) Damian did not actually live in the same house as Tim, his dynamic was not the same as someone who grew up with an older brother, they clearly had many canon interactions indicating the opposite!

and also like: Obviously you shared your experience with how long it took you to form a bond, and realistically it would also take Damian time to form a bond. If his interactions are antagonistic, like they are with Tim, it would take work for them to get close, and panel time we do not see. This isn't to say they can't consider each other brothers, we see evidence at least Tim considers Damian his little brother and Damian's no longer antagonistic to him** and respects him some, but they definitely wouldn't have a super close bond like we see Damian have with Maya or Dick.

And yeah so many of the writers have personal bias its cringe to read. Except like. I have never seen Tim portrayed really negatively in Damian's comics. In general, it's to put Damian down. I analyzed it in general here (link)

And like. WRT personal experiences I'm sure there are some people who view their adopted siblings as similar to their bio siblings... but also WRT not simplifying everything -- that doesn't mean it's the same for everyone, and it definitely doesn't mean that that means every single Batfam member who is adopted by Bruce has the same relationship that people who are all raised in the same house in general at the same time, since they were babies might have. Like it'd be oversimplifying and trying to flatten out dynamics to act as if that's how it did happen.

Also if you are the same blended family anon as earlier, I do want to say I got a long anon ask from you ages ago but forgot to answer it sorry :C then I couldn't tell if too long had passed and it was weird to answer it

*act surprised, I was in an argument /j

**current canon shows more evidence for Tim being antagonistic to Damian than vice versa.

#anon #ask #idk #dc comics #batfam #damian wayne

[wulvert]

so ive heard that you have more triptrack lore???????? *stares at you intensely, full of platonic love for you and your work* would you like to tell us about it? :D

hello! thank you so much.... some more important lore is probably upcoming pretty soon so i wont spoil that ( if anyone even notices the lore anyway idk )

some stuff i probably wont go into much more than whats already in the comic is reds backstory, i think you can kinda pick up the vibe of whats going on with him, but i can go into it here + some stuff abt the world :) some people picked up on it fine, and some people still seem confused about it, but the uv levels output by the sun in triptrack are too high for human survival without protective measures. i dropped out of highschool and i never went to classes before that anyway, i have no idea how science works. the ozones fucked in some way. i usually call it murder sun. you can wear sunscreen but its a bit risky, and extremely expensive. only really rich people can afford it & you still need to protect your eyes & mouth. masks and gloves r more common. half masks are more of a fashion item but remove some risks associated with sunscreen.

red always wore a mask but someone he was working with (nefarious work) ripped it off to try kill him a while back, you can see a hand print on his face 125 i think, some people assumed its his own handprint but it came from that person holding him down. they were friends, so hes a bit distrustful of people now, understandably i think. It damaged his eyes a lot but he could afford to get them fixed a little bit, he only had the money to do that and nothing else, his skins still kind of actively injured, not healed bc hes never been able to afford healthcare. Red doesnt feel negative about how he looks at all, its the least of his concern- hes in excrutiating pain 24/7, he just wants his facial nerves dealt with & doesnt care about anything else- hes considered getting the handprint tattood to match the rest of his face, but he decided its better to save his money for other stuff. stealing tex will get him enough money for fairly permanent pain relief, after that i imagine he'll just get a new mask & put some less ugly clothes on and leave the whole stealing thing behind, he's very tired. triptrack wouldnt have happened if red had free healthcare.

just to like state outright, tex is a robot, some poeple believed him when he said "im not a robot", sorry i didnt even think abt people thinking he was telling the truth, my bad. shae ( if anyone remembers her its been 60 years ) isnt a robot, though. Terry is the younger brother, he shares a lot of code with tex but ms tarantula built his body, whereas she didn't tex's. tex is a lot stupider than terry because of creative differences at the time of tex's creation i guess. he can get smarter but he's been very sheltered his entire life. Terry doesnt really care about being a robot (he doesnt care about much) but tex appreciated red not knowing at least for a little bit. Shae will probably sue mt. co. if anyone. remembers. that. either. I think for my next comic im going to make whole chapters and upload them in chunks like that so people dont have to read it so slowly.

also not very important but glass city used to be an ocean!

you can see a little bit of water at the corners of this panel, and theres whale skeletons scattered around. also they tried to built a dome around it to keep the uv out but it was a disaster, shards of it also just hang out around the city from that.

also theres not very many people want windows, so all the more space for advertisement hell.

I definitely dont think i've gotten triptracks stuff across very well, but also i kind of like how vague it is. triptrack has a l o t of issues, and i want to go back to it when its done and make a like,.. triptrack dx or something lol. but its my first comic so like.... to be expected i guess.. ive learned a lot from it. paperteeth also has so many issues & i didnt really put much i learned from triptrack into it but thats because it was supposed to be a fun little side project! that i didnt have to think about too hard! then it exploded and ate triptrack for breakfast. rip. ( i am grateful though i just. didnt think that would happen, if i did, i would have tried harder lmao) so. yeah!

#asks

[alternatefandom]

Illusory Palinopsia (4/5)

Fandom: Genshin Impact Pairing: Gen, Kamisato-Clan centric, could be read as thomato Warnings: Some made-up lore Summary: "This is what is going to happen. I will hold on to this talisman. You will find your Chief Retainer and deal with the traitor yourself. You will not let the Shogun do it for you. Do so, and I will destroy this evidence in front of your eyes. Fail to do so, and I doubt the clan you hold dear will be able to survive the resulting storm. Do not involve anyone who does not carry a vision, for they will not survive the fight. Do you understand?" "I understand," Ayato said. "I will deal with this matter myself. Thank you for your kindness, Lady Guuji." Instead of satisfaction, the expression on Yae Miko's face was one of stricken pity. "Oh, Ayato," she said. "If you truly understood what I am asking of you, you would not call be calling this a kindness." Part of the our homespun sanctuary series.

Among the people of Inazuma, Tsurumi is known as the mist-covered island.

These days, though, the mist that covered the island was long-gone. The traveller had seen to that. According to the Shuumatsuban, they had spent several long days of going back and forth within the island before the mists inexplicably turned red, and the next day, vanished.

But the island that Ayato stepped foot into that day was still blanketed in mist.

Or perhaps mist wasn't the most accurate term. The air positively churned with smog, like ink-stained water within a calligrapher's cup. As if the night itself have seeped out of the earth to drain light from the sun.

He stepped foot farther into the island. Despite the darkness, the fog didn't seem magical, as previously reported. Ayato could get his bearings just fine, something that previous adventurers had not been able to do. However, it prickled against his skin, coarse like static-charged grains of sand.

Something was wrong.

In the distance, Ayato spotted a familiar shape. A human, kneeling at the base of a tree and digging into the soil. As he approached, he could see the distinctly Inazuman features on the man's face. The man looked... kind, in a fatherly way. His arms are muscled the way manual labourers tend to be, and the tan on his face spoke of days spent out in the sun. His hair was inky black and cut short in the Inazuman style. Had Ayato seen him anywhere else, Ayato would've thought him an average worker from Mikage Furnace.

However, Ayato couldn't shake the feeling that he knew this man. There was something in the way he held himself, in the crinkles of his eyes, and the slant of his nose that was as familiar as the old, creaky panels of the Kamisato Estate.

Ayato approached him, feeling like he was in a trance. The man continued to fuss over tree roots, digging into them with his hands and coming up empty. There was a certain desperation in his movements, and yet something about him felt...

Still.

"Who are you?" Ayato asked.

The man straightened up. When he looked at Ayato, it was with a distant gaze.

"My name is Futsu Nagihika," he said.

"That's impossible," Ayato said. "Your family went missing at the sea half a century ago."

"Mother couldn't save any of them," Futsu Nagihika lamented. "The best herbalist in her family, but she could not find a cure for that illness. I am the only one who survived... I don't understand what happened."

An illness that took out the entire crew in the middle of a journey by the sea, incurable despite the presence of an accomplished healer. One man, mysteriously spared. Sabotaged supplies, most likely. Futsu Nagihika had stayed alive by virtue of not touching the sabotaged item, but that wouldn't have been enough to save him. The man is no sailor. Alone on a ship with all its crews incapacitated, he should be as good as dead.

Nagihika gazed into the distance. "What am I talking about? Futsu Nagihika died on that ship. I am simply a stranded man who has forsaken his past. Inazuma is no longer safe for the Futsu Clan. I must leave..."

And yet, he had survived, against all odds. Had understood that what happened to him was no mere accident. Been wise enough to hide his identity and try to leave Inazuma altogether.

"What are you doing here?" Ayato wondered. The only place Tsurumi Island bordered was the Dark Sea. There would be no leaving Inazuma from this place, not unless one wished for certain death.

"A medicine for my ill wife," Nagihika said. His fingers scrabbled at the tree roots once again. "Mother said. In the family's oldest notes. There is a fungus that can strengthen the body, cure all poisons..."

Nagihika looked down, unseeing.

"It was blue," he said. "Blue, and glowing. I must find it. It will save her."

His fingers were bleeding, Ayato realized. "Stay here," he said. "I saw them earlier. I'll get them for you."

The man's eyes went wide. "Oh, kind sir, thank you! Please, I just need—not much. Just five would do. Then I can return to my dear family. My beautiful Linda, and sweet little Thoma. How I've missed them so. How long has it been...?"

The name hit Ayato like lightning on a clear summer night. For the first time, he noticed the slightly-translucent quality of the man in front of him. The way he was not quite present, always gazing past Ayato into an unknown distance. The way he dug and dug into the earth, but never left upturned soil in his wake.

"Celestia above," Ayato breathed. "You're Thoma's father."

Read the rest on Ao3

#genshin impact #genshin impact fics #genfic #genshin #genshin fics #Kamisato Clan #Kamisato Ayato #Ayato #Kamisato Ayaka #Ayaka #Thoma #mine #my fics

[bbnha-manga-scripts]

Chapter Five

Note: Mext: Ministry of Eduction, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

[Flash Back to the exam room]

Unknown: The results of the practical skill entrance examination are here. 

Unknown: We’ve had entrants ace off against that thing in the past, but it’s been quite a while since someones sent it flying like that.

???(I think it’s Mic): I couldn’t help but should “Yeeeeah!” when I saw that!

Unknown: At the other end of the spectrum, we have the kid who ranked 7th even without any villain points.

[They say as they show Midoriya Izuku in the panel]

Unknown: Though he earned 0 rescue points, Bakugou still placed first! Wow!

Unknown: He targeted the 1p and 2p villain-bots, approaching them slowly and continuously intercepting them to lure them into a flashy explosion blast once they’d gotten weaker during the second half of the exam. That kid’s as tough as they come.

[They say as Bakugou shows in the panel]

Unknown: But the injuries he incurred from the black-back were intense… it was almost like watching a child manifest for the first time.

Unknown: Kid’s definitely an anomaly, apart from that oen blow he was the picture candidate for rejection. 

Unknown(Pretty sure it’s Mic): Whatever, dudes, who cares!? I’ve taken a liking to him. He made me throw my hands up and go “Yeah!”.

Aizawa(Thinking): Jeez, what an idiot.

Izuku[Narrorating]: The night after the opening the notification letter. 8PM. We agreed to meet at seaside park.

Izuku: All Might! 

Small Might: Who the hecks that?!

Extra: Did someone say All Might!? Where!?

Small Might(Whispering): Quick kid, tell em ou mistook me for someone else.

Izuku(Covering his face, embarrassed): I mistook him for someone else!

Small Might: Congrats on passing. Just so you know, I didn’t inform the academy about our point of contact. You’re the type who’d worry that you got accepted solely by connections.

Small Might(thinking): I wasn’t even one of the judges.

Izuku: Thank you for thinking of me!

Izuku: I was surprised to hear that you’ve been made a teacher at UA! That’s why we need to meet here… I get it. But isn’t you office locatied at Roppongi, Minato War, Tokoyo, 6-12-...”

Small Might: Stop right there.

Small Might: Anyways, I told the academy about my predicament, but haven’t breathed a word about it to anyone else. I Had UA notify tme on the chance they found me a suitable successor.

Izuku(Thinking): Thats right… he said he’d been searching for a successor for a long time. I see… he was planning to choose among the stupids. It’s a hotbed of capable people, overflowing with awesome quirks.

[Izuku looks at his hands]

Izuku: One for All… just one punch or kick is all it takes to wreck my body… oh really… I can’t handle it at all.

Small Might: That can’t be helped for now. If you tried to get a guy who suddenly sprouted a tail to do tricks with it, he wouldn’t know how to control it properly enough to do so. It’s the same story here. 

Izuku: Huh? So you mean to say you saw all of that coming!?

Small Might: Well… there’s just been no time,,, but everything worked out all right…! Or should I say, All Might!

[Small Might picks up cans]

Small Might: Right now, you’re still stuck at all or nothing… but you can learn to tone down and adjust the power level and save your body the strain of a full-strength power emission.

[Buffs into All Might]

All Might: The more you build up the vessel. The more you can control the power within it!

[All Might crushes a can with one fist]

All Might: Like this!

All Might: Like unto the sacred fire of lore… the transferred flame is still small, but from now on, not even driving rain will check growth. 

Bystandards: Wait, isn’t that… it is! All Might!? When did he get here?!

All Might: Uh-oh. Let’s run.

[Midoriya and All Might began to sprint away]

All Might: And my flame will slowly fade away and eventually vanish and my duty will be done!

Bystander: He’s… so cool, huh?

[Time Skip to springtime and a new year]

Inko: Izuku!? Did you pack some tissues?

Izuku: Yes Mom.

Inko: What about your hanky? You can’t leave without a hanky, dear!

Izuku: Yes Mom.

[Izuku, tying his shoes in a hurry]

Izuku: I packed it! Ugh, look at the time… gotta hurry.

Inko: Izuku!

Izuku: What!?

Inko: You’re mega cool right now.

Izuku: See you soon, mom!

Izuku(Narrating): And that was how my high school days officially began!

[Izuku arrives at UA]

Izuku(Narrating): Every year, less than 1 in every 300 examinees make it in. Only 36 kids passed. So with 18 kids in a class, that makes for two classes.

Izuku: Where is 1-A… This place is too back.

[Izuku arriving at 1-A]

Izuku: Well… this door’s humongous… guess it’s for an inclusive design. I’ll be alongside the chosen few who passed the exam.

[Izuku thinking about Iida and Bakugou]

Izuku(thinking): If only those two end up in 1-B, I’ll be eternally grateful.

Tenya: Don’t put your feet on the desk! Don’t you think that’s disrespectful towards your classmates!?

Katsuki: No, as a matter of face, I don’t think so. Which middle school are you from anyway, you two-bit extra!?

Izuku(Thinking): Just my luck!

Tenya: A private sch— ahem. I’m from Soumei Junior High School. The name’s Iida Tenya.

Katsuki: Soumei!? Well aren’t you an elite. Seems I’ve got a reason to fucking end you after all!

Tenya(shocked and maybe disgusted): What nerve! You, want to be a hero!?

[Iida Tenya spots Izuku]

Tenya: Hello, I’m Iida Tenya from Soumei—

Izuku: Oh yeah, haha, I overheard. Uhh… I’m Midoriya, nice to meet you, Iida.

Tenya: Midoriya, I must hand it to you. You divined the actual nature of the practical skills exam, didn’t you? I… was blind to iy! And I completel misread you! I hate to admit it, but you were the better man!

Izuku(Thinking): But… I didn’t realize it either.

Katsuki: Deku…

[Uraraka Ochako walks through the classroom doors]

Ochako: Ah! It’s you! Curly-haired kid! Glad I found you!

Izuku(thinking): It’s her! The nice girl! She looks amazing in her school grab!

Ochako: You made it, just like Present Mic said! Yay, go you! By the way, that punch was outta this world!

Izuku: No, it’s not like that, uhh, that is to say, it was really all thanks to you speaking on my behalf… I… uh…”

Ochako: Eh!? How did you know about that!?

[Bakugou having a dramatic flashback]

Teacher: This means that two kids from our middle school go into UA. Two! And Midoriya’s acceptance in particular is a miracle upon miracles!

[Bakugou and Izuku behind the school]

[Bakugou is holding onto izuku's uniform]

Katsuki: What dirty goddamn tick did you use to pass the exam, shithead!? I was supposed to be the first to enter UA from here. Me alone! You ripped my future glory to pieces and pissed all over it! I told you to go someplace else, fuckmunch!

[Izuku putting his hand on Bakugou’s arm to stop him]

Izuku: Someone… finally acknowledges me. Tey told me I could become a hero! Kacchan, I’ve won the right! You can’t stop me! I’m headed to UA!

[Flashback ends]

Bakugou(thinking): That [athetic rat actually put up a fight! There can’t not be a flipside to this.

Ochako: I wonder if today’s the ceremony? Or is it the guidance counselor stuff today? Oh, that the teacher, what’ll they be like? I’m so anxious, like wow!

[Aizawa in his sleeping bag on the floor like a homeless man]

Shouta: If you’re gonna be hunting for buddies, do it elsewhere. This is…

[Aizawa proceeds to pull out a jelly pouch and suck the life from it]

Shouta: of heroics!

Class A(collectively): Who the hell… is this guy!?

[Aizawa getting out of his sleeping bag]

Shouta: Hmm, it took you lot 8 seconds to quiet down. Life is short, kids. You’re all lacking in common sense.

Class A(collectively): Sensei!?

Izuku(muttering): So he must he a pro hero, too, huh…?

Izuku(Thinking): But… I’ve never heard of him. He looks washed-up…

Shouta: I’m your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shouta. Pleasure meeting you.

Class A(collectively): Our homeroom teacher!?

[Aizawa pulls out the UA gym uniform]

Shouta: Put these on, immediately and then shove off to the P.E. grounds. 

[Small Might appears on screen]

Small Might: UA’s system is aberrant… depending on the homeroom teacher, even today they might…

[class 1-A on the field]

Class 1-A: A quirk apprehension test!?

Ochako: But what about the ceremony!? And the guidance counselor meeting!?

Shouta: If you want to be heroes, we don’t have timefor frilly niceties. You all understand the school’s reputation for freedom on campus. Well, that “freedom” goes for us senseis, too.

Shouta: Softball pitch. Standing long jumps. 50 meter dash. Endurance running. Grip strength test. Sustain side ways jups. Upperbody excise. Seated toe touch. Those are all activities you know from middle school, naturally. Physical tests where you were barred from using your quirks.

Shouta: The country still hasn’t gotten around to standardizing those sorts of records or keeping track of average performance levels. Well, tht’s negligence on the part of mext.

Shouta: Bakugou, how far could you throw a softball in middle school?

Katsuki: 67 meters.

Shouta: Try using your quirk this time around. As long as you don’t exit the circle, anything you do is fine. Don’t hold back.

[Bakugou winding up.]

Katsuki: You got it.

[throws the ball]

Katsuki: Die!

[Everyone is shocked]

Shouta: Before anything else, one must know what they’re capable of. This is a rational metric that will form the basis of your “hero foundation”.

[Shouta shows the meter counter, it’s at 705.2]

Unknown: Awesome!That looks so fun!

Unknown: 705 meters!? Unreal!

Unknown: We can really use your quirks now!? That’s the department of heroics for you!

Izuku(thinking): Uh-ho this is bad… 8 trails? This is all so sudden!

Shouta: It looks fun… you say?

Shouta: So you were planning to spend your three years here having a good ol’ time? What happened to becoming heroes? 

Shouta: All tight then, in that case, new rule: the student who ranks last in total points will be judged “hopeless” an instantly expelled.

Izuku(thinking): Whaaaa!? Seriously!?What am I going to do!?

[Small Might appears again]

Small Might: So they’ve got Aizawa, huh…

Small Might(thinking): Oh brother, they’re really in for it with this guy.

[The panel shows Aizawa’s file. On it, it reads: “Aizawa Shouta” “Codename: The erasing hero” “Name: Eraserhead” “Total number of expulsions: 154.” “Homeroom teacher of: class 1-A”]

[Back to Izuku]

Izuku: I’m still at all-or-nothing mode! I can’t adjust yet!

Shouta: Our “freedom” means we dispense with students as we please! Welcome to… the department of heroics!

Izuku(Narrating): My first day turned into a huge ordeal! What do I do!?

#BNHA #BNHA CHAPTER FIVE

[bnha-manga-scripts]

Chapter Five

Note: Mext means: Ministry of Eduction, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

[Flash Back to the exam room]

Unknown: The results of the practical skill entrance examination are here. 

Unknown: We’ve had entrants ace off against that thing in the past, but it’s been quite a while since someones sent it flying like that.

???(I think it’s Mic): I couldn’t help but should “Yeeeeah!” when I saw that!

Unknown: At the other end of the spectrum, we have the kid who ranked 7th even without any villain points.

[They say as they show Midoriya Izuku in the panel]

Unknown: Though he earned 0 rescue points, Bakugou still placed first! Wow!

Unknown: He targeted the 1p and 2p villain-bots, approaching them slowly and continuously intercepting them to lure them into a flashy explosion blast once they’d gotten weaker during the second half of the exam. That kid’s as tough as they come.

[They say as Bakugou shows in the panel]

Unknown: But the injuries he incurred from the black-back were intense… it was almost like watching a child manifest for the first time.

Unknown: Kid’s definitely an anomaly, apart from that oen blow he was the picture candidate for rejection. 

Unknown(Pretty sure it’s Mic): Whatever, dudes, who cares!? I’ve taken a liking to him. He made me throw my hands up and go “Yeah!”.

Aizawa(Thinking): Jeez, what an idiot.

Izuku[Narrorating]: The night after the opening the notification letter. 8PM. We agreed to meet at seaside park.

Izuku: All Might! 

Small Might: Who the hecks that?!

Extra: Did someone say All Might!? Where!?

Small Might(Whispering): Quick kid, tell em ou mistook me for someone else.

Izuku(Covering his face, embarrassed): I mistook him for someone else!

Small Might: Congrats on passing. Just so you know, I didn’t inform the academy about our point of contact. You’re the type who’d worry that you got accepted solely by connections.

Small Might(thinking): I wasn’t even one of the judges.

Izuku: Thank you for thinking of me!

Izuku: I was surprised to hear that you’ve been made a teacher at UA! That’s why we need to meet here… I get it. But isn’t you office locatied at Roppongi, Minato War, Tokoyo, 6-12-...”

Small Might: Stop right there.

Small Might: Anyways, I told the academy about my predicament, but haven’t breathed a word about it to anyone else. I Had UA notify tme on the chance they found me a suitable successor.

Izuku(Thinking): Thats right… he said he’d been searching for a successor for a long time. I see… he was planning to choose among the stupids. It’s a hotbed of capable people, overflowing with awesome quirks.

[Izuku looks at his hands]

Izuku: One for All… just one punch or kick is all it takes to wreck my body… oh really… I can’t handle it at all.

Small Might: That can’t be helped for now. If you tried to get a guy who suddenly sprouted a tail to do tricks with it, he wouldn’t know how to control it properly enough to do so. It’s the same story here. 

Izuku: Huh? So you mean to say you saw all of that coming!?

Small Might: Well… there’s just been no time,,, but everything worked out all right…! Or should I say, All Might!

[Small Might picks up cans]

Small Might: Right now, you’re still stuck at all or nothing… but you can learn to tone down and adjust the power level and save your body the strain of a full-strength power emission.

[Buffs into All Might]

All Might: The more you build up the vessel. The more you can control the power within it!

[All Might crushes a can with one fist]

All Might: Like this!

All Might: Like unto the sacred fire of lore… the transferred flame is still small, but from now on, not even driving rain will check growth. 

Bystandards: Wait, isn’t that… it is! All Might!? When did he get here?!

All Might: Uh-oh. Let’s run.

[Midoriya and All Might began to sprint away]

All Might: And my flame will slowly fade away and eventually vanish and my duty will be done!

Bystander: He’s… so cool, huh?

[Time Skip to springtime and a new year]

Inko: Izuku!? Did you pack some tissues?

Izuku: Yes Mom.

Inko: What about your hanky? You can’t leave without a hanky, dear!

Izuku: Yes Mom.

[Izuku, tying his shoes in a hurry]

Izuku: I packed it! Ugh, look at the time… gotta hurry.

Inko: Izuku!

Izuku: What!?

Inko: You’re mega cool right now.

Izuku: See you soon, mom!

Izuku(Narrating): And that was how my high school days officially began!

[Izuku arrives at UA]

Izuku(Narrating): Every year, less than 1 in every 300 examinees make it in. Only 36 kids passed. So with 18 kids in a class, that makes for two classes.

Izuku: Where is 1-A… This place is too back.

[Izuku arriving at 1-A]

Izuku: Well… this door’s humongous… guess it’s for an inclusive design. I’ll be alongside the chosen few who passed the exam.

[Izuku thinking about Iida and Bakugou]

Izuku(thinking): If only those two end up in 1-B, I’ll be eternally grateful.

Tenya: Don’t put your feet on the desk! Don’t you think that’s disrespectful towards your classmates!?

Katsuki: No, as a matter of face, I don’t think so. Which middle school are you from anyway, you two-bit extra!?

Izuku(Thinking): Just my luck!

Tenya: A private sch— ahem. I’m from Soumei Junior High School. The name’s Iida Tenya.

Katsuki: Soumei!? Well aren’t you an elite. Seems I’ve got a reason to fucking end you after all!

Tenya(shocked and maybe disgusted): What nerve! You, want to be a hero!?

[Iida Tenya spots Izuku]

Tenya: Hello, I’m Iida Tenya from Soumei—

Izuku: Oh yeah, haha, I overheard. Uhh… I’m Midoriya, nice to meet you, Iida.

Tenya: Midoriya, I must hand it to you. You divined the actual nature of the practical skills exam, didn’t you? I… was blind to iy! And I completel misread you! I hate to admit it, but you were the better man!

Izuku(Thinking): But… I didn’t realize it either.

Katsuki: Deku…

[Uraraka Ochako walks through the classroom doors]

Ochako: Ah! It’s you! Curly-haired kid! Glad I found you!

Izuku(thinking): It’s her! The nice girl! She looks amazing in her school grab!

Ochako: You made it, just like Present Mic said! Yay, go you! By the way, that punch was outta this world!

Izuku: No, it’s not like that, uhh, that is to say, it was really all thanks to you speaking on my behalf… I… uh…”

Ochako: Eh!? How did you know about that!?

[Bakugou having a dramatic flashback]

Teacher: This means that two kids from our middle school go into UA. Two! And Midoriya’s acceptance in particular is a miracle upon miracles!

[Bakugou and Izuku behind the school]

[Bakugou is holding onto izuku's uniform]

Katsuki: What dirty goddamn tick did you use to pass the exam, shithead!? I was supposed to be the first to enter UA from here. Me alone! You ripped my future glory to pieces and pissed all over it! I told you to go someplace else, fuckmunch!

[Izuku putting his hand on Bakugou’s arm to stop him]

Izuku: Someone… finally acknowledges me. Tey told me I could become a hero! Kacchan, I’ve won the right! You can’t stop me! I’m headed to UA!

[Flashback ends]

Bakugou(thinking): That [athetic rat actually put up a fight! There can’t not be a flipside to this.

Ochako: I wonder if today’s the ceremony? Or is it the guidance counselor stuff today? Oh, that the teacher, what’ll they be like? I’m so anxious, like wow!

[Aizawa in his sleeping bag on the floor like a homeless man]

Shouta: If you’re gonna be hunting for buddies, do it elsewhere. This is…

[Aizawa proceeds to pull out a jelly pouch and suck the life from it]

Shouta: of heroics!

Class A(collectively): Who the hell… is this guy!?

[Aizawa getting out of his sleeping bag]

Shouta: Hmm, it took you lot 8 seconds to quiet down. Life is short, kids. You’re all lacking in common sense.

Class A(collectively): Sensei!?

Izuku(muttering): So he must he a pro hero, too, huh…?

Izuku(Thinking): But… I’ve never heard of him. He looks washed-up…

Shouta: I’m your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shouta. Pleasure meeting you.

Class A(collectively): Our homeroom teacher!?

[Aizawa pulls out the UA gym uniform]

Shouta: Put these on, immediately and then shove off to the P.E. grounds. 

[Small Might appears on screen]

Small Might: UA’s system is aberrant… depending on the homeroom teacher, even today they might…

[class 1-A on the field]

Class 1-A: A quirk apprehension test!?

Ochako: But what about the ceremony!? And the guidance counselor meeting!?

Shouta: If you want to be heroes, we don’t have timefor frilly niceties. You all understand the school’s reputation for freedom on campus. Well, that “freedom” goes for us senseis, too.

Shouta: Softball pitch. Standing long jumps. 50 meter dash. Endurance running. Grip strength test. Sustain side ways jups. Upperbody excise. Seated toe touch. Those are all activities you know from middle school, naturally. Physical tests where you were barred from using your quirks.

Shouta: The country still hasn’t gotten around to standardizing those sorts of records or keeping track of average performance levels. Well, tht’s negligence on the part of mext.

Shouta: Bakugou, how far could you throw a softball in middle school?

Katsuki: 67 meters.

Shouta: Try using your quirk this time around. As long as you don’t exit the circle, anything you do is fine. Don’t hold back.

[Bakugou winding up.]

Katsuki: You got it.

[throws the ball]

Katsuki: Die!

[Everyone is shocked]

Shouta: Before anything else, one must know what they’re capable of. This is a rational metric that will form the basis of your “hero foundation”.

[Shouta shows the meter counter, it’s at 705.2]

Unknown: Awesome!That looks so fun!

Unknown: 705 meters!? Unreal!

Unknown: We can really use your quirks now!? That’s the department of heroics for you!

Izuku(thinking): Uh-ho this is bad… 8 trails? This is all so sudden!

Shouta: It looks fun… you say?

Shouta: So you were planning to spend your three years here having a good ol’ time? What happened to becoming heroes? 

Shouta: All tight then, in that case, new rule: the student who ranks last in total points will be judged “hopeless” an instantly expelled.

Izuku(thinking): Whaaaa!? Seriously!?What am I going to do!?

[Small Might appears again]

Small Might: So they’ve got Aizawa, huh…

Small Might(thinking): Oh brother, they’re really in for it with this guy.

[The panel shows Aizawa’s file. On it, it reads: “Aizawa Shouta” “Codename: The erasing hero” “Name: Eraserhead” “Total number of expulsions: 154.” “Homeroom teacher of: class 1-A”]

[Back to Izuku]

Izuku: I’m still at all-or-nothing mode! I can’t adjust yet!

Shouta: Our “freedom” means we dispense with students as we please! Welcome to… the department of heroics!

Izuku(Narrating): My first day turned into a huge ordeal! What do I do!?

#BNHA CHAPTER 5 #bnha #anime #manga script

[ficforthought]

On being SO DONE with M*sha, a rant a decade in the making!

After giving this some thought I'm going to go ahead and give my opinion on Misha and yesterday’s situation in public for the first time ever. I was going to just post on Twitter but since this has been 12 years in the making I have exceeded the number of tweets I can put in one thread! There’s A LOT in here, so my summary is also long. I'm aware that I will lose followers over this, I'm not looking to offend anyone but it will inevitably happen. I wish anyone leaving all the best as fellow human beings.

TL;DR - having kept quiet for so long I’ve finally reached my limit and it’s all come bubbling out. I’ve never been a fan of Misha, I’ve been ambivalent for the most part, but have never criticised him in any hateful way, that's not who I am, but after all these years of putting up with his bullshit, attention seeking and troublemaking I am DONE. Deleting his tweet containing the word Wincest and replacing it with an APOLOGY just to pander to his Minions and save face is the straw that broke the camel's back. He has consistently pushed his ship on not only fans but on other actors (despite Jensen's discomfort, and him having repeatedly made his feelings known on it), he has stood by while his Minions/Hellers have harassed, victimised, doxxed and sent death threats to people based on their FICTIONAL ships. He has pandered to their gatekeeping, constantly demanded attention in obvious and not so obvious ways, and to the best of my knowledge never criticised their actions even though he's aware of it in a very real way. Some of his Minions have now taken their shit into The Boys fandom and created negativity for Jensen before the guy has even got a foot through the set door, and how is that supporting one half of your ship?

Misha has claimed to be a victim of targeted harassment from Wincest/brother fans (not only shippers) yet his fans have said and done the most despicable things on his watch, all in the name of what he must think is entertainment, or even his idea of a ‘joke’.

Any respect I had for the man based on his humanitarian work has gone because I can only take so much hypocrisy. He and his pandering because of a desperate attempt to be woke and wholly inclusive (which is actually impossible, no matter how good intentions are) are beyond pathetic. Whilst I have never seen why people think he’s so great I have friends IRL and online who genuinely adore the man, yet they have been shocked and upset by his contempt for half of the fandom that made him somewhat famous. It's disgusting and I'm not scrolling by any more. Misha, I hope to never see you on anything J2 related in future because none of us need that kind of negativity, *especially* not J2. Be gone, foul fiend!

OK, so to the too long part. Please be aware that these are my opinions as a fan of the show, of Sam and Dean, and J2, not only as a shipper. I can separate canon and fanon, and can view canon from a gen or shippy PoV. Whether you agree or disagree with my opinion let me be clear that I do not condone constant bashing and hate of a person or character so this isn’t the start of a regular thing for me. It's possible to have an opinion and not show the same vitriol that has been following this man around for years, and that’s what I’m doing. I've not posted this to prompt more negativity, it's simply to get it off my chest and make it clear how I feel. I stand by my philosophy of ship who you want to ship, enjoy it, but don't force it on other people and don't be a dick about it…hmm, that kinda sounds like familiar behaviour, though, does it not?!

I have ABSOLUTELY NO ISSUE with other people liking Misha, Cas or Destiel when it’s for the love of the characters and the ship. What I *do* have an issue with is people who are the true definition of a Heller. I don’t see that as a generic term, don't be ignorant and think I do because I know the difference between actual ship fans and the crazies, both ships have ‘em and I want no part of either of their venom. If you are reading this and class yourself as a Heller then you are part of the problem so run along and as you are all so fond of saying, 'get help' and take your bestie king with you.

I’m stating my opinion in what I feel is the most mature way I can, because unlike many people on SM, I am an adult and can act accordingly, with forethought and without resorting to temper tantrums and bullying of other people to get my point across. I am able to tell the difference between reality and fiction, I don't tar everyone with the same shipper brush and I don't expect everyone to agree with my opinion, but as we know opinions are like arseholes, we all have them and sometimes they stink. Unlike some, for the most part in life (online and offline) I *do* stand by what I say and don’t backtrack or delete things to appease the masses. I have spent a lot of time writing this out to be as clear as possible without being intentionally hateful. Bear with me jumping between actor and character where relevant, at this point they're conjoined. I will say this before I go any further, it doesn’t end well for Misha, I don’t mince my words and if you don’t like seeing facts and opinions laid out, this isn't the post for you.

I’ll say right off the bat what most of you have surmised - I’ve never held Misha (or Cas) in high esteem but I have never *hated* on him. I have shared mild criticism of his actions and opinions on Cas over the years but never, I feel, in any way that has made me feel I have something to apologise for. I have said several times I've been unhappy about Misha crashing con panels, taking attention away from J2 when at those cons *most* people paid their hard earned money to see the STARS of the show they love, first and foremost, and anyone else is a very nice bonus. The odd appearance here and there crashing a panel is fine (and Misha isn’t the first or last person to do it), maybe take up a few minutes then leave, but when someone commandeers an entire panel, that's just not on. It's not only selfish, rude and attention seeking but also disrespectful to other actors, fans and to the organisers who work hard to make sure everything ties in to give us the best con experience we can have. Everyone gets their turn on stage, there's no need to try and hog any more of the limelight, Veruca Salt style. Oh, and if you’re reading this and not getting that reference, (a) you shouldn’t be on my blog because you’re far too young, (b) look it up, and if you still don’t get what I’m saying… well then please refer to point (a). Thank you, kindly!

There was a time in Kripke's era where Cas was - I feel - intentionally used as a pawn by the writers to divert *canon* from the ‘questionable’ relationship between Sam and Dean, i.e. Wincest focus. Prior to that people (other fans) lightened up and just accepted the fact that Wincest had been there since day one in terms of the writing of the show and the fandom. All the cast and crew knew - J2, Kripke and JDM in particular - and made light of it, never judging, never shaming and often encouraging it because they understand it’s a fun part of fandom. Wincest was present enough to be part of the not so subtle subtext, as I said people just accepted it. Kink tomato was alive and well, so was ‘don’t like, don’t read’ and we all just scrolled over things we didn’t like without turning everything into a personal vendetta and excuse for bullying others who didn’t share our views. When the angels came into the plot I think most of us Wincest fans gave the Dean/Cas innuendos the small laugh they deserved and then turned back to the focus of the show which was the brothers, as it had always been intended. Misha, however, milked those moments as much as possible which was amusing at the start but got old *very* quickly, not just for fans (shippers and non shippers alike), but for other actors, in particular Jensen who is on record MULTIPLE times showing his dislike for Destiel. He told people outright that's not how he was playing the relationship between the two characters and CATEGORICALLY said "Destiel doesn't exist" but did it end there? No, it did not because neither fans or Misha let it go, in fact Misha only pushed more, goaded fans into flogging the same dead horse as much as possible. He’s never stopped, not even when there was so much discord in the fandom, a huge wedge was driven into it because of ships, which IMO he heavily contributed to.

Fast forward to over a decade later (a decade, seriously man, let it fucking go!) he didn’t even stop when Destiel did partially go canon. I have never doubted that Cas loved Dean (Sam, too) because in SPN lore angels are made to love, even rebellious ones. I, along with many others, liked that about Cas because who doesn't love a rebel, especially one rebelling for very good reasons, and because of those two wonderful men? Sam and Dean allowed him to see beyond what he'd been brainwashed to believe his entire existence. The fact is that although the nature of that love changed for Cas, it never did for Dean and was CANONICALLY UNREQUITED because Dean was incapable of loving anyone else as much as he loved Sam. All that mattered to Dean, even when he saw other characters as "family" was still Sam…ALWAYS Sam, every step of the way. Again for those who have too much Misha shaped wax in their ears, that’s canon. Whether people choose to see that love platonically or romantically is up to them, soulmates don't always have to be romantic, either way, brotherly love won out above all else on the show. No amount of Misha screaming ‘hey look, Destiel!’ changed that, but it sure didn’t stop him trying, did it?

So now that the obvious has been stated, here's something else we all know - never once in all of the years on the show did Misha drop rallying of the troops to his precious, ego stroking ship. Never once (that I am aware of) has he called out his Minions and Hellers on their continued harassment of everyone involved in the show and other fans despite the fact that they have bullied, victimised and wished bodily harm, rape and death on people who don't see their ship and because didn't get the ending to the story that they wanted. Not once has Misha shown any remorse for the trauma his "fans" have caused, and I’m taking REAL trauma, here, not the kind Twitter stans see as ‘triggering’ - people have been driven to close SM accounts, attempted, and in some cases succeeded in taking their own lives. These Minions have openly mocked Jared’s struggles with depression and anxiety, and Misha - who claims to be friends with J2 and be supportive of them in every way  - has stood by and let it all play out, knowing full well some of the goings on, if not the full extent of how toxic these people are. We know he sees things being said online, and I have absolutely no doubt he spends time online searching his name for things that are relevant in some way to him in an effort to insert himself into a current conversation, or even start one so that attention is on him. Gotta stay relevant, somehow, right, Mish?

He has actively encouraged bullying by his actions of enabling the behaviours above, both by the flogging of the aforementioned dead horse, AND by not objecting to unacceptable behaviours. Remember when Minions and Hellers were slating J2, particularly Jared, for not posting on SM about BLM and other topics? Yeah, he didn’t ask them to stop doing that, either, even when he was tagged in things along the lines of ‘If Misha can post why can’t J2?’ etc. There have been some token protests, con vids I've seen have show his 'objections' which IMO have been done in a very tongue in cheek way, meaning that those people who needed to be pulled aside and told to change their ways just carried on, because their evil overlord didn’t explicitly explain it in terms a three year old could understand that bullying and forcing your opinion on others is WRONG. Not all of his cult are young and impressionable, not by a long shot, but many of the more vocal and vitriolic ones are.

As a father himself I wonder what Misha would do if he found out that his kids were behaving in ways his Minions are? I’m aware they’re young, but kids are cruel and bullying doesn’t just happen online. Even at whatever age they are, would he laugh it off the way he appears to have done with all of this fandom toxicity? Not bloody likely! I wonder if he’s as desperate to gain the approval of his family, friends and colleagues as he appears to be for that of his Minions/Hellers? I would certainly hope so, but that question can only be answered by Misha, himself, and I can and will not presume to speak on someone else's behalf on things in their personal life. For the record I would never presume I know what J2's answers would be on anything, however I do feel that after 15 years I have an accurate gauge on what kind of people they are so would be confident that any opinion I had on a matter aligns with their morals and ethics. As much as J2 have shared of themselves with us - willingly and under no pressure to do so, I might add - we don't *know* them, but we know enough to have an informed opinion. I can’t say the same for Misha because based on the behaviour he’s repeatedly displayed, things I've heard about from other fans as well as people I know IRL who have had direct dealings with him through cons or GISH (including some very actively in the early days when it was GISHWHES) he just hasn’t seemed like a person I wanted to follow on SM. I’ve never watched any of his solo panels, though I have watched ones with both or one of the J's, mostly being left irritated because of his behaviour. Watching the J’s put up with that shit is painful, and it’s a testament to how good they are as actors that they managed to hide at least some of their disdain for as long as they did. Microexpressions give them away, particularly Jensen, and they certainly have faces I have spent many years watching closely. Beautiful faces to go with beautiful souls, both of them! <3

I have precisely ZERO interest in Destiel as a ship, very little interest in Cas as a character anymore (though I did like him in the early days,and his relationship with Jack in late seasons) so I have absolutely no reason or desire to follow anything Misha does. That said, I've obviously been peripherally aware of some things he's been involved in because of friends, from things I’ve seen on SM and general fandom stuff. Despite the things I've already mentioned about his behaviour, up until now I have been able to maintain a level of respect for him as a person because of the humanitarian and charity work he's done. He seems like someone who really does want to change the world for the better and I am in full support of that fact, so much so that I have supported TWO campaigns relating to him. I bought one of the Super Good t-shirts for the campaign he did with Michael Sheen (a true angel!), the SPN/Good Omens x-over to help homeless charities, and I chose the design with text only and not artwork of Michael and Misha on, basically because I didn’t want to be wearing something with Misha’s face on it and I make absolutely no apology for that, whatsoever. I also bought Alex's #TheEndHasNoEnd shirt, which some of the profits went to Random Acts who do great work, so again, despite not liking Misha I still willingly contributed for a cause bigger than me, and to support Alex, who I absolutely ADORE. I'm aware that Stands aren't popular with some of the fandom, however since most of the cast of SPN are happily affiliated with them then I don't feel it's my place to either judge, or to discuss topics I know next to nothing about. But I digress, as a decent human being I have shown support tangentially to a man who I don't care for out of respect for the work he does outside the fandom. Telling you this isn’t to paint myself in a good light - I don’t need your approval, I’m a big girl, unlike some I don’t need constant validation! - only to provide background on how I’ve actively *not* hated on Misha.

Now though, any respect I had for him has come to an abrupt end, the events of the past 24 hours has seen to that. Whilst I have been annoyed at his behaviour in regards to shipping, I don't feel it's ever gone this far, or at least not that I've seen first hand. This man has, IMO, contributed to so much toxicity in the fandom by way of things I've mentioned before, he's claimed - without actually saying the words - that Wincest fans weren't interested in him as a character when he came onto the show, and hasn’t felt included because of the fans’ love of the brothers. Um, hate to break it to you, love, but when you come onto an established show that is about two people, and you’re a *guest star* you can’t expect everyone to love you. Some characters we as individuals do fall in love with straight away (Bobby, Charlie, Crowley and Rowena are good examples for me), it takes time to establish a dynamic, so if that’s how he felt then it was incredibly naive of him as an actor to expect instant acceptance from anyone. Also, why wait until after the show finished to bring it up AGAIN … oh wait, yeah, that would be to step back into the limelight in a way intended to garner sympathy from Minions and INTENTIONALLY piss off bro fans and Wincest shippers alike? How fucking self centred, desperate and disrespectful do you have to be to shit all over the finale of a show that for the most part accepted you and kept you in paid work for 12 years? Well, Misha Collins levels of all of those things, obviously.  

So, on the topics of self centred, desperate to stay relevant, attention seeking and being oh so needy, the tweet yesterday from Amazon mentioned Castiel. He wasn’t tagged in it, so I refer to my earlier comment about searching online, because how else would he have possibly seen that? It’s possible someone sent it to him, I appreciate that, but if we go off past behaviour it’s not any stretch at all to believe that didn’t happen. So, once again, having seen the tweet he took it upon himself to - oh so predictably - turn it into something relating to Destiel. When I saw it I immediately rolled my eyes and thought ‘here we go again’, but then also had a little smile because I really liked the fact that he explicitly mentioned Wincest, therefore seeming to accept that his poor old dead horse wasn’t the only one in the race. I actually mentally tipped my hat to him then because it appeared that he’s matured enough to acknowledge by name the ship that predates his inclusion on the show. Great, I thought, this is a positive thing in a sea of negativity surrounding the man and his sunken ship, because what followed was Wincest trending in the US (it may also have been other countries as well but I had to sleep!) … largely due to the fact that Hellers were responding to it, calling him out on mentioning the dreaded ‘W’ word. I’ll repeat that because it’s been a rare occurrence up to that point… the Minions were actually disappointed with their overlord for mentioning another ship. We all know what they think of it and I for one, don’t give a flying fuck about their opionion. Ship and let ship, it’s all fun (or meant to be) so we have different tastes, that’s life kiddiwinks, deal with it. I mean, you really don’t have much of an example set for you when your king has proven several times over to be one of the biggest obnoxious brats out there, but just give it a try for your own sakes, yeah? Awesome, good on you, besties!

An unexpected development - to my joy and that of other Wincest shippers - them doing that got the topic trending, only *kept* trending by the fact that were all coming online asking why it was trending. Wincest shippers barely lifted a finger, we just flooded each other’s timelines with lovely content and basked in the Hellers - and Misha - shooting themselves in the foot, which was awesome. But did the vitriol stop? No. Did he get the attention he so clearly craves? Yes. Was it in the way he wanted? Fuck no, so poor, emotionally wounded baby backtracked after seeing that his name was trending alongside Wincest because that’s *so* not what someone narcissistic to do it in the first place, wanted.

Now here’s where I could easily have just moved on with an unusually fond chuckle, giving him an ironic pat on the back and a ‘thanks, Misha’ for being the one to instigate hours of fun, but once again his despicable behaviour made that impossible. It’s been more than obvious for many years that he cares more about what his fans think than anything else to do with the show and the fandom in a larger sense, but to delete the tweet and APOLOGISE for daring to be so insensitive to the snowflakes’ delicate sensibilities for mentioning Wincest in the first place was absolutely disgusting. Stating , “I used a term that I had never really given any thought to other than, "that's a thing?! Yuck." is not only complete and utter bullshit, it’s pandering of the highest order.  

We all know he has referred to Wincest on multiple occasions, so to say he hadn’t thought about is a flat out lie, which IMO is an insult to everyone, not just Wincest shippers. Does the man have no self respect at all, why would you contradict yourself in the face of such overwhelming evidence? Instead of either ignoring all the people calling him out, or addressing it with another tweet saying ‘yeah, that happened’ or something similar he chose, I repeat, CHOSE the route of claiming he didn’t realise he was being offensive to people who felt ‘triggered’ by him using the word Wincest. He basically shat all over an entire ship and large sector of the fandom in an attempt to appease his own fan base which consists of a lot of children (or those that act like children) who have no idea what RL is like.

Once again, he’s reinforced the idea that if you shout loud enough at someone just because you don’t like something they said, they will back down and apologise for something even when there’s nothing to apologise for. If he wants to be such a role model then he could easily have pointed out that a fictional ship doesn’t condone RL incest, any ACTUAL trauma people have suffered because of RL situations, and made an effort to make sure people understand that. He COULD have used it as an opportunity to do some good in the fandom by encouraging people to build bridges, to accept that people are entitled to their beliefs and that sometimes we see things differently but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t treat others with BASIC HUMAN DECENCY because of it. Instead he YET AGAIN chose to show that he cares more about what Minions think of him, keeping them onside to constantly stroke his unbelievably fragile ego in everything he does.

It is my understanding that Misha is big on (or claims to be big on) putting positive energy out into the world, treating people with respect, helping others and accepting people for who they are, not who you want them to be… all this after YEARS of consistently practising what he preaches only when it suits him. He sends out a message that it’s perfectly OK to bully, to spread hate, to draw attention to yourself at the cost of others, to throw colleagues and friends under the bus and at the same time use them to further your own agenda and get hits for your YouTube channel. Is this really the legacy he wants to leave? Is this an environment he wants his own kids to grow up in as well as future generations? Is this what he thinks is a valuable contribution as a human being? JFC, the arrogance, hypocrisy and the need for constant validation this man exhibits is nothing short of cringeworthy… actually it’s beyond that. It’s deplorable behaviour, it’s not new, and he will continue to act like this for as long as he’s being enabled and this harmful cycle needs to end.

I have friends IRL and online who are (now, possibly, were) big Misha fans, who have supported him from either the beginning of his run on the show, or since they started watching, and this is how he repays this behaviour? He’s willfully alienating decent people (including multishippers) all to make himself look good by being seen to do everything he can not to offend people. Spoiler alert, you DID offend people, you continue to do so time and again and we’ve had enough. I can’t imagine how exhausting it must be to be such a perpetual people pleaser, but let me say it’s not doing you any favours in any way, shape or form.

Misha, you are *not* a role model, you’re *not* someone to look up to when you can't live up to the ideals you preach. You’re spitting in the face of people who have supported you even after some questionable things in the past, who gave you the benefit of the doubt because we’re all human and we all make mistakes. The key to growing as a person is not to keep repeating the same mistakes over and over, understanding *why* what you said and/or did was a mistake and making a concerted effort to make changes. I don’t ever see you doing that, you will continue down this path of only caring about Minions under the guise of caring for people in general. You are transparent, you are sad and despite the fact I’ve never particularly liked you, I didn’t speak up because I didn’t want to get involved in the drama. Well now I have spoken up and I’m saying you’re a disgrace, you have no respect for other people and nobody is fooled anymore. If it hadn’t been this tweet it would have been something else, but I for one am glad it happened so soon after the show ended so we can finally be rid of the limpet-like behaviour. It’s over, let it go for the sake of what dignity you might have left, for the sake of your family and friends and for the sake of anyone who isn’t capable of seeing through your ‘it’s a joke’ mentality.

You have been weighed, you have been measured and you have been found wanting. Fuck you and the horse you rode in on, Misha.

For anyone who made it to the end of my ramble, thank you. This has been a cathartic exercise and I’m drawing a line under it now, I don’t think I could possibly make my thoughts any clearer. I urge you not to get caught up in any petty squabbles with his Minions, let’s celebrate J2 and other cast and crew members who have shown us all respect and who I am proud to call part of the SPN family. There’s always one member of the family who needs to be frozen out for the good of everyone else.

#ficforthought speaks #sorry not sorry #i spent way too long on this #purging the poison

[impyssadobsessions]

(Comics Anon!) As promised I just finished Moon Knight (2006)! All in all, I'd say it was a pretty mixed bag. There were certainty times where I wasn't having fun reading it. It was very clearly written in 2006, like there was some nasty implied stereotypes and misogyny. I counted five different slurs (two against gay people, two racial, and one ableist). Despite those being unedited, they heavily censored all uses of much less offensive words like fuck or shit. But still used them often enough that it got a little irritating reading constant bubbles where half the words were just #### and you had to guess what they were saying based on context clues. "He's the head #### in charge." Are they saying bitch? No, because they say that uncensored in the next panel, so what the fuck are they saying? Can't be shit, and though fuck is possible it sounds clunky in that context, so who knows! That all said, there were absolutely parts and arcs I did enjoy. And this particular run includes a lot of iconic pieces of the larger Moon Knight lore. It has the parts where he carved off Bushman's face, his ensuing spiral when his knees are shattered and he has to retire, that time Jake hijacked the body and fucked off to Mexico. Plus a delightful arc about his experience with the superhero registration act I really liked. Speaking of Jake, I was particularly disappointed in the way they handled his D.I.D. in this run. It was thirty issues in total and for most of them the system might as well have not existed for all the impact Steven and Jake had on the story. Even when Jake takes the body and leaves, Marc similarly disappears into the nether never to be seen again. As if he simply donned Jake Lockley as an alias and not as a new persona entirely. It's bizarre, and considering the reason I like Moon Knight so much is the dive into mental illness, it's disappointing. His hallucinations are handled a little bit better, there's a scene in one comic where he admits that he's not sure what's real that was very emotionally done. As for his mood disorders, they were really pushed to the max here. For the entire run, and particularly in the beginning when he's just lost the use of his legs, Marc becomes volatile. He lashes out at the people around him, sometimes even physically, and drives them all away one by one until none of them are willing to associate with him anymore. I myself do not have a mood disorder, but both bipolar and borderline personality disorder runs very heavily in my family, and I can personally attest that this is a very accurate and real depiction of what it can do to your relationships when unmonitored and untreated. I mentioned it before, but Khonshu was very much portrayed like the ps5 meme throughout the entire story. It was very funny watching him be so pathetic, but disappointing due to how legitimately scary and intimidating his amoral persona in the later comics was to me. Overall, I'd say it's probably not something I'd recommend for your first comic, and it absolutely depends on your taste in media if I'd suggest it at all. Every single person in this story is an asshole, including the main character, and though the arcs themselves were very interesting, you had to sit through a lot of bigotry to get to the good parts. If you're like me and really enjoy an unflinching, horrible look at the downward spiral of untreated mental illness and don't mind a bit of early 2000s bad takes to get there, maybe give it a shot. If not, you can always read a summary online and save yourself the pain.

Ah, I see~ Yeah, I myself not a fan of everyone being an asshole. I have to at least like the main character some in order to enjoy it. Reason I never could get into the anime Death Note. I hated Light since the first episode. But I can understand how some people do like stories about awful ppl. Though I do laugh everytime u mention Khonshu is ps5 meme LOL .

#comic reviews #by comic anon #moon knight #marvel universe

[thankskenpenders]

Enerjak Reborn intermission: Who the hell is Enerjak?

Before we move on to the second half of the fun, thrilling, and exciting Enerjak Reborn arc, I think it’s a good idea to pause and take a look back at where we came from. Reading this arc, you may be asking yourself: where’d this Enerjak guy come from? It’s been over six years since I covered the comics featuring the original Enerjak, after all (and I tended to skim over stuff a lot more back then)

So here’s a crash course in Archie’s original nemesis for Knuckles. The big question today is... did the original Enerjak ever DO anything?

As has been established, the original Enerjak was a powered up form Dimitri took on. Even if you’re not following all this too closely, you’ll probably recognize Dimitri as the floating cyborg echidna head. He’s pretty memorable in that form

In his youth, though, Dimitri was a normal echidna scientist working alongside his brother Edmund on Angel Island. Together, the two of them found the legendary Zoot Chute

This, of course, led them to the chamber of the twelve Chaos Emeralds (yes, twelve--the lore was different back then) that were holding Angel Island up in the air. It had been generations since the echidnas had Brexited their capital city into the sky to dodge the White Comet, and they figured, hey, maybe we should land this thing. And so Edmund and Dimitri set out to slowly syphon away the power of the Emeralds to do just that, gently lowering the floating landmass back into the crater it had left behind. A reasonable idea!

Except then their proposal to land Angel Island was denied, so Dimitri got pissed and stole the Chaos Syphon to do it anyway. But then the machine went HAYWIRE and he absorbed the energy himself and it flipped his morality switch from good to EVIL!!!

Boy, that was sudden!

From there Dimitri’s plan was to enslave everyone on Angel Island and make them turn the whole island into one big airship, from which Dimitri would subjugate the surface world

(No, the pirate motif isn’t an artist taking liberties with the script--Ken drew these lore dump backup stories himself)

Boy, this guy sure does have big plans! And he’s got the power to back it up, too, since he absorbed eleven whole Chaos Emer--oh, whoops, the fire ants chewed through the base of his spooky tower and he was immediately crushed by rocks before he could do literally anything else with his new power

From here, Edmund and his allies “renounced technology” and “destroyed their city” (not really, but that’s how the story goes). His descendants would become the Brotherhood of Guardians, eventually including Locke and Knuckles. This part of the lore dump gave me some of my favorite panels. Meanwhile, Dimitri’s side of the family sought revenge and went full techno-fascist, forming the Dark Legion

Fast forward a few hundred years to the events of the three-issue Knuckles miniseries, and Dimitri's HP finally recharges and he manages to escape from the rubble, ready for his first face-off with Knuckles! Except he’s no longer just Dimitri... he’s apparently now Enerjak!

While the echidna lore dump stories published literally immediately before this miniseries that Ken drew himself depicted Dimitri as simply turning all green and glowy in his powered up state, the art in the recap pages of this miniseries seems to retcon the story and say that he had actually turned into Enerjak. I’m not sure why you wouldn’t just use Enerjak in the original stories to set the persona up more instead of just having Dimitri turn green. Here Archimedes also refers to Enerjak as “the great evil of legend” even though no one is supposed to know about Dimitri’s Enerjak persona yet. Actually, this little point of confusion was expanded upon by Ian, which is why in his version of the canon Enerjak is an entity that multiple people can become, rather than just a supervillain persona for Dimitri. Anyway!

In this first confrontation, Enerjak displayed a few of the signature moves Knuckles has been using in the Enerjak Reborn arc. He’s able to unleash blasts of Chaos energy, freeze his opponents in place, and teleport them elsewhere. He uses this to make short work of the Chaotix and teleport Knuckles and Archimedes out to die in the desert of Sandopolis Zone

From there, Enerjak made a new evil citadel (guy just LOVES making evil citadels), this time made to resemble Echidnaopolis... except evil. He christened it “Nekronopolis.” He also, like... made some robots for Knuckles to fight, apparently based on robots they used to have in Echidnaopolis? Okay

In their final confrontation of the miniseries, Enerjak mind controls the Chaotix to make them fight Knuckles. He then starts going on and on about his unlimited power while struggling to kill a teenager, only to be undone when--surprise!--the fire ants show up and sabotage his fortress again. This time, though, they launch him into space with help from Locke instead of just making the citadel collapse on top of him. Oh, and then his evil fortress disappears. He leaves no mark on the status quo of the series in his first appearance aside from adding one more guy to the list of characters Knuckles has fought

Later, in issue #7 of the full Knuckles series, Enerjak is summoned back to Angel Island and meets the Dark Legion. Since he’s their beloved Dimitri, he immediately becomes their new leader. And so Enerjak gets his rematch with Knuckles. This time he uses new tricks like making himself giant and teleporting himself and Knuckles to various inhospitable locations like the moon. (Admittedly, the moon thing is cool.)

Eventually he gets bored toying with Knuckles, though, and he decides to just disintegrate him

BUT Knuckles is immediately saved by God the Ancient Walkers, who won’t allow one of their Chosen Ones to die so easily. So he comes back right away

Enerjak then leads the Dark Legion on an all-out assault on Echidnaopolis. He doesn’t really do much even though he could probably singlehandedly disintegrate the entire Echidnaopolis defense force with the snap of his fingers

And then Mammoth fucking Mogul shows up and drains him of all his power with the Sword of Acorns and turns him into a prune

No, Knuckles wasn’t even the one who beat his supposed nemesis in either fight

And that’s it for Enerjak! No, really! He appears in two story arcs for a total of six issues, and that’s it. He’s just regular old Dimitri from this point forward, eventually becoming a cyborg and then a head. He has no powers and is just a fascist

As with just about every other element of Ken’s Knuckles comics, Enerjak was all hype and no substance. Dimitri is an important figure in The Lore, but as Enerjak he doesn’t actually do anything with his unlimited power that has any lasting impact on the story whatsoever. He just taunts Knuckles and then gets his power slurped out by a mid-tier villain. It’s clear that Ken wanted to paint this as Dimitri repeatedly suffering for his hubris, but it sure would’ve been nice if he actually did anything before he loses each time. Like, honestly? If you took the Enerjak persona out of the story entirely and instead just had the Dark Legion bring back regular old Dimitri with their technology, very little about the overarching story would change. He also has absolutely zero nuance as a character, going from a well-intentioned if headstrong scientist to a world-conquering tyrant demigod to the leader of the techno-fascists at the drop of a hat when the story requires it

Needless to say, it is VERY SATISFYING to have Knuckles become a version of Enerjak with way more nuance and to see him actually do stuff with that power in Ian’s run. Not just cool fighting moves (although he has those!), but also stuff that will have a lasting impact on the series

#tkp post #Enerjak Reborn

[kaizokuou-ni-naru]

The Voyage So Far: Alabasta (Part One)

east blue (1 | 2) || alabasta (1 | 2) || skypiea || water 7 || enies lobby || thriller bark || paramount war (1 | 2) || fishman island || punk hazard || dressrosa (1 | 2) || whole cake island || wano (1 | 2)

(this is a repost, i deleted the first version of it by accident cause im Idiot)

the entry into the grand line is such a great sequence. it feels like such an ending- a triumph after they’ve spent pretty much all of east blue struggling to make it here, and at the same time the beginning of a new adventure, the biggest yet, one that has yet to end a solid two decades later. they all look so happy to have made it here- it makes me smile.

whiskey peak is one of my very favorite short arcs, and i think of the whole first half of the baroque works saga its the one that hits and maintains a tone best (almost certainly because its so short, admittedly, but still). i love the repeated shots of the moon, the reveal that the cactuses are actually covered in graves, the way everything seems far too good to be true at the start and the sense of suspense that creates.

zoro’s extended fight scene in whiskey peak is so great- it’s so creative and so dynamic and the odds are stacked so high against him and yet he’s clearly having so much fun. i do miss this sort of scrappy, improvised fight, cause its largely absent from later one piece but its SO much fun to read- zoro cutting holes in rooftops for people to fall through or shoving ladders to the ground as bounty hunters try to climb them.

i’m a huge fan of fight scenes that use the environment to their fullest, and this is such a perfect example of it. it makes the fight feel a lot more real and exciting, in my opinion.

i’ve never liked zoro and luffy fighting at whiskey peak, its always struck me as frustrating and contrived and kind of out of character for both of them, but i will say that i do like how on the same page they are even when they’re trying to kill each other.

the entire first half of the baroque works saga basically serves to introduce and endear us to vivi so we’ll be invested in the alabasta conflict, and that starts here in whiskey peak, when we get our first glimpse of her actual personality rather than the act she was putting on as miss wednesday, when she bites her lip hard enough to bleed in order not to break down at igaram’s apparent death.

watching robin’s actions with the added context of later one piece is one of the great joys of rereading alabasta. she does a fantastic job of appearing to be crocodile’s most dedicated and capable and dangerous employee while quietly but consistently sabotaging his efforts; saving luffy, sparing pell, sparing igaram, not telling crocodile anything about the strawhats despite meeting them here at the very start of the saga.

little garden has some really cool and striking panels that really put the scale of things on the island, the dinosaurs and giants alike, into perspective, and i love it.

i’m a huge fan of the depth of in-universe lore one piece has. just having little details like this, quotes from books written in-universe, go so far towards making the world feel like a real and wondrous place with mysteries to be solved and details to be uncovered.

i still think sanji is firmly at his best when he’s being a sneaky bastard, and i will never cease to be delighted by how thoroughly he manages to fuck crocodile over with nothing but a phone and some quick thinking not once but twice.

i really like dorry and brogy! for minor characters who’ve only appeared in one relatively minor and inconsequential arc so far, they’re not only very fun and memorable but also leave a hell of an impact on the story, not only in usopp’s new dream of eventually visiting elbaf but also in how they and their crew just keep coming up, first in enies lobby and then even further down the line in dressrosa and whole cake island.

i’m really excited for when we eventually get to reach elbaf, because this plot thread has been so thoroughly and subtly built up over such a long time that i can’t wait to see how it ends.

this is one of my favorite little moments to really drive home how much the strawhats care about each other. they all fell asleep on the floor rather than leave nami alone.

the whole introductory scene to drum is a really good summary of who vivi is as a person and how she contrasts with luffy, and it’s something i’ve written extensively about in a past meta. here ill just settle for saying, vivi is chronically selfless, and always the sort of person to sacrifice herself for others, and these traits which save the strawhats here are the exact same ones that bring her and luffy to blows later on in alabasta.

a good thing to remember when writing characters is that traits aren’t really inherently good or bad, they’re just traits and can have positive or negative consequences depending on the situation, and i think oda is really good at this. vivi’s selflessness, usually a positive thing, becomes reckless self-sacrifice when she’s pushed to her breaking point.

‘kindness begets kindness’ is a pretty consistent theme throughout one piece, though luffy is most often on the other side of it. someone (rebecca, law, tama, etc.) does something for him without really expecting anything in return, and gets paid back a hundred times over. this is a case of the opposite- luffy helps someone offhandedly, and is later saved by their gratitude.

i think luffy wearing his fingers bloody as he climbs the drum rockies is the only time one piece has ever made me cringe back from the page. this sequence is absolutely brutal, and it’s so well-done.

the way luffy decides chopper should be his crewmate is precious, and also reminds me a little of his recruitment of sanji (ironically, given he’s talking to sanji about chopper here). in both cases he sees someone do something good without even really knowing the full extent of their abilities and makes a snap decision that they are awesome and are gonna be part of his crew, no matter what they have to say about it.

i really, really enjoy the way the drum island flashback is set up, with the cutaway right as luffy is about to punch wapol’s lights out. the cut back to that punch finally hitting when the flashback ends is by that point infinitely more satisfying, since you’ve just read chopper’s backstory and therefore have a deep and abiding desire to see wapol eat shit.

hiriluk’s final speech is definitely one of the best and most memorable quotes from one piece, and effectively the crux of one of its biggest themes. one piece is all about inherited will. all of our main cast and a solid percentage of the supporting cast bear the legacy of at least one forebear on their shoulders, from kuina to corazon to otohime. the entire setting of the story is defined by roger’s legacy.

all those people are dead, but they’re sure as hell not forgotten- how can they be, when their legacies are actively shaping the world as a direct result of their lives and influences?

i really, really like the use of flags in one piece. flags are how you declare loyalty or war in equal measure, and flying a pirate flag is a declaration that you’re choosing freedom, come what may, over the laws of the world government. it’s just a really excellent running motif, and a great symbol of what one piece’s definition of piracy means.

this scene is also one of the ones that gets even more extra weight behind it when you know luffy’s full backstory with sabo, which i love.

chopper’s recruitment scene sums up one of the reasons luffy is really great. he just doesn’t care about a lot of things other people would normally take notice of. occasionally that gets him in trouble, but other times it leads to him responding to a situation exactly right, like here. chopper is listing off all his insecurities and reasons he can’t go with the strawhats, and luffy just flat doesn’t care. he wants chopper on his crew and he knows chopper wants to be on his crew, so as far as he’s concerned, there’s no issue at all.

it really is wild that the will of D is named this far back in the story, and has consistently been referenced and built up ever since in very slight ways, through comments by characters like robin and corazon, and yet we still know basically nothing about it.

and a toast to a new crewmate!!

continued in the next post, which covers alabasta arc proper.

#the voyage so far #arc: reverse mountain #arc: whiskey peak #arc: little garden #arc: drum island #one piece #opmeta #not japanese #long post

[ghosthan]

hello!! i saw that you made a lot of stuff for 1872 and i was wondering if 1872 tony is similar to regular comics tony?? i know mcu and comics tony are different and i want to get into 616, but if 1872 comics are more easy to read i might try those first! 😅

Hello, hello! 

Thank you for asking, and sorry it took me so long to get back to you! I wanted to think about it and put together a thoughtful response because I am desperately trying to convert MCU fans to 1872. Or comics fans who just haven’t gotten into 1872.

This post will contain some 1872 spoilers, but not the Big Spoiler that you probably already know about anyways. 

Anyways, let’s get into it. Yeehaw.

What is 1872? It’s Steve/Tony in the wild west.

1872 comics are very easy to read, very short, and you need absolutely no prior knowledge to get into them; I highly recommend these as a start point for MCU fans who are curious about dipping their toes into some of the other Steve/Tony universes. And 1872 is, indeed, a Steve/Tony universe. It’s really gay, (and dramatic.) Uh. So gay, in fact, that one of the comic artists who drew pages even occasionally shares Steve/Tony shipping memes. So.

Marvel 1872 is a four issue series released as a part of the Secret Wars event; you really do not need to know anything about this to enjoy 1872, because it is a self-contained alternate universe in a “pocket dimension”, meaning it’s totally separate from the 616 cannon but technically exists in the expanse of the multiverse!

Here’s the summary:

In the Battleworld zone of 1872, Sheriff Steve Rogers faces corruption and fear in the boom town of Timely. Can Anthony Stark pull Rogers' fat from the fire? Probably not, since the only thing he seems capable of pulling is a cork from a bottle. Things in Timely are bad, and getting worse — and when a stranger arrives in town, Timely will be changed forever.

Now, to compare “regular comics Tony”, or 616 Tony, with 1872 Tony.

The main difference? 616 Tony wears this sexy little under suit (or nothing) under his armor, like this:

And 1872 Tony wears dirty, stinky one-piece pajamas under his armor (not sexy):

He’s so gross, he’s a mess. I love him. You’ll love him, too. 

No, okay. Being serious.

 616!Tony’s backstory is a lot more complicated just due to how long the character has existed, and the decades of cannon (much of it self-contradictory at points.) Like MCU Tony, 616 Tony used to manufacture weapons, experiences something life-changing, and becomes who he is as a result of this as a catalyst. 616 Tony’s backstory has been rebooted a few times, and I’m definitely not the definitive source on Iron Man lore compared to people who have read all of his comics, but I’ll try to touch on the basics.

Originally, 616 Tony Stark is shaped by his experience in the Vietnam War. This is later rebooted and changed to war in the middle East (we see this in the MCU when Tony is held captive in Afghanistan.) In both circumstances, he is taken captive after being in the air for war technology, and then he creates the suit to save his own life (losing a beloved mentor in the process, the guilt of which stays with him after.)

Tales of Suspense #39

In 1872, Tony’s formative event is the Civil War in some ways, but in other ways, this is only half of it, because this is not the event which causes him to build armor or set him onto his “become a better person” trajectory, like in the other comics. Mainly, the Civil War functions to cause Tony to stop weapons manufacturing and throw his life away down a bottle.

We get a flashback of Tony in the year 1862 with his female companion, picnicking and about to watch a battle, (rich people from the North did this in real life. If you’re interested, read more here!) We don’t get much of his past, but we discover that he is a rifle manufacturer and that he has created something called the ‘Stark Repeating Rifle’, and it seems that he has done so with the hope of encouraging a cease-fire, more than a slaughter.

Well. We don’t always get what we ask for.

Tony vows to actually never touch a weapon ever again, and this personal oath means so much to him that he gets creative at times during 1872 when he’s being chased by baddies:

Witnessing the extreme bloodshed of the Civil War, and feeling responsible for a huge amount of deaths, Tony turns to drinking, (and presumably moves to the west to escape the Pain of his Past, but this is not shown explicitly on panel; I have assumed, though, that Tony’s weapons manufacturing company was in the East, probably Boston or New York, since he comes from family money and because the American West was still “young” at this point in time so it would be unlikely that an established business would be supplying a war from lawless territory with little infrastructure.)

In 616, it’s worth noting that Tony builds the armor to save himself from danger in a war scenario; this is not the case in 1872, things unfold a bit differently. The Civil War certainly sets in motion the chain of events that eventually lead to the creation of Tony’s armor, but he’s not in physical danger or physically traumatized by the war in this verse as he is in other verses, and 616 Tony seems to have a stronger sense of duty than 1872 Tony, but this might be a complication of the depression/apathy related to the alcoholism.

What I mean by this is that both iterations of Tony struggle with alcoholism, but differently. Mainly, while 616 Tony has several alcohol themed arcs, and hits rock bottom with his alcoholism to cope with his trauma, he is sober more than he is drunk in the comics. His drinking almost kills him, and he almost loses everything because of the drink. It’s a source of enormous shame for him.

In fact, during this time in 616, I think Tony at his lowest reminds me a lot of 1872 Tony; 616 Tony is not an apathetic person and he holds himself accountable for an obscene amount of responsibility, but during what is referred to in fandom as The Second Drinking Arc, Tony basically gives up. This is the most “like” 1872 Tony, at least at the start of his arc. Rhodey takes over the mantle of Iron Man, and 616 Tony spirals, not caring whether he lives or dies, not hero-ing certainly.

We see both versions of Tony express similar sentiments, a certain cavalier attitude about their lives (and outright suicidality at other points) with nothing left but the drink.

Iron Man Vol. 1 #182

Compare with:

And you can certainly see a resemblance between this set of panels from IM v.1 #176 and in 1872:

Iron Man Vol. 1 #176 and Marvel 1872 #1

It’s a little different in 1872, where his drinking really is purely a result of his existing despair, and it doesn’t cause enormous problems for him, (minor problems, sure. He spends a lot of time drunkenly singing to Sheriff Rogers, or bothering him from the inside of a jail cell.) But this Tony lives at rock bottom, whereas 616 Tony only stays at rock bottom long enough to get his life back together (as many times as it takes.)

This Tony really doesn’t show any outward shame about his drinking; presumably, the people he knows in Timely have only ever known Tony as a drunk, and none of the people from his old life are here to see him like this. 

This is a Tony who has essentially given up on himself and has moved out West to hide from his shame and his past; this is not a Tony who is scared of letting down his friends by drinking, or scared of shirking his “duty”, because this Tony has moved away from all of his friends and has given himself no duties. He’s a bit more apathetic, but I would argue that this is not because he inherently is a less moral version of Tony, but because in this verse, he was drinking for a very long time and circumstances unfolded differently so it took him a longer time to find that sense of purpose and responsibility (beyond just shutting down manufacturing guns,) which is awakened in him by Steve Rogers. 

616 Tony’s sobriety is a major part of his character, and a conscious choice that he makes, even during some lowest points:

Civil War: The Confession

He takes some amount of pride in his sobriety, and when he does fall off the wagon at times (or magic makes everyone think he did,) it absolutely tears him up because 616 Tony cares very, very much about his sobriety and does not like who he is when he’s drinking. We do not know if 1872 Tony’s father had been a drunk or not, but we know 616 Tony’s father was, and that the drink lead to him treating Tony abusively.

Iron Man Vol. 1 #285 

Avengers Disassembled #1 (This was when ~magic~ made Tony drunk and it wrecked him breaking sobriety without ever having actually drank. Oof.)

616 Tony’s long struggle with alcoholism is a major part of his character and he has had relapses over the years and throughout the reboots, but in general, he does not drink.

1872 Tony starts drinking in 1862 and doesn’t stop until the last pages of the story, so in terms of the cannon we have for him, he is a current drunk, rather than a former drunk. This isn’t to say he doesn’t stop; but since it’s in the last page or so, it sets the reader up to imagine his sober future, rather than exploring his sobriety as 616 does. (Calling all fanfic writers!)

Anyways, both Tony’s are excellent. Both are damaged and traumatized, both are Iron Man in their own ways, both (eventually) find sobriety, both have some cute, quippy dialogue (though 616 Tony tends to be more reserved/polite for sure, in general). 

The last thing I’ll point out, is that both Tonys’ narratives are intertwined with and influenced by their respective Steve Rogers. I’m not saying soulmates but I’m saying soulmates.

Anyways. Sorry this post got super long, and I apologize if any of it is confusing or redundant, I am not functioning at my highest capacity currently. Please read 1872. Let it rock your world. Create & consume the fanworks, I would love to see a boom of 1872 content (more than the fics and art I keep making!) And my ask-box is always open!

#Anonymous #anon #ask #1872 #1872 stony #stevetony #stony #616 stony #616 #han reads comics #my post #idk how to tag this my brain is fried sorry if this post is all over the place #tw suicide mention #suicide mention #tw alcohol #alcohol #tw abuse #abuse #long post #comic panels #han speaks

[discopiratetanis]

Ghosts from the past [Part 1] [mandalorian x reader]

Summary: You are a honest scanvenger living their simple life on Lothal. The Empire is dead, finally. The Rebellion has transformed into the New Republic. You know it’s all the same cycle. But you don’t mind. You like your life. Then one day you feel something is coming. And it brings you bad memories from the past.

A/N: This a experiment and my very first pj x reader fic. English isn’t my first language. No beta because we die like heroes here. Super slowburn. Please forgive me and all my deep (and not that deep) sw lore. Post!Season1. Beware of possible spoilers.

Word count: 1584

* * *

You know something would happen that day.

You don't know what, but you're sure something will happen, anything, that didn't happen every day. It's not the first time, it wouldn't be the first time. You identify the signal, is a tingling sensation that runs through your body, nice and nasty at the same time, because it makes you feel excited, watchful and alert at the same time.

Is it a good thing, like when you knew when that terrible drought would end the day before it finally rained?

Is it a bad thing, like when you knew the bandits who tried to raid the village would show up?

You have no idea.

That morning, like every morning, you woke up to the clucking of your neighbor's hens and the thundering meow of the stray cat that prowls around your shack. Though it's not as if the whole village wasn't home to a colony of cats who had decided that living in the meadows was not appropriate for them. You got used to it a long time ago. It was the first thing the mayor had said to you when you arrived: Lothal is full of cats, so get used to it. You really prefer it. You still remember how sad and empty the village was when the Empire was occupying the planet and controlling absolutely everything.

You still remember... a lot of things.

"Good morning, [Y/N]!" someone says when they see you leaving your house.

You greet them back without saying anything, but with a smile, and walk quickly up the street, with your bag wobbling behind you, to the pub, where some of your neighbors and parishioners greet you with joy before continuing with their respective breakfasts. You sit down at the counter, are served a bowl of milk sprinkled with cereal, and bread. You have breakfast between comments on how the day is going to go, and you listen and tell something funny about the day before. You pay: New Republic credits. You say goodbye to everyone there, hang your bag over your shoulder and leave as quickly as you had entered.

Like you do every day.

Only that day the tingling sensation distracts you enough that you listen to half of everyone else's conversations and comment on nothing but isolated monosyllables, and wonder what the kriff is going to happen to make the tingling so strong.

It hasn’t been that strong before.

When you leave the pub you take a deep breath and look up at the sky. It's clear, sunny, but the wind is fresh and strong and it's shaking your hair playfully. You walk down the street, retracing your steps from your home. When you get there, you go to the backyard, where you have a little old speeder parked, so run-down that no one knows how it hasn't fallen to pieces yet. You get in, you start the engine. The speeder makes a hoarse, cavernous roar after coughing up a single puff of black smoke.

You leave the village.

The grasslands of Lothal, even as far as you are from the Capital City, are still full of junk. Scrap from ships and machinery of the Rebellion and Empire, forgotten by all but the scavengers who are willing to take advantage of even the smallest piece of metal. However, you know that Lothal's scrap dealers are not as wild as on other planets. You're grateful for that, because you've heard real horror stories from travelers and traders from the Middle Rim.

The tingling makes you drive slower than usual. Numerous cats run beside you, but they don't get in your way, meowing curiously. You don't mind. The place you're going is not far away and you're not in too much of a hurry. The junk won't move from where it is, and you have a considerable stock of decent material in your basement anyway. 

Just in case.

You park the speeder near your prey, the skeleton of an X-Wing fighter, from which you have been extracting the useful parts for quite some time. The ship is embedded in a small mountainous formation, in the middle of the seemingly endless high grass plain. You don't know how long it's been there, but it can't be more than seven or eight years. 

You get to work quickly, with the efficiency of routine and experience. You know perfectly well what to take first and what to leave for later, to sell at the best price in Capital City. Some would say it's hard work, or boring, but you like it. Surrounding yourself with metal, feeling the touch of grease, the warm smell of dry oil. It makes you forget about other smells, the touch of the earth, or the whisper of the ears of wheat, the tingling of the skin when...

You rip out part of the wire mesh from the cockpit control panel. It's a bit damaged, but you think it might be useful. At least to someone. Bit by bit you get several pieces that you put in your bag. With each one you think about the traders, the price, and that maybe you will be able to buy a new speeder soon with your savings, which are not many but enough to feel safe. Maybe you could take a trip to the Capital City in a few days, when the tingling feeling passes and whatever has to happen, happens.

Just thinking that, something immediately makes you feel it's not going to be that easy. It confuses you. But you keep on working, until the sun almost reaches its zenith and your stomach growls with hunger. You pick up everything, equipment and tools, and march home. The feeling doesn't go away. It's not just an itch, you perceive it as if someone scratches you on the back of the neck, with the nail, weak but insistent, or as if there was something to remember but you do not know what. You want to stir in the speeder seat. 

And it makes you feel more nervous, anxious.

What is it, what's wrong? You think, over and over again.

Sometimes you wish you couldn't feel any of it.

You park the speeder in your backyard, as usual. And as usual, you leave the pieces and the stuff you've fetched in the basement. You wipe off some of the sweat and dust from the trip in the kitchen dispenser, and head for the pub. It's always full of your neighbors at lunchtime, as few people make their own meals at home. As soon as you enter some people greet you, but you feel a strange, dense atmosphere.

Heavy.

You stop just for a second at the doorway, feeling the tingling stronger than ever. More than in the morning. You take a deep breath, hold it, and finish coming in, feeling like you're stepping on eggs. As you approach the counter you hear some comments, whispers. The voices are low enough that you don't hear much, but you hear a word:

Mandalorian.

You put your hands on the counter, and they serve you the usual things: a bowl of good stew, a glass of good liquor, but you don't eat or drink right away. Instead, you keep your eyes on the food, quietly, stiff as a stick.

Mandalorian.

You take a drink from your glass and swallow it hard, the alcohol burning your throat. It's been a long time since you've heard anything about mandalorians. It brings you... bad memories. But you can't help it, and after tasting a spoonful of the stew, you casually look around the pub. And you see them right away, of course. It's impossible not to spot them, stuffed into those recognizable, distinctive armors of theirs. They are sitting at a lonely table, with a bowl similar to yours, although it's obvious that they are not eating from it because they are wearing their helmet. You roll your eyes away from them, trying not to calculate how much the beskar of their entire armor is worth. You know it's a little disrespectful, even though they're not going to know it. You take your glass to give it another drink.

Then you notice something pulling at your pants.

You glance.

And you see something you didn't expect to see for the rest of your life.

The child chirps at you, happy. It's green, tiny, with little black eyes and ears as long as your hand. You let go of the glass, which crashes to the ground and frightens the creature. You take a step back, unwittingly stumbling over a stool and tipping it over, holding on the counter with your fingers so hard that your knuckles are white. Your heart beats furiously, and you're scared, your eyes sting. You hear screams that you know no one else hears. You blink too many times, trying to calm down.

But you can't.

"Uh," you babble. "S-Sorry, Rach, I'll pay you the glass,"

You dig into your bag quickly, take out a handful of credits, more than the cost of the food, and leave it on the counter. You leave, dodging the child, ignoring the strange looks of your neighbors, and not realizing that the mandalorian has stood up the table.

You walk with long strides first, then you ran until you reach your home. You enter the house and close the door behind you. Your breath is fast, broken. You shake your head.

Then you notice.

The tingling feeling is gone.

#the mandalorian x reader #din djarin x reader #the mandalorian x you #din djarin x you #the mandalorian #din djarin #the mandalorian imagine #the mandalorian fanfic #my fanfiction

[hellyeahheroes]

Building Gwen Poole in D&D 5e

Hey, guess who just got told my company is not working next week. Well, let’s celebrate by doing another D&D build, I had lately few ideas, including a character that makes me smile, unless she is making me feel bad for her

Let me quickly list the Goals for this build. First of all, we need to be able to enter Whitespace, cross beyond panel borders and then back. Second, we need to have knowledge only someone from real world entering a fantasy one could have. Finally, we need to summon Gwens from previous books to aid us. And one more for me is to not make this identical to Tulok the Barbarian’s Deadpool build, since the man already been an inspiration so much for these posts. Which will be hard since Gwen does lend herself well to similiar combination of two classes, spoiler alert.

As always, Ability Scores will be determiend by Standard points Array of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10 and 8, if you or your DM prefer point buy or rolls, go ahead and treat these as guidelines.

Strength: 10, we really don’t need it but Gwen carries a lot of weapons around so I cannot give this an 8

Dexterity: 14, despite the big boots I really doubt your suit is a medium armor, what with those bare legs and all.

Constitution: 13, hit points aren’t meat points and you survive in dangerous situations just fine.

Intelligence: 12, you are well-read in world of your heroes

Wisdom: 8,  you let Ms. Marvel convince you you’re an enteirly different species and your life is a lie and you also tried dating Quentin freaking Quire.

Charisma: 15, people like you and even if they don’t believe your claams of being from another world, they’ll likely dismiss them with a heartfelt laughter than trying to book you a psychologist appointment.

Now for Race, I hinted I don’t believe the “Gwen is a mutant” retcon so I’m going with Variant Human. If you think everything must be a mutant now, then go with any Aasimar or Half-Elf. Variant Humans get to be bitter about X-Men, add +1 to two Ability Scores, go with Charisma and Constitution, gain one free language and one free Skill, pick History since you know it because you’re a human from our world, and a feat. Crossbow Expert lets you ignore loading quality of crossbows, let’s you shoot creatures within 5 feet of you without a disadvantage and make an attack with a loaded crossbow as a bonus action after you hit a foe with a one-handed weapon attack. Crossbows are easy to reskin as guns but be warned that this does not turn a crossbow into an automated gun - you still need a hand to reload the crossbow after every shot, which now counts as a part of your attack, but requires a free hand. Which means you cannot wield two crossbows or fire more than one shot in a single round without a free hand. It could be fixed with some Artificer levels but we’re not doing that here, so make sure you’re on good terms with Riri Williams if you want to shoot two guns or use gun and a blade in an accord.

For Background, Far Traveller is someone who came from far, far away and you are literally from real world. You get Insight and Perception proficiency, can pick any free language of choice and one musical instrument or gaming tool and world has All Eyes On You - people notice you’re not from around and take interest in you.

Time to go with Class Levels

1st Level: We’ll kick things off as a Bard, letting gets to be proficient in any 3 skills, let’s go with Persuasion, Deception and Acrobatics. You are also proficient with Dexterity and Charisma saving throws, light armor, shields, simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords and three musical instruments of your choice. 

You also get Bardic Inspiration, giving you a number of d6 dices equal to your Charisma modifier per long rest that you can hand over to someone that they can add to any ability check, attack roll, or saving throw that they make in the next 10 minutes. They can do it after they roll but before DM declares result of the roll. So you can now cheer on your heroes while fighting alongside them.

Bards are also spellcasters. You get to know a number of spells and have a number of spell slots per long rest that you can spend to cast them and if you cast one from higher level spell slot, it will be stronger. You learn more spells as you advance but cannot know a spell of level higher than highest spell slot you can use. You also get Cantrips which you can cast always and scale with your level, getting stronger at 5th, 11th and 17th character level. If a spell requires you to make an attack roll you sum up your Proficiency Bonus and your Charisma modifier to add to the roll. And if you add 8 to those two values you get your Save Difficulty, which a creature has to beat if your spell forces them to make a saving throws.

A Bard starts with two Cantrips and 4 known spells

Vicious Mockery is a staple for Bards, it lets you mock someone so bad, they must make a Wisdom saving throw or take 1d4 psychic damage and have a distadvantage on next attack roll they make before end of its next turn.

Message is a spell functioning as a magic phone, letting you send a short message to someone within the range and then can make a short reply.

Identify lets you see if you recognize an item as something you once read in a comic book - it tells you if the item is magical, magic-imbued, what magical properties it has or what spells are affecting it, how to use it, if it requires attunment and how many charges it has.

Tasha’s Hideous Laughter makes you tell a joke that forces the target to make a Wisdom Saving Throw or fall prone and be incapitated and unable to stand up due to overwhelming laughter. Target gets another save at end of each of its turns or a save with an advantage whenever someone deals damage to it.

2nd Level: We stick to Bard to gain 2nd-Level feature Jack of All Trades, letting you add half of your Proficiency modifier to all skills you are not proficient with. You also gain Song of Rest, letting you play some music when your team is resting and rolling hit dice to regain hitpoints, letting everyone roll an additional 1d6. I don’t think it is a power per se that Gwen has, but could totally see her try to cheer up her friends and heroes.

And speaking of cheering up, you get one new spell - Heroism let’s you instill the bravery in one willing creature, making it immune to being frightened and on each of its turns letting them gain temporary hit points equal your Charisma modifier. Again, Hit Points can represent someone’s luck or will to fight so if you see Batroc having a hard time against Captain America, you can cheer him up to keep fighting. I mean, you would but you like Cap too, so maybe hope Batroc fights Taskmaster or something?

3rd Level: And it’s still a Bard, on 3rd Level gaining admission to something Gwen never got in real life - a college. Bardic College, to be more specific. I was thinking of College of Satire but really, College of Lore fits our needs much better. You gain profficiency with three more skills, I’d go with Athletics, Stealth and Sleight of Hand. Since all bards also gain Expertise, letting you choose two skills for which your Proficiency Bonus is doubled, use it on Athletics and Perception which depend on two lowest Ability Scores you have.

Your spell for the level is Invisibility, which lets you skip through eniemies you don’t feel like fighting, we can refluff this as early “slipping out” to the whitespace, but some creatures can still see you and you are “pulled back” (read: made visible) if you try to interact with something or attack anyone. 

College of Lore also gets Cutting Words, which lets you say something that spooks or confuses a creature. Mechanically it lets you use your Inspiration die the opposite way they are normally used, letting you roll to subtract from attack roll, saving throw or an ability check.

I mean, that’s basically how it works

4th Level: Still sticking with the Bard for an Ability Score Improvement, go for your Charisma, since not only your spells but also Bardic Inspiration relies on it.

You also get a new spell and a new Cantrip

Prestidigitation lets you make a number of smaller effects you can play as you messing around with Whitespace. Knock let’s you unlock one nonmagical lock on door or an object. Maybe play it as you “skipping” the door through Whitespace or cutting out to when the object is already unlocked?

5th Level: Surprise, surprise, it is still Bard. 5th Level mostly improves Bardic Inspriation - now it uses d8s and you regain them on a short rest as well. You also gain the access to 3rd level spell - Nondetection can make you or someone else immune on being spied by magical means for 8 hours. Situational? Yes. But something Gwen can do as a person capable of walking out of the reality where people like Doctor Strange or Professor X cannot find her? Very. You can also use it on objects. 

6th Level: Bar...oh hey, we’re doing Fighter now. 1st Level fighter gains proficiencies with light and medium armor and martial weapons as well as Second Wind, letting you once per short rest as a bonus action regain 1d10+your Fighter level hit points. You also get to choose a Fighting Style - Archery grants Gwen +2 to ranged weapon attacks.

ALTERNATIVES: As you can see, I decided to do Gwen as someone gun-toting, if you’d rather her use a sword then picking Defensive Duelist at first level and Dueling style now. Mind you, you need to have a free hand for spellcasting so unless you take a War Caster feat (which is also an option) you cannot duel-wield either sword and crossbow (which would also require sacrificing your Ability Score Improvement for Crossbow Expert) or two swords and use many of your abilitties. On a side note, Gwen is also profficient now with heavy Crossbow, so you can use that as a shotgun.

7th level: 2nd Level Fighter gets Action Surge, letting you once per Short rest gain an extra Standard Action

8th Level: 3d Level Fighter gains a Martial Achertype. I was thinking which one Gwen would choose. Wade went with a Champion but we don’t want Gwen to be exactly like him even if we’re already mixing two of the same classes Tulok did. I have a better pick. Gwen is suppsoed to represent the modern fandom that jumped into comics during New 10s, right? If that’s the case then, without streotyping here, we should ask ourselves what would likely be her possible gateway to D&D.

Echo Knight has been introduced in Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, the world designed by Matt Mercer for his Critical Role games. You can use your bonus action to Manifest Echo, letting you pull an echo of yourself from another timeline or, in your case, another book you were in. This Gwen has AC 14+ your Proficiency modifier, 1 hit point and immunity to all conditions, uses your saving throws and you command her to moves on your turn. She vanishes if she dies, you’re incapitated, you dismiss her, summon another Gwen or find yourself more than 30 feet away from her. 

As a bonus action you can  sacrifice 15 feet of your movement to swap places with other Gwen, you can choose if your attacks originate from your position or her and you can use your reaction to have her make an opportunitty attack if an opponnent would trigger one. And a number of times equal your Constitution Modifier per Long rest you can make her take an extra attack as a part of your attack action with Unleash Incarnation.

Now, to get third Gwen we would need 18 levels of Echo Knight, but we would lose or all other abilitties about Whitespace then. Instead I suggest you circle through Gwens, as it seems that Echo Knight can summon an Echo as many times as they feel like, just not at once. 

9th Level: 4th Level Fighter gets an Ability Score Improvement, Round up your Charisma

10th Level: 5th Level Fighter gains an Extra Attack, letting you attack twice as a part of the same action. Meaning you can make up to seven attacks with Action Surge, two uses of Unleash Incarnation and Crossbow Expert, provided you’re having a free hand. Unless DM allows it I do not think you can have other Gwen reload your guns, so all problems of Crossbow Expert still apply. Dual Wielding meele or mixed meele and ranged Gwen would get to the same level of attacks.

11th Level: 6th Level Fighter gets another Ability Score Improvement, start focusing on your Dexterity - even a meele Gwen is better off using finesse weapons and it adds to your AC.

12th Level: The Bard returns! 6th level Bard learns Countercharm, letting you use your action to give everyone you consider friendly an advantage on saving throws against being frightened or charmed - I guess it’s Gwen cheering other heroes up more or warning them she read about the baddie they’re facing and he has mind altering powers

You also get one more spell. It is sad we are behind with the spells...or are we? College of Lore Bard can gain Magical Secrets - a Bardic feature we will gain later as well, but this is an additional one and early. It lets you add two spells from any spell list to your spells known, as long as they’re on a level you can cast. Unlike the standard Bard version we will get later, the two spells we get now do not count to our maximum of spells know. Meaning we get three new spells

Tongues will let you read world baloons translated to English for the American readers and apparently let you add translation to  your own dialogues for an hour.

Blink lets you roll at the end of each of your turns and if you get 11 or higher you slip into Whitespace a.k.a. Etheral Plane and reappear in space no more than 10 feet away from where you were at the beginning of your next turn. When you are in whitespace you cannot be attacked or interacted with creatures on material plane. It is not as powerful as in Pathfinder but still - don’t cheat on this, don’t be an asshole and if you are pray you never see a spider.

Fireball is your grenade/rocket launcher. Creatures within range are dealt 8d6 fire damage, half on a succesful Dexterity saving throw.

13th and 14th level: 7th level Bard gains an acess to 4th level spells and 8th Level bard gains an Ability Score Improvement, invest in Dexterity again. I’m doing the two together since each gives you one more spell too add:

Dimension Door lets you teleport anywhere with range of 500 feet, as long as you can see, visualize or know the area. You can bring anything up to your carrying capacity and one creature also carrying no more than its maximum with you. However, if another creature occupies the selected space, you run into it and get knocked back through Whitespace, taking 4d6 force damage.

Greater Invisibility works like Invisibility, but now you can take things with you or attack until it ends naturally. Play it as you slipping in and out of Whitespace.

15th Level: 9th Level Bard gets to improve Song of Rest, now using a 1d8 instead of 1d6. And you gain access to 5th level spells. Legend Lore is a spell seemingly tailor-made for a fangirl - you can gain (or in your case, recall that you’ve read) knowledge about specific person, object or location. It may be vague, the more you already know the better results. This lets you put fun in your fangirl...wait.

16th Level: 10th Level Bard improves Bardic Inspriation dice to d10s, gains Expertise in two more Skills, I’d go with History and Persuasion, and learns one more cantrip and Magical Secrets - this works like before but these spells count to your maximum of spells know.

Blade Wards grants you until end of your next turn resistance agaisnt bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage from weapon attacks. Your armor is at best light, this may help if you want to go into meele.

Banishment let’s you force a creature to make a Charisma saving throw or let you send them into Whitespace. They get to come back like Paste Pot Pete did after it ends, but if they’re not from this plane and if you don’t break your concentration for one minute, they’re banished for good.

Banishing Smite is similiar - next time you hit a creature with a weapon attack, and it does not specify it must be a meele attack, you deal it extra 5d10 force damage and if you reduce it to 50 or less hit points, you send them to the Whitespace. There is no save, but there is no chance to keep target permamently out. Either spell still can save lives against tough enemies.

17th Level: 11th Level Bard learns to cast 6th level Spells, but I don’t see any so we will grab one more from 5th level - Scrying let’s you poke through Whitespace to find a person and observe them and their activities. They get a Wisdom saving throw to resist being spied on, I guess trying to reassert that their current narrative place is off-page. The better you know them and better materials connecting to them you have, the harder resisting your prying eyes gets. Just please don’t use it to stalk your friends, okay?

18th Level: 12th Level Bard gets last Ability Score Improvement, round up your Dexterity.

19th Level: 13th Level Bard improves Song of Rest to 1d10 and gains access to 7th level Spells. Etherialness lets you just hop to the Whitespace...I mean, Etherial Plane, for up to 8 hours, effectively saving you from an encounter if you would die othertwise. It let’s you regroup, regain your strength, plan ahead, move away or even bypass whole area, effectively skipping to different pages, and doesn’t require concentration to do it.

20th Level: And we wrap things up with 14th Level of Bard. College of Lore grants you Pearless Skill, letting you now use Bardic Inspiration on your own rolls. You also get two more Magical Secrets

Delayed Blast Fireball is a bomb - you put on a fireball in a place. Any creature that touches it must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw to be able to throw it in a different place. Whenever they suceed or not, it explodes anyway, same if your spell ends or you break concentration. It deals 12d6 fire damage plus an extra 1d6 for each of your turn that ended without it detonating, half on a succesful Dexterity Saving Throw.

Plane Shift lets you and up to 8 creatures move to a different plane of existence, meaning you can now team-up with Squirrel Girl to kick Mephisto’s butt. Teleport could be more useful as it let’s you move within a single plane, but then you don’t get to freak Squirrel Girl out by pointing there is no reason someone isn’t punching the devil in the face at all times.

Overview: So this is how I’d do Gwenpool - College of Lore Bard 14/Echo Knight Fighter 6. Let’s see how valid this build is

Pros: You have a pretty decent amount of hit points, somewhere around 160 on average, while having multiple ways to avoid damage. You are a good utility caster with multiple ways to gather information or scout ahead and you have a pretty good array of skills on top of that, making you a good use for non-combat situations. You also have pretty good mobility options, letting you move as you wish across the battlefield. Finally, whenever you picked meele or ranged options, you can dish out a lot of attacks if needed, or even blast out some foes.

Cons: Your Constitution is mediocre, meaning your Concentration and use of Unleash Incarnation could be better. Second, your spell selection is somewhat situational, some of the options we took may not always be useful, even if they are in character. Third, your Wisdom saving throw is horrible so charming, frightening or just Hold Person will be your bane. Finally, you do not have any ways of dealing magical damage, unless your DM throws a magic rapier and/or crossbow your way and your fireballs deal fire damage, which many creatures are resistant or even immune to.

However overall you are able to fill or support in multiple roles, from scout to party face to damage dealer to information gatherer, which makes you great to have. Remember, however, that this is not one-person show and you work better as a part of a team.

For example

-Admin

#Gwenpool #Marvel #Dungeons & Dragons

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog - 2012 annual

iirc the annual takes place between 7 and 8, or something. whatever, im gonna go for it

shifts in art style always throw me off phewwww

i cant remember what theyre doing but i find it really funny that first aid is there squaring the fuck up to punch shit

ah yes of course how could i forget the time they shrunk down to fight tiny robots in ultra magnus’s head. a comic classic 

poor magnus lmao

HBJSDKFBSHJFDHJSD HIS TERRIFYING SMILE HAUNTS MY NIGHTMARES. LOVE IT

love the continuation of magnus’s law-vision

the fact that everyone is dunking on magnus for smiling ONCE hvbhjdksbfjks

rewind and chromedome ough

i feel like cyclonus spends 90% of his early mtmte screentime staring broodingly out of windows lmao 

tg so precious

lmaooo i love the flashes of rodimus saying ‘til all are one’ All The Time

rodimus just wants to be like his dad ok

rodimus telling drift to go meditate or something vbhjfdbhdsjkf

i love rodimus calling magnus out on referring to himself in the third person lmaoooo but also I'm like Oh I See That [eyes emoji]

wish i had emojis on the computer sigh

lmao so the circle of light is a bunch of pacifists With Big Ass Swords

them betting on how long it'll take rodimus to say ‘til all are one’ vbkjsdhbfjhkhsdf

damn so ambulon rlly did switch sides late in the game 

cyclonus is here!! being an emotionally closed-off fool as usual 

nooo rodimus let tailgate speak

cant believe rodimus graffiti’d tailgate

drift, immediately: rodimus is FUCKING POSSSESSED 

ratchet: ok, no, 

godddd everything abt the galactic counsel here is so funny. ‘its big - its grey - its taxpayer funded’ hvbkjshdbfjkdf and the fact that their ship is called ‘the benign intervention’ lmaooo

also DAMN that is a BIG ASS SHIP 

‘a fleshling in a stupid hat’ i love rodimus and his irrational hatred of hats

magnus comin in CLUTCH with the dry-ass clauses shit 

rewind vhjbdskfbaksdfn ‘the sub-section 7 defense - sneaky’ ily

tailgate hvbhjadkfbjskdf its ok that you don't know what's going on

also tailgate serves a vital role in the story as the audience insert character (or w/e its called), bc he’s often confused which allows for handy exposition that we the audience also need lmao 

i find it so interesting to see how the cybertronians are viewed by the rest of the galaxy - we don't see a lot of aliens but its always fascinating when we do, because of COURSE they’re mostly gonna think of the cybertronians as destructive and war-like when that’s what they’ve been up to for 4 million years 

ooof swerve :( swerve is one of those characters who you’re like ‘haha he’s funny’ most of the time but pretty often he’ll have startling moments of like, deep pain about life or w/e, and you’re like Oh Shit and then you kinda move on, until finally the swearth arc hits and it all comes together. what I'm saying is that this is some nice building towards that 

HGDSBJFKJSJBDF THERE IT IS THERE IT ISSSSSSSSSS

THE PANEL WHERE REWIND IN ALT MODE CAN FLY FOR SOME REASONNNNNN

i fucking love that shot so much. does everyone see this. rewind is a GIANT FUCKIN FLASHDRIVE and he’s hovering ominously thru the air. like, what happened to all the biz from issue 1 or w/e where his husband was roasting him for having a non-mobile altmode? if he can fucking HOVER than Actually rewind is the fucking coolest, no contest 

or like, is the implication that they all teleported there (having switched to alt mode along the way i guess?) and rewind is just like, suspended in midair? bc that's what the speed bubble text implies, but it also totally looks like they're just travelling across the area and rewind can levitate

anyways. that panel has always cracked me up lmaoooo

rodimus calling the council ‘fascists’ hvbhduifbjsdjfajskf sir i love you 

GODDD and there's the joke payoff from a few issues ago - rewind, facing front, hearing drift transform behind him and not only being able to tell its drift without looking, but also being able to tell that drift is upset, JUST like chromedome said he could....fucking PEAK i love that type of payoff humor

ooof and more swerve introspection. i mentioned earlier but i fucking LOVE how this series showcases the extremely wide range of reactions/coping mechanisms that everyone has towards the endless war finally being over - and swerve really nails it here: confusing peace with happiness, and assuming that everything would automatically be better after the war is over, when in reality you still have to work just as hard to build shit rather than break it

also i adore the horror of a guy who is half-embedded in the wall, his face stuck in a rictus of terror & death, waxing philosophical about how peace is about the freedom of choice, and how they should all just feel lucky to have survived...oof, that's very specifically ironic coming from you, dude 

but i do love the little characterization we get here for ore, a character who is literally already dead and has so far been used as a plot device pretty exclusively, but we still get to know little things about him here, and how HE feels about the war and the current peace, etcetc. it really makes the story and characters seem believable, like every character has a story even if we don't take the time to see it 

love cyclonus posing coolly 

kinda love how clear it is that drifts whole hippy schtick is just a front to cover his anger, and a tool to make him seem like an approachable, upstanding autobot

drift dramatically monologuing while pointing his sword at the sky is extra funny with everyone else just staring at him doing this

cyclonus why are you grabbing at the edge of the hole you're falling into, you can LITERALLY FLY, 

magnus finally getting some appreciation for being The most law abiding guy like, ever 

genuinely forgot abt the whole metrotitan plot that happens here 

GOD when rodimus is like BRAIN QUEST TIME and then we smash cut to them at the brain ‘six minutes later’ vhbhkudfjbjksf i live for that shit 

also that would be even funnier animated which further proves that we need an mtmte/ll animated series, please, somebody, 

HBDSJKFSHDJF REWIND IS SO FUCKING FUNNYYYYYY you cant even tell if he GENUINELY didn't think cyclonus could talk or if hes just being a dick but either way? comedy gold 

oh i adore the flashbacks being in a different artstyle, especially one that's so retro 

i love rewind being a history geek, and cyclonus passionately explaining cybertronian creation theory

HHHH i fucking LOVE the myth/lore stuff like....a lot of franchises tend not to dwell in this type of mythology, you tend to get The True Version Of Events, but this kind of explanation rocks bc it totally sounds like the kind of religious mythology that naturally develops based on a species’ progression

and drift and ratchet’s very opposing and polarizing views certainty do make for interesting perspectives, tho i feel like the story sometimes leans too much towards ratchet being ‘more correct’ bc, logic! or something idk i feel like i used to have a couple mild opinions on this but i don't remember

and its funny bc i am, irl, an atheistic medical professional who believes in science above all else - essentially just like ratchet. but i feel like the narrative portrayal skews a little more in his favor than i’d like, despite that 

skids just out here being a bummer, completely unprompted. cant even blame you tho dude 

hhhhhh chromedome talking abt rewind ;_; 

and when he says ‘maybe there’s someone out there who can save your life, too’ and cyclonus is there....hhhh

god i fucking LOVE drift and rodimus’s entire relationship. the layers...the LAYERS!!!

OH HEY ITS THOSE ROBOTS SKIDS FOUGHT 

ah, inconvenient laser time!

ok i fuckgin love how cybertronian’s brains look just like the planet cybertron. that's so fucking great 

of COURSE brainstorm brought his shrink ray 

truly i love the convo between ore and swerve, especially overlaid onto everyone fighting 

oof, the themes and plot threads of this annual are all so nicely tied up (which is something i love abt mtmte, especially early on when the story is smaller), with swerve now choosing to disobey an order from rodimus

oh yeah, the circle of light! that's who you've been looking for this whole time basically! 

and then the ending, hearing that magnus smiled (willingly!) :) i love it

rodimus’s profile says ‘finds it difficult to sit still’ bc rodimus is an adhd icon

lmao i feel like over half of my sentences in this recap - and in most of my recaps - contain ‘i love it’ or ‘i love how-’ or some variation upon that theme. I'm predictable 

anyways - the annual! i love this issue. its really long which is cool and i feel like it does a lot to flesh out the setting and lore, and even the characters as well. also, as i said above, it does an excellent job telling an exciting and well-contained story, with solid story beats throughout and plot threads that emerge and get resolved all within this issue, even while leaving plenty of stuff up for future resolution. that's the Early MTMTE Special, and i adore it. tho i will say I'm glad we’ll be getting back to the regularly scheduled art style, bc this one didn't really do it for me 

#lj rereads mtmte #lmao this is looong