#DOES it seem sort of op at the moment? maybe

[tropes-and-tales]

Five Times Vigilante Definitely Does Not Have Feelings (and the One Time He Does)

Characters:  Adrian Chase/Vigilante x f!reader

CW:  Crude language; yearning.

Word Count:  3982

Adrian Chase will tell anyone:  he doesn’t have emotions like people do.  He doesn’t feel sad or angry or embarrassed.  When Peacemaker gave him the nickname “Thimble,” he certainly didn’t cry.  When Peacemaker was sent to prison, he certainly didn’t feel lonely.  

Not having emotions is what makes him a more evolved human.

And yet, when ARGUS springs Peacemaker and sets up a black ops outfit in Evergreen, Adrian finds himself toeing the line of feelings.  He doesn’t have emotions like people do, but he comes awfully close a handful of times…until he crosses the line entirely.

The Time Vigilante Definitely Does Not Feel Vulnerable

As the Vigilante, Adrian gets hurt all the time.  He’s become proficient at stitching up his own wounds.  His body is littered with the scars of his own handiwork.

But when Goff tortures him for information, and when the ARGUS team comes to his and Peacemaker’s rescue, he finds himself missing half of a pinkie toe.  It’s the most important toe on the human body, and he’ll probably never walk again…and no one seems to care.

Except for you.  In the van as they return to headquarters, you sit across from him, watching him as he studies his mangled foot.  You murmur something that sounds sympathetic, but he barely hears it over Peacemaker laughing at him.

At headquarters, you look at him and jerk your head in the direction of the back office.

“I can stitch you up, if you want,” you offer. 

He starts to shake his head, but the mean blonde woman—Harcourt, her name is—makes an offhand comment about your superior patch-up abilities, so he accepts your help.  He limps painfully behind you, follows you into a room that has been converted into a rough sort of exam room and budget clinic.

“Hop up on the table,” you tell him, and even though he doesn’t trust you—or any of your team—he does as you say.  It’s clumsy.  He hurts in a hundred different places:  his half-amputated toe, his electrocuted crotch, all the scrapes and bruises from the fight with Cobra Kai. 

“I won’t take off my mask,” he warns you.  “I take my secret identity very seriously.  If you saw my face, I’d have to kill you.”

“Duly noted,” you reply dryly.  “But I only need to see your foot.”

He pulls off his boot and regards his mangled half-pinkie toe sadly.  You pull on a pair of latex gloves and turn on a bright lamp, angling it at his bare foot.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” you say as you prod the wound gently.  “In fact, you really didn’t lose anything but a couple layers of skin.”

“The blade was as dull as fuck,” he replies. 

You wheel your stool over to a cabinet, then pull out some supplies:  needle and thread, disinfectant, gauze and tape.  Then you wheel back over to him and set to work.

The mean blonde woman was right—you’re quick, efficient.  He looks down at your bent head as you stitch him up, and he sees that your needlework is better than his own.  He doubts he’ll even have much of a scar once it heals.

But it’s the strange feeling that creeps over him:  makes his vision waver, makes him feel a little light-headed.  Your hands are deft but also gentle.  Adrian can’t remember ever being touched so gently.  Maybe when he was really small.  Maybe his mom was gentle like that when he was so small that he can’t remember it now.  It makes him break out in goosebumps.  He shudders at the touch of your warm hand bracing his foot, and you misunderstand the involuntary gesture.

“Almost done,” you murmur, and a moment later you tie off the last stitch and snip the thread.  You wrap his toe in gauze, pat his knee softly in a reassuring way.  Then you straighten up and ask if there’s any other injuries he needs patched up.

“Goff electrocuted me,” he blurts out.  “With a car battery.”

You look at him, level, but the corner of your mouth quirks in a near-smile.  “You want me to look at that for you?”

“Oh, no.  No.  No, I just wanted to mention it.  I’m not asking you to look at it.”  He’s grateful for the mask; he can feel his face heating up at the idea of taking off his suit in front of you, and the sudden flush confuses him.  Irritates him.  Something about the thought of being exposed makes his stomach churn in a way he doesn’t understand.

You hum thoughtfully, then turn back to the cabinet of supplies.  You rummage around, then pull out a small white tube that you hand him.

“Antibiotic gel for cuts and burns,” you say.   “You can put a cool cloth on…well, any burns you may have.  If there’s blistering, don’t pop them.”

“Okay.”

“And, you know…if you have any lingering side effects of being electrocuted, you should see a specialist.”

Vigilante reaches down and pulls his boot back on, but already his toe feels better.  “What sort of side effects?” he asks.

He looks up at you in time to see that same half-smile.  You peel off your gloves, toss them in the trash.  

“I can imagine where you were electrocuted,” you reply.  “So if those parts don’t typically work the way you’re used to, see a real doctor.”

Adrian Chase is not good at nuance or subtlety.  “Huh?”

You blink at him before you say, “if you can’t get or maintain an erection, see a urologist.”

“Oh.”  He blinks too, behind his visor.  “Okay.”

You turn to leave the room but then glance over your shoulder before you do.  “Thanks for your help tonight,” you say.  “The mission was a success because of you.”

Neither Vigilante nor Adrian Chase ever get any thanks.  He flushes even hotter under his mask, and he grumbles in reply, uncomfortable to be seen, to be recognized for the first time.

To be vulnerable.

The Time Vigilante Definitely Does Not Feel Embarrassed

The next afternoon, he’s at Peacemaker’s trailer, helping him clean up from when the police tossed the place.  They are blasting Guns and Roses, drinking beer…it’s like the old days, almost.

A knock at the door then, and Adrian has only a second to pull on his mask before you stroll in.

“Hey, Chris.  Vigilante.”  You nod in greeting, then reach into your bag to pull out a thick manila folder.  You hand it to Peacemaker.

“Murn wanted me to bring this by.  It’s the latest intel we got from Goff’s place.”  

You stand there as Chris takes the folder and sinks down onto his couch, already paging through the information.  Vigilante stands there too, awkward, so he crosses his arms to keep from fidgeting.  There’s a long stretch of silence once the Guns and Roses record ends, and Vigilante struggles with silence.

“I got hard last night,” he tells you.  “And this morning too.”

“Dude, what the fuck?” Peacemaker sputters.  “She doesn’t want to hear that!”

“She mentioned it last night!”

Peacemaker scoffs, twists his face into an expression of disbelief.  “Yeah, I’m sure she mentioned your dick last night.  Sure.  Okay.  Fantasize much?”

“She did!”

“You seriously need to get laid, dude.  Stop making shit up.”

“He’s not lying,” you tell Peacemaker with a sheepish shrug.  “Though I mentioned it in the context of his injuries and not…some other context.”

“See?”  Vigilante says, and Peacemaker rolls his eyes, makes a jacking-off motion with his hand.

You don’t linger.  You beat a hasty retreat, waving over your shoulder as you leave the trailer, and Peacemaker gives him more hell—calls him weird, calls him annoying.

“No wonder you’ve never had a real girlfriend, dude,” he says as he turns back to his folder of intel.  “You say the creepiest shit the minute a cute girl is around.”

Vigilante doesn’t think about it much more until later.  That night, in bed, he lies awake for far longer than he usually does.  He replays that moment, tries to understand why he just blurted that out.  

He wonders if you would have stayed at the trailer longer if he hadn’t been creepy.  His face burns in the darkness of his bedroom, and his stomach twists painfully as he replays the moment over and over.  He replays his stupid blurting out about his dick, and he has no idea what it means.  He never obsesses over his stupid mouth like this.

If he had feelings like other people, he’d recognize the emotion as embarrassment.

The Time Vigilante Definitely Does Not Feel Despondent (and Comforted)

Adrian gets himself arrested on purpose.  It’s the best way he can help Chris:  get arrested, get booked into the same prison as Chris’ racist supervillain father, then kill said racist supervillain father.

Easy enough.  It’d set Chris free and make his life so much better.  Allow him to move forward and not be bogged down, like Adebayo said.

Adrian fails.  He only manages to make things worse—clues Auggie into his plan accidentally, possibly points law enforcement in Chris’ direction.  So Adrian doesn’t just fail—he fails miserably.

He’s released that night.  He’s surprised at first, but as he changes back into his clothes and collects his personal effects from the guards, he realizes that ARGUS has its sticky fingers in all sorts of things and probably sprung him with just a few keystrokes.

When he leaves the prison, you’re sitting out front in your car.  You lower the passenger window and call out to him.

“C’mon,” you say.  “Harcourt sent me to take you home.”

He’s too upset to even feel bad about his cover being blown.  He climbs into the car.

“I think I made things worse,” he says, and he tries not to cry.  He only wanted to help his best friend (even if he’s not Peacemaker’s best friend).  Somehow he messed up, and it could ruin everything.  

“Okay,” you reply softly.  “It’s okay.”

You drive him home.  He doesn’t give you his address, but you know it—another screw-up, he thinks, getting tangled up with people who easily cracked his secret identity.  You know his name, his face, where he lives.  Some instrument of vengeance he is.  You probably even recognize him from his job at Fennel Fields.

Outside of his apartment, you park, then turn to face him.  In the half-light from the streetlamps, he can just make out your soft smile.

“This entire ops is nothing but mistakes,” you tell him.  “And yet, we’re doing okay.  We’ll figure out how to handle Auggie Smith.  Don’t worry about it.”

He nods, and something about the barest bit of comfort—paired with your smile—makes him turn to face you too.  

“I’m Adrian,” he says, even though you know his name.

Your smile broadens and you say your name, even though he knows it.  You hold out your hand and after a beat he takes it.

“Good to finally meet you, Adrian,” you reply as you shake hands.  

For whatever reason, as low as he feels, he falls asleep that night with a weird lightness in his chest—because he doesn’t dwell on his failure at the prison.  

Instead, he falls asleep with the memory of your smile, your kind words.  Your warm hand in his.

The Time Vigilante Definitely Does Not Feel Protective

The attack on Goff’s house yielded some leads, and the team travels three hours away to take out a nest of Butterflies.  Everyone is exhausted, filthy, and bruised up.  

It’s in the van—you sitting beside Adrian—when you start to nod off.  He catches it the first few times, the way your head dips forward, the way you jerk back awake.  It’s cute, the way you fight sleep, and then it happens.

You fall asleep and you don’t wake up.  Your head drifts towards him, then settles against his shoulder.

Adrian freezes.  

He and Peacemaker—they used to go out together, looking for crimes or bitches or both.  He’s no virgin.  He fucks.  He’s no stranger to touch, and he’s certainly no stranger to women.  And yet…this feels different.  It feels new.

Peacemaker notices.  “You got a new girlfriend, dude,” he points out with a laugh.

Harcourt rolls her eyes at the teasing.  “Leave her alone.  She puts in way more hours than you, asshole.”

“I put in plenty of hours,” he replies, defensive.  “It takes a lot of time to maintain this impressive physique.  Do you know how long I work on my small muscle groups alone?”

Harcourt rolls her eyes again, then returns her attention to her phone.  Peacemaker turns back to where Adrian sits, rigid, as you sleep against him.

“If you get hard, just don’t tell her about it,” he advises the younger man.  “You’ll creep her out again.”

It’s strange, the feeling of your head against him.  It’s not sexy at all, obviously—in fact, it’s a little uncomfortable.  He doesn’t want to move you, doesn’t want to jostle you and wake you up.  Harcourt said you’re tired, and you took a hell of a beating as you fought the Butterflies.  

Adrian has always approached his work as Vigilante from a perspective of vengeance, not protection, so the feeling is strange:  how he wants to let you sleep, how he wants to protect your sleep.  How he wants to make you comfortable.

A quiet falls over the team; the swaying of the van lulls everyone into comfortable silence.  Adrian breathes in carefully through his nose, then shifts his body.  Slowly, carefully.  He leans away from you, allows you to lie against him more.  He changes the angle enough that he can get his arm out from where it’s trapped between your body and his.  He shifts again, gets his arm around you.  Gently moves you—changes it from your head awkwardly pressed against his hard molded shoulder pad to your head tucked against his chest.

You wake, a little, as he moves you.  You blink up at him sleepily, say his name—Adrian, not Vigilante or Vig or V—and your voice is husky with exhaustion.  There’s a questioning lilt to how you say his name, so he shakes his head softly.

“Go ahead and rest,” he says, quiet.  “Everything’s fine.”

You nod, then settle back against him.  It takes only a moment until he feels your breathing slow down, deepen.  He feels your body go heavy and lax against him.  Tucked against his chest, his arm holding you against him, he can smell you, feel how warm you are.  If he moves his head just a little, he can press his cheek against the top of your head.

Go ahead and rest, he thinks.  Everything’s fine.  I’ll keep you safe.

Vigilante has always been an instrument of vengeance, but this is the first time he’s felt protective of anyone.

The Time Vigilante Definitely Does Not Feel Fear

The 11th Street Kids have one chance to eradicate the Butterflies forever:  if they can kill their only food source, the so-called cow, they will eventually all die off.  When they make their final assault on the farm, the team splits up:  Adebayo and Economos stay back, while the warriors—Peacemaker, Vigilante, Harcourt, and you—charge into action.

Whether the cow is killed or not, Adrian doesn’t find out until after the battle is over.  He fights off the onslaught of Butterflies, but for the first time, his attention isn’t entirely on his own fight.

His attention is on you, now, too.  

He manages to keep you in his sightline for the beginning of the fight.  He sees you, admires the sight of you when you’re in your berserker mode:  furious and deadly, well-fitted black suit, guns flashing as you empty clip after clip into the skulls of the Butterflies.  

Then he loses sight of you. 

His chest clenches in an unfamiliar tension, and when he finally catches sight of you again, that tight-chest feeling cedes to something else, something worse:  an ice-cold shard of fear that lances through him, settles in his gut where it sits like a stone.

When he finally catches sight of you, it’s the exact moment you are shot by a Butterfly.

One shot hits your shoulder, spins you around.

Another shot hits you square in the chest, makes you stagger backwards as the force is absorbed by your vest.

The final shot hits you low in the belly, and Adrian (who has studied your gear closely) knows you have little protection there.  The icy fear blooms in him, fills up every bit of him until it feels like it’s in his veins.

He screams your name.  He barely even feels the bullet that hits him (“oh, shoot” he mutters, and tosses a knife behind him to kill his own attacker), but then he stumbles and falls, and he loses consciousness.

He wakes a moment later.  He has no idea how much time has passed, but he manages to get to his hands and knees, then to his feet.  He makes his way to where you fell and he finds you.  

It’s bad.  It’s so bad that the icy fear turns acidic in his veins, makes him burn with fear.  With terror.  You gaze up at him but you don’t seem to see him, and each breath makes a fresh pulse of blood trickle from your mouth.

Adrian has never been very good at social situations.  He never knows the right thing to say and if he does, he doesn’t know the right time to say it.  He wishes these things came more easily to him; if it were Chris here right now instead of him, Chris would know the right thing to say.  He’d know how to keep you awake, how to give you comfort.

All Adrian can offer is what you told him the night he got out of prison, when you drove him home.  Now, as you lie under the night sky, dying in front of him, as he presses one hand against the worst wound to try and staunch the bleeding, he repeats your words back to him.

“It’s okay,” he says, and he says it over and over and hopes you believe it.  “It’s okay.  It’s okay.  It’s okay.”

The Time Vigilante Definitely Feels Love

You have no memory of the fight at the farm.  The last thing you remember is the drive there, but everything after is a blank.  Adebayo stops by when you finally wake up and fills you in on the salient details.  

She tells you how Vigilante—who was also shot, who had been blown up earlier in the day—carried you to safety.  How he kept you from bleeding out, how he held your very life in his hands and kept you from dying.  How hospital security had to separate him from you, once you were laid out on the gurney and being wheeled into surgery.

How he still tried to fight to stay by your side, and how he only failed because of his own injuries and blood loss.

“That man is stupid crazy about you,” Adebayo chuckles with a shake of her head.  “I don’t even think he’s really a psychopath.”

You chuckle with her, wince when the action pulls at the thousand stitches and staples that are keeping you held together.  “He’s not bad, right?”

“We’re literally the Island of Misfit toys,” she replies.  “But yeah, he’s alright.”

-----

Adrian is hospitalized too, and once he’s healed up to a point, he starts sneaking into your room to visit.  It’s not really sneaking—every time he undoes his IV and heart monitor, it sends the nurses into a panic—but after Adebayo’s press conference revealing the existence of Task Force X, the hospital staff is pretty tolerant of his harmless shenanigans. 

He helped ward off an alien invasion, after all.  You both did.

You have to agree with Adebayo.  You’ve never quite believed that Adrian is a psychopath or a sociopath or whatever.  You certainly never believed him when he said he didn’t have feelings or emotions.  The guy is nothing but a walking ball of emotions:  obvious love for his friends, a yearning to belong, a sweet desire to be liked and included.  Sure, he kills without compunction, but he seems to love in equal measure, even if he doesn’t believe he does.

When he visits you, he doesn’t talk about feelings.  He chatters endlessly about his and Peacemaker’s exploits—criminals they’ve busted, ways they’ve destroyed old appliances in the woods behind Peacemaker’s trailer.  He talks about how it was when Peacemaker was in prison, how he kept calling and leaving voicemails to make it seem like everything was normal.  He talks about his job at Fennel Fields, all the terrible customer service stories he has.

He discharges himself against the advice of the doctors (he’s healed enough, he tells you), and you think he’ll stop visiting, but he doesn’t.  He visits every day still, and when you start physical therapy to build up the muscle tone and endurance you’ve lost, he sits in a nearby chair, watching you.  Cheering you on.

Adebayo wasn’t wrong.  You know Adrian has feelings for you.  You’re more socially adept than him, and you’ve had relationships before.  You’ve had crushes and been the object of them.  You guessed his infatuation early on, and you can guess that it’s only grown for him since then.

It probably confuses him, you guess.  You know what love feels like.  What a crush feels like.  All that feeling, in so many places:  the fluttery stomach, the pounding heart, the thoughts that just circle ‘round and ‘round about a single person.

You’d be lying if you said you didn’t have similar feelings for him.  He’s easy on the eyes, sure—but he’s earnest and sweet, a brutal killer with a heart of gold.

You can also guess that Adrian might never make a move.  This has to be unfamiliar territory for him.  You know he’s no virgin (he’s chattered endlessly about his and Peacemaker’s exhaustive threesomes too), but he seems to have no relationship experience.

But your entire short working relationship with him has been give and take.  You stitched him up, comforted him when he was feeling low after his failed attempt to kill Auggie Smith.  He let you rest against him, held you gently as you slept after a mission.  He saved your life, kept you from bleeding out.

Give and take.  The best kind of relationship, in your opinion.

“Hey, Adrian,” you say one afternoon after PT.  You’re exhausted and sore, but you’re quickly approaching your own discharge.  You are healing up nicely.  You have things to look forward to.

“What’s up?” he asks, and he bounces over to your bedside like a Golden Retriever puppy, eager.

“Doctor says I’m good to go in a few days.”

“That’s great!”  His face breaks open in a wide grin that transforms him from nerdy-handsome to downright gorgeous.  “That’s good news!”

You swallow, push down the nerves that flare up.  “I thought maybe we could celebrate.”

“Yeah!”  He grins at you.  “I can call Chris—”

“I thought maybe just me and you,” you cut in, clarifying.  “Just this time.  Maybe we include Chris some other time.”

“Oh.”  The smile falls from his face, and he looks at you.  His brows are knit in confusion.  

No sense in backtracking now.  “Like a date.  Would you like to go on a date with me?”

“Oh.”  A beat.  “With me?  Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”

What you’re asking him finally sinks in—a beat longer than it might with someone else, but that’s just part of Adrian’s charm.  The smile returns to his face, brighter and wider than before.

“Yeah,” he replies.  “Hell yeah, dude.  I’d love that.”

#adrian chase #adrian chase imagine #adrian chase x reader #vigilante #vigilante imagine #vigilante x reader #peacemaker #tropes-and-tales

[iguessthisisanewobsession]

It takes a mob part 2

part one is here.

part 3 is here.

Bill was honestly considering the store up as hostage as he glared at the isle.

30 dollars for the cheapest can of formula?? 20 for diapers??

Jesus this had to be considered gouging at this point.

Bill felt another headache begin to throb as he tried his best to decipher the difference between brands. 

‘Not a day of health class Bill,’ he grimaced as he gently shook one oof the cans. ‘Yet here you are.’

Bill never saw himself for fatherhood, he may have pondered it once or twice in his years but only in that sort of abstract way that one ponders throwing your favorite cup. It would be stupid to do, but for a moment or two tempting.

Then he got tangled up into the goon lifestyle and any notion of that pondering went out the building.

There were enough kids in Gotham without father figures, no use accidentally making another one if he slipped up.

‘And look all that thinking led yah Billy,’ his old man droned on in his head, ‘all the work, non’ of the fun. that don’t make a happy man son.’

Bill was half tempted to open that old burner phone; it sat in his breast pocket.

Even if all that would answer would be the machine.

But no, Bill had this.

‘what’s the worst that could happen?’ he pondered as he put the tin in the cart, ‘watching three kids.’

they weren’t his after all.

He found his cohorts in the next isle shaking various items at the kid.

“What in the name of Crime Alley are you two idiots doing?”

“Oh, hey Bill!”

Ken didn’t even turn to face him, what kind of etiquette were they training these guys with? 

“Again, what the fuck are you doin’? I asked you two to pick out a couple outfits for the tyke.”

“annnd we did!” Marv chuckled handing over a bundle of cloth, “We just thought that the kid deserve somethin’ cute for being so good to us is all.”

“Actually Bill, mind throwing in your two cents? which one do you think Dan would prefer the rabbit or the frog?’

Bill pinched his brow,

“I don’t know man, what difference does it make?”

“What difference?! Man, this is his first toy we’re talking about!” Ken exclaimed,

“This is a big deal! If he’s anything like my Me Mah told me I was than he’s going to be carrying it for years!’

Danny for his part blew a bubble with his mouth, great input kid.

“I- the rabbit, I guess! I dunno, maybe he’ll like Alice in wonderland or some shit.”

Marv seemed to perk up at the thought.

“Hell yeah brother! Boss likes those old books anyways, so he probably won’t notice if we borrow a copy for a bit!”

Ken snorted as he casually thew the frog back on the shelf,

“Marven, in case you forgot, Boss is very careful with those books of his. If you want to risk it, I won’t stop you but it’s your fingers on the line man.”

“Aww, anything for our lil’ Danny!”

The clerk raised an eyebrow but kept their mouth shut as the three goons went to pay. They kept their mouth shut as Bill paid in crumpled bills and let them get on their way.

“Yeah, well pass Ken wonderlad will you? This shit isn’t going to carry itself.”

Danny babbled as they tried to sort everything into a carriable position. He shook his new toy too a fro in an almost comical manner. Like he was giving orders before an ops.

Eventually they made headway and started to make their way back to crime alley. Only for Bill to raise a occupied hand to stop the others in their step.

“Wait a moment.. where are we heading? It’ll be suspicious if we head back to base. We clocked out hours ago.”

Marv shook his head,

“Can’t go back to my place, Gwen just got done with a double shift in the ER.”

“Kenny?”

Ken snorted and shook his head as well,

“We can try but we all know Me Mah is packin’ and not scared to point first if she doesn’t expect company.”

“Then where the hell are going to go?”

Bill didn’t like how the two of them were suddenly staring at him,

“No.”

“Aww come on Bill!”

“Nope. Nah ah”

Ken rolled his eyes kicked at his shin,

“It’s just for one night Bill. Tomorrow we can ask around with the other guys, but it’s not like we have many options right now.”

“My apartment is like the least kid friendly place in the neighborhood!”

Danny have a little wine as he shoved his face into Ken’s shoulder,

“Bill..”

‘Fuck…’

Bill pinched his nose as he closed his eyes, if only to block out the puppy eyes Marv was sending his way. For a big lug, it was stupid how effective they were.

“Fine… One night and you two owe me a favor after this.”

The two dumbasses actually let out a cheer loud enough to wake a nearby dog.

Leading the way Bill couldn’t help but wonder if it was too late to go to bar like they planned.

~~~~~~~~~

Hoodlums:

​@reinluna,@confused-moose-child,@mimilikey,@emeraudesfateandfandoms, @dolfay, @boredomfarie, @aconitewolfbane, @withoutcontxt, @onyxlightdragon, @satanicrutialspecialist, @phoenixdemonqueen, @vixen-uchiha, @skulld3mort-1fan, @bytheoldwillowtree, @illusionwolfwriter24r8, @thewonderoflebanon, @vipower001, @autumnwulf,

#dp x dc #writing prompt #danny phantom #danny fenton #dc x dp #jason todd #goonion bill #marv #marv and ken are my ocs #ken #still need a name #jason: they’re doing something stupid dick I need to go #dick: nope you are finishing your day off. what is the worst thing they could do in 24 hours? #red hood #it takes a mob

[bizarrelittlemew]

Hello, I’ve been unable to watch the NYCC panel but I see everywhere that is was awful and weird?!?! What actually happened ? Could you make a little recap for people like me who didn’t get to see it? Thank you!

I'll try my best ✌️ this is just the impression I got though (and sorry this got long lmao)

it was awkward because they weren't allowed to talk about ofmd, which made the whole thing seem more and more ridiculous as it went on. in addition, they had to do a sort of game where they were asked questions like "who is the most likely to do [x]" and then write a name on a board and reveal it at the same time. this could've been fine for maybe 10 minutes but they had them do it for the whole hour.

the issues with this game were that 1) the questions were very "generic corporate ice breaker questions", 2) they spent a lot of time in silence writing down, and 3) when a question finally did lead to stories or conversation, it was quickly shut down in order to move on to the next boring question and writing in silence.

they could've asked them about non-struck work (Rhys even brought up the books he's written several times and it wasn't followed up on), they could've collected and vetted fan questions beforehand, they could've just let them talk idk, they could've found a more fun game or ditched the boards (one of my fav moments was Rhys saying something like "I have a mic, why do I have to write it down?" honestly this would've made it 25% less boring lmao).

adding to that, there were sound issues meaning that Con and Rhys couldn't hear what was going on a lot of the time. Rhys said it again and again and nothing was done about it.

you could just tell how frustrated they all were and what this panel could have been if not for the shitty studios refusing a fair deal for the actors. I think the cast did what they could, and there were some sweet and funny moments. but it was clear that Rhys was pissed about not being able to talk about what they all wanted to talk about (I felt bad for everyone but especially for him).

they did a whole "ha ha we were all in New Zealand at the same time what a coincidence" thing and Rhys said that (paraphrased) if only they could be paid fairly, they could create something great with all the talent in the room, going off on the studios for a bit. it was honestly a bit of a relief for someone to voice it (to me, it felt like someone had to say something lmao and he did).

in the end they got a question about fantasy worlds. Rhys said he already lived in a fantasy world in his head and it was nice, though this was one of the odder moments. Matt and Nathan basically agreed and said it was all very weird (in different words). Rhys then said fantasy worlds are important because the real world is shit right now and there's no denying it; that in fantasy worlds we can all love each other and use kindness; and it's important to keep creating and believing in them until the real world becomes like that too.

and then he said "goodnight" (= "fuck this shit I'm out"), got up, put on his sunglasses, and started beat-boxing and rapping saying "why can't we talk about the show". their time had run out anyway, he said it had certainly been an experience, that he couldn't hear much of what was going on, and they all thanked the audience and it ended ✌️

anyway this is just my take and I hope SAG-AFTRA get a fair deal soon so the cast can celebrate the show with us like they so clearly want to. I also hope Matthew Maher does more panels after this (it was his first I think!) despite it being such a weird experience because he was great to watch!! anyway they're all happily doing photo ops and autographs now I guess 🤸

(if you want to watch there is a way)

#asks #Anonymous #nycc #nycc23 #ofmd

[greentrickster]

Starting a new thread for the Great God Airplane AU (on the usual grounds (ie the original thread was getting Long)), because I've got more to say about it, because I'm me.

Was thinking about how having access to his god!memories would potentially effect Shang Qinghua, and I'm a little surprised to find that I don't think it'd make much difference, at least in this AU. I think the main, most noticeable change would honestly be that he's a lot calmer afterwards. The surprising part is that this isn't because he's not afraid of getting hurt or because he's got OP god powers or anything now, but simply because of how long he's been doing all this.

Like, one of the key features of Airplane's lives seems to be that he's always kinda hanging on by his fingernails when it comes to surviving, keeping up, managing to get by. He's busy busy busy all the time, and as a result of this he's not really aware of how impressive any of the stuff he does really is, because he's never had the time to really sit back and internalize it.

But that's what he finally got when he arrived in this world as a newly divine being with a perfect memory of both everything he'd written and his original outline, and only the instructions 'create it the way you wanted it to be.'

And he did.

He spent years upon decades upon centuries slowly, carefully crafting his world from the ground up, putting as much or as little thought into every single piece as he wanted to, no rush, no deadline, no obligations to anyone or anything but himself. The ability to lose himself in the pleasure of creation, consequence-free, the time to step back and take in everything he's made so far. Anything he needs, anything he wants, he can have, he can make, from snacks to assistants to handle the details he doesn't want to do but which the world needs in order to function, and in order to hold the story he wants it to tell.

And with all that time and experience came the gradual, quiet gaining of confidence. Because he's been doing all this for such a long time that not only the ability but the knowledge of having that ability has sunk deep into his bones. The ability to look at a task and know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he's capable of doing it and more.

Shang Qinghua still flusters and laughs and complains and grumbles and thirsts (oh how he thirsts), but instead of a basis of fear that he'll be overwhelmed and crushed beneath the demand, it's on a basis of 'if push comes to shove, he's up to the job.'

It takes him a little bit to notice this change in himself and, once he does, I think he goes and cries a little bit. Because his human memories are the predominant ones at the moment, so it's a strange, shocky sort of relief to suddenly realize that "Oh. I really am good enough. I've always been good enough. I don't have to be afraid that I'm not anymore."

In contrast, I think the thing he has the most fun with is that now, if one of his martial siblings is being a pain about budgets or something, he can go, "You know what, maybe I should just go back to Heaven and let you deal with all this! I could be eating celestial melon seeds right now while writing wildly self-indulgent danmei between organizing my files, but instead I'm down here, dealing with the fact that you can't manage a simple monthly budget! Because, you know, one of these things sounds a whole lot more fun than the other-!!!"

And then his martial siblings get to go, "You know what, on second thought I was being unreasonable, maybe I should see if there's something else I could do to fix this problem instead of just trying to make you fix it..."

#svsss #shang qinghua #scum villian self saving system #great god airplane #sad scared hamster man realizes that he has in fact been Kenough all along

[accio-victuuri]

sharing this new fake rumor posted over at zsww fake house. it’s a pretty long one ✌🏼going by the conversations, i think the intent here is to supplement their alleged meet up recently. usual disclaimer, this is not real. treat as fan fiction. there are some unnecessary bits omitted but very minimal. just so it wouldn’t be a full translation.

XZ: Don’t worry, I haven’t downloaded it yet.

XZ: Yeah, I know

XZ: I said it

XZ: Well, then I’ll start here.

XZ: Try to be early

XZ: 🫵🏻 Watch for some time

staff: Don’t worry

It has been arranged, but it is not necessary, but there is a sense of ceremony, so I went to prepare it.

people interpret this as XZ watching WoF! i’m cackling cause he is asking the staff to watch it too when he is not looking. reminds me of that other rumor that WYB does the same. he asks staff to watch and then they will tell him what happened if he is too busy to. and he is saying to wyb to come early, maybe he wants to watch it together!

XZ: Don’t move, just lie down.

WYB: It’s okay

WYB: I fell asleep in the car for a while

XZ: Are your legs sore?

WYB: Not bad

WYB: Why do you look at me like that?

XZ: What do you think?

WYB: ☺️ 😏😏😏

XZ: Virtue

WYB: 😀😀

WYB: It's okay. Look. Okay.

WYB: It’s starting to itch a little bit

XZ: Don’t buckle

as for the “virtue” term i looked it up on baidu and it seems like this is used more on the reason of telling WYB off cause what he is thinking is 😏😏.

the itching is probably the wound he has on his hand that is drying up now. and how xz is so concerned for wyb! AHHHHHHH!

XZ: I told you before that you wouldn’t listen.

XZ: It’s quite obvious on TV that there’s a trap.

WYB: Where did you see it?

XZ: Watch the clips. I want to watch them all. Where can I find the time?

WYB: Oh

WYB: You still have time to rest more, ge

WYB: You must be tired, ge 🥺

(….)

XZ: Don’t force me into happy moments……

WYB: 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

watching WoF clips! Hahahahahaha! I find it really cute how they support each other

WYB: What are you having for dinner?

XZ: Please hurry up, please

this next part is mostly WYB being clowned by staff and his continued refusal to make vlogs 🤪 and him not approving an increase in budget! here is a bit:

Staff 2: 😂😂😂😂

Staff 3: You don’t need to provide us with a vlog

WYB: That saves money

Staff 4: Then my budget has increased

WYB: Not approved

Staff 4: 😂

XZ: Mr. Wei has spoken. You must listen.

WYB: I’ll give you some for yourselves.

XZ: Are Mr. Wei’s rights limited to this much?

WYB: It’s up to you whether it’s you or not

XZ: 😅

XZ: Do you think I’ve treated you badly?

WYB: Just kidding, didn’t you click on all of them?

mister wei 🥺🥺🥺 why do i have a feeling that XZ’s favorite right now is Wei Ruolai?

XZ: He doesn’t have many opportunities, so use them and cherish them.

Staff 4: Finished. Here.

WYB: Oh, can you finish it?

WYB: Who do you belong to?

XZ: Report to you

WYB: Huh?

XZ: Repay...the real reward📱take it and repay it

WYB: Then I can take it apart and buy it....

XZ: Then buy it yourself

WYB: You buy it for me...what you just said

XZ: I didn’t say

XZ: OK OK OK

XZ: Aren’t they all in your hands? Buy it yourself.

WYB: Don’t worry if I buy a lot at once

XZ: Scared. I’m so scared.

WYB: I bought just one

WYB: ☺️

XZ: 👍🏻

this is confusing me but what i can gather is wyb bought something! what is it? 👀

Isn't it just for us all to hear you whispering, coaxing, and speaking so loudly? Come on, eat, the meal is here, if you don't eat, you'll be full first.

P.S: The boss doesn’t know that he blinks when he’s trying to coax people.

i love this last part cause OP is sort of complaining about the two lovebirds! as usual, having their own world. and idk who the “boss” is that blinks, or maybe he is trying to be cute by slow-blinking? i have a feeling it’s xz tho 😂😂😂😂

-END.

#yizhan #bjyx #there is no science here i’m just clowning like i always do #accio victuuri translation

[call-me-a-simp]

Me waiting for more chapters of 'No one hates you more than I do!' 👀

No One Hates You More Than I Do

And I'm Scarlett Johansson (part 2)

Enemies to lovers (Rhea Ripley x fem. Reader):

Summary: You're a well known wrestler in WWE and Rhea is your worst enemy. You hate each other in and outside of the ring. Rhea always flirts with you, not that she means it, she just knows it makes you furious and wants to annoy you. But one day everything changes and you start to feel like all of this isn't a joke anymore and that there might actually be something between you two.

You wake up the next day to someone ringing the doorbell. Who could that be? You think. You didn't expect anyone this early and the mail wouldn't ring.

You get up and throw on an old oversize t-shirt you stole from your ex. "I'm coming" you yell as you make your way down the stairs.

You open the door and there is, surprise, no one. You're about to close the door again as a note on the floor catches your attention. You pick it up and take it to the living room where you sit down to read it.

It's a note from Rhea, saying that she was "sorry for her clumsiness yesterday and glad someone found you" As if you would actually believe that bullshit. Further on she wrote that she just wanted to annoy you a little by waking you early bla bla.

"God I hate this woman" you mutter and throw the paper away. Since going back to sleep wasn't an option as you had to be awake in an hour anyway, you decide to go make yourself some coffee and maybe do a little workout.

Your plans for today were pretty chill, you just had to attend to a few interviews and a meet and greet with some fans. You hope Rhea wouldn't be there, you didn't have the nerve to face her today.

---------------------------------------------------------

The interviews went quite well, not too many questions and quite nice people. As you're sitting behind your desk at the meet and greet and are about to sign a photo for a fan, someone wraps their arms around your shoulders from behind.

"Hello love" you hear Rhea whisper. You sigh and try to ignore her, smiling at your fan as they walk away happily. "Ignoring me huh, that's not nice you know" Ripley acts a little offended and crosses her arms in front of her chest.

"what you did yesterday wasn't either" you mumble, but she hears you. "Oh come on, don't be dramatic, Joe found you didn't he? So what's the big deal? Being locked up for a few hours, that's nothing.." your enemy mocks you.

You try to hold back your anger, not wanting to explode in front of all this people who came and paid to see you. "Can we speak about this later please? I'm busy right now" you face her for a moment and turn back around as she shrugs and walks away.

---------------------------------------------------------

About two hours later you're done and exhausted. You even forgot about wanting to talk to Rhea afterwards and head out to your car. You unlock it, put your bags in the backseat and are about to open the drivers door as someone spins you around and pins you against the car.

"Didn't you forget something, pretty?" Rhea smirks and licks her teeth like she usually does in the ring. You sigh and mumble some sort of excuse while trying to get away from her, but she keeps you in place.

"You said we'll talk later, so here I am wanting to talk" Rhea says in a firm voice. "Ugh fine, what was that earlier at the meet and greet? You made us seem like a couple" you say with a disgusted expression.

"Come on it wasn't that bad, other's would die to be in a relationship with me" she grins proudly. "ye and I'd rather die than to be in one with you" you mutter. Her grin fades and you catch a glimpse of sadness in her eyes.

"What? Can't handle being rejected?" you tease her. "What- I- no.. Ugh forget it" she curses and walks away angrily. You huff and get in your car, just wanting to be left alone. As you start the car and are about to head out of the parking lot someone knocks on the passengers door.

You open the window and see Rhea again. "Hey sorry, weird question but could you take me with you? I don't have a ride and the others already left.." she says looking down in embarrassment. You knew exactly how much she hated asking for help, especially someone she wants to seem tough in front of.

You sigh again and motion for her to get in the car. "Thank you" she mumbles. "Where do you need to go?" you ask and look over at her. "you know, that one hotel near main road..?" she questions and you look at her confused. There was no hotel in the small city you were living in.

"Uhh never mind, you can just drop me off whenever" Rhea brushes it off. "Anywhere you need to be tomorrow?" you ask with an annoyed undertone. "No why" she looks confused. You sigh and then say something you never thought you'd say to her.

"It's quite late, you're just gonna spend the night at my place and tomorrow morning I'll drop you off at the bus station or so, so you can go home"

Rhea mumbles some sort of thank you, not wanting you to see how surprised she was at your offer. You leave the parking lot and head off to your home about 15 minutes away from the arena.

You get out the car and Rhea follows you with some space, clearly uncomfortable with the situation. "You don't have to do this" she says it so quietly, you almost don't understand her. "We're here already so just come in, but don't try anything stupid on me, cause if this is just a trick to get into my house then I'll call the police on you!"

She nods shyly and you show her your guestroom where she can spend the night. After that you're both in the kitchen to heat up some frozen pizza for dinner. "You know, I actually really like you, I just have difficulties expressing myself correctly" Rhea mumbles more to herself than to you.

You huff, not believing what she just said. "Ye, right, and I'm actually Scarlett Johansson" you tease her and notice a sad expression taking over her features. "Anyway" you say and take the last bite from your pizza "I'm going to bed and you should too" and with that you stand up, take your plate to the sink and leave her alone.

---------------------------------------------------

Part 2 with a confession from Rhea 🤭

Taglist: @specialinterestshows @butterfly12347 @billiewherearetheavocados @lomlrhea @hatdog96

#demi bennett #rhea ripley #wrestling #rhea ripley x reader #wwe x reader #gxg scenarios #gxg imagine #gxg #gaylife #gay love #enemies to lovers #love #love confessions

[valve3nthusiast]

Drift taking a trip with the briefcase to go back in time to a few months he lost the memory of by head injury

Finding Deadlock

And fucking him

He does the bare minimum of disguise (no autobrand, optics changed to a less noticeable yellow, adjusting his vocalizer so he doesn't sound exactly the same as Deadlock) and is pleasantly surprised when he doesn't have to do much convincing before Deadlock agrees to frag him. They have wonderfully amazing and nasty sex, Drift gets some sort of weird emotional catharsis out of it, Drift peaces out knowing he never remembered this later

Meanwhile, Deadlock POV:

A mech that looks like a cross between his ideal type and his idealized self walks up to him and asks to frag. Deadlock takes a moment to be creeped out by the autobot intelligence division... before saying yes, because the sex will probably be good even if this guy is an ops agent

He might need to reevaluate that judgment, because even an ops agent would have trouble faking this amount of enthusiasm. Mystery Mech rides his spike like it's the last thing he wants to do before he dies, and begs Deadlock to hurt him with the prettiest little whines. If the (maybe?) autobot wants to get hurt, who is he to say no? (Plus, it's practically illegal to not bite those thighs)

Deadlock pins him down on the berth, thrusting into him hard and fast. The maybe-autobot gives him this taunting little smirk, like he isn't affected at all, and something about it is blindly infuriating. For some reason, this mech makes an ugly, unquantifiable emotion rise up in his processor, and an unbelievable amount of charge light up his array

Deadlock, with a hand behind each knee and claws digging into him, forces Mystery Mech's legs up and bends him into a mating press. The little punched-out ah! ah! ah! noises he makes as Deadlock doubles his effort to brutally pound into that slick valve is music to his ears

By the time they're done, Mystery Mech would look like he'd been mauled if not for the blissed out expression on his face. They both fall into a light recharge, but Deadlock is wide awake again as soon as Mystery Mech starts moving. He's expecting that assassination attempt now, but instead the mech quietly leaves his room and seems to dissappear into thin air

He's still wondering what happened to Mystery Mech when some dumbass wings him in the head during a battle. He wake up later with a gap in his memory, now tragically ignorant to what was honestly some of the best sex he's ever had

#valveplug #mine #drift #deadlock #selfcest #pain kink drift extravaganza #if i could write this would be a longfic where the briefcase breaks causing drift to be in an alternate timeline instead of a loop #and then he drags deadlock into an early redemption arc kicking and screaming #and also they fall in love and fuck a bunch and end the war early #not necessarily in that order #also HALLELUJAH ITS DONE ive been trying to write this damn post for four days #au stuff

[jor-elthatendswell]

It's a well worn topic at this point but the imminent release of The Marvels has me thinking about how militaristic the Marvel Cinematic Universe is, with Monica Rambeau aka Photon, a habour patrol member in the comics, reimagined as a captain in the US Air Force.

She follows Hawkeye, who was changed from an argumentative former circus performer with a heart of gold (a character so staunchly against lethal force he once revoked his own wife's Avengers membership because she sort of, maybe, subconsciously allowed a villain to fall to his death) into a hard-nosed black ops assassin.

Sam Wilson/ Falcon made his celluloid debut as an army man with twin submachine guns attached to his wrists. It’s a far cry from his print counterpart’s introduction as a social worker by day who uses his skill at falconry to protect his neighbourhood.

If we allow the argument that modern cinema goers are accustomed to a sprinkling of realism to make their superheroes palatable (and it’s a strange argument really- why should realism be a desirable quality in summer blockbuster escapism?) then what actually constitutes “realism”.

Sure, a man who learnt uncanny skill with a bow and arrow growing up with a travelling show couldn’t possibly hold his own alongside Hulk or Thor in the real world (and, yes, there isn’t a Hulk or Thor in the real world; as I say, this is a strange argument), but if he learned those exact same skills in some kind of military context then that somehow passes the bar for realism? The sinister upshot is that these children’s heroes become more warlike just as, globally, they reach more children than ever before.

Increasing the realism of superhero stories only serves to make them problematic. DC Comics' Batman, who is the frequently subjected to “realistic” treatments, is the prime example. If, in real life, a billionaire tooled himself up with the best weapons and body armour money can buy and began dispensing violent “justice” with no accountability, then of course that wouldn’t be a good thing. If they wore a costume with pointy ears and started calling themselves “Batman” then of course we would question their sanity. But Batman isn’t real; it’s a story. Nobody thinks The Muppet Show advocates animal cruelty. Quite the opposite, if anything. ("Not unless they're watching it", as Waldolf once heckled) Yet if a filmmaker decides they’re going to make a “grounded and realistic” remake where Fozzy is played by a real live bear wearing a pork pie hat and spotty necktie, then that's a whole other story. Suspend your disbelief and superheroes are less like the police or army and more akin to volunteers and activists, doing what they can with what they have to improve the lives of those around them. Their actions take the form of crime fighting only because that’s what makes for exciting colourful adventure stories for children.

In the MCU, even Marvel’s poster boy, Spider-Man (another champion of non-lethal solutions, known for his compassion even to his enemies and who possesses an enduring appeal to young children) is given a literal sheen of the military-industrial complex in the form of “Stark Tech” armour, replete with military grade strike drones. Tony Stark even thought to equip his 15 year old protégé-cum-child soldier with an “Instant Kill Mode”. In a moment played for laughs in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man rejects his on-board AI's attempt to activate this feature but seems untroubled that such an option exists and, indeed, come Avengers: Infinity War, he voluntarily deploys it. It’s not clear if Spidey actually does kill any of his alien adversaries, but it seems reasonable to assume that one doesn’t say “Activate Instant Kill Mode” without the intention of ending lives. Fans are expected to smile or applaud as Spider-Man says these words, recognising the call-back to Homecoming, rather than find it a gross misrepresentation of Marvel’s most beloved character or an alarming depiction of a children’s favourite.

The MCU Avengers as a whole are a US government “initiative “. The reluctant superheroes need to be cajoled into putting their differences aside for the greater good by army top brass Nick Fury. In a tweak from the source material, the ‘H' in Fury's organisation, SHIELD, stands for ‘Homeland’, making SHIELD as explicitly American venture as opposed to it being ostensibly intergovernmental in the comics.

There is a comic book precedent for this military take on Earth's Mightiest Heroes in the form of The Ultimates, a 2002 series by the British team of writer Mark Millar and artist Bryan Hitch. The Ultimates ,however, was satire. Millar was an unreformed lefty of the old school – someone who has boasted of voting Brexit for left-wing reasons, someone who once appeared on Russia Today as a guest of George Galloway. The Ultimates took swings at the gung ho jingoism of post 9/11 America. Captain America's “Surrender!!?? You think this letter on my head stands for France?“ is not supposed to be a badass one-liner, but rather a parody of the kind of things US media outlets were saying as Jacques Chirac proved less keen than Tony Blair to follow George Bush in bringing gunboat diplomacy to the Middle East. As Millar commentated at the time:

“The Ultimates is completely different because it's a character-driven piece and (something only a few people have noticed) my attempt as a left-wing writer to tell stories about an essentially right-wing concept and cast. It's very much the Anti-Authority, if you will. Captain America and so on are fully-paid members of the US military machine and this means a very different book and approach from a gang of slightly arrogrant, left-wing, superhuman utopians like The Authority ".

Wildstorm Comics' The Authority, which both Millar and Hitch worked on (although not together), was a precursor to Ultimates, featuring a team of similarly “any means necessary” heroes, albeit with a left-wing bent. The Ultimates does have something of The Authority’s utopian streak; Nick Fury and Tony Stark genuinely want to make the world a better place for everyone. It’s very idealistic – what if the head of the military and the biggest tech billionaire actually had the people’s best interests at heart? – and arguably closer to true superhero ethos (basically “with great power there must also come great responsibility “) than those characters more pragmatic MCU equivalents.

Yet, as Millar's one time writing partner Grant Morrison (who actually ghost-wrote at least one issue of The Authority under Miller’s name) observed in Morrison’s major nonfiction work, Supergods, the likes of The Authority, The Ultimates and, by extension, the MCU represent a “capitulation” to the view “that it was really only force and violence that got things done and not patient diplomacy, and that only soldiers and very rich people had the world figured out”. If the MCU is realistic, then it’s a sad indictment of the real world where the heroes are the ones with the best tech, the best guns and no compunction about using them.

Regardless of intent, The Ultimates left a door at Marvel’s “House of Ideas” just enough ajar to allow a malign notion to creep in: “These soldier superheroes are pretty cool. What If they were like that all the time? Wouldn’t they be more popular then”?

Certainly the navy SEAL aesthetic Bryan Hitch brought to the costumes (replacing the colourful tights and capes with pouches, straps and body armour) was soon adopted by superhero tv and film productions even pre-MCU. In fact, Hawkeye's journey from carny to commando mirrors the changes in superhero attire. Most famously, Superman's appearance with the red “overpants” derives from that of circus strongmen, but seeing any photography of early to mid 20th century carnival and circus performers makes it clear the early superhero creators had them in mind when they first put pencil to paper.

In an interview (found in Marvel Spotlight: Captain America, published in 2009) Hitch related how he showed an initial Ultimates drawing of Captain America with a machine gun to Grant Morrison, which Morrison then “described as the most obscene Captain America image [they’d] ever seen”. (NB: Morrison has since adopted gender neutral pronouns). Perhaps Morrison said this with glee, in on the joke with their friends, but in the years since, Cap with a gun became a common sight, even in family-friendly movies (where it was divorced from the irony of The Ultimates).

By a 2015 interview, Morrison lamented the fact that “the Avengers work for the government, and it's been like that since Mark [Millar] did The Ultimates” and said they were “bored with the idea that the best superheroes can represent is some aggressive version of the military. [...] They're supposed to be champions of the oppressed, they help ordinary people, they make things better for people. They don't prop up our grotesque, doddering culture of war and aggression”.

That same year Morrison introduced a new comic book superteam in the pages of The Multiversity. Pointedly the text likens this group, named “Justice Incarnate”, to a “cosmic neighbourhood watch” rather than any formal military or law-enforcement institution.

Millar himself reunited with his Authority collaborator Frank Quitely to create the comic Jupiter’s Legacy, which comes across in part as an apology for The Ultimates and all it begat. It concludes with the protagonists, Chloe Sampson and Eddie "Hutch" Hutchence taking up superhero mantles and promising not to make the moral compromises of their predecessors:

“No more bowing to authority and insitutions. No more deference to people in power”.

“There's a dignity in public service we mistook for old-fashioned, and a humility in having a secret identity, living among the people we protect.“

The Avengers, Marvel’s breakthrough billion dollar box office 2012 movie, by contrast, concludes with Iron Man dropping a nuclear bomb on the “Chitari”, an invading alien army and it seems likely this influenced Morrison’s comments on modern superhero stories.

In Supergods, Morrison

describes their childhood dread of nuclear weapons. The child of “ban the bomb” activists, the “gruesome hand-drawn images of how the world might look after a spirited thermonuclear missile exchange” which illustrated their parents anti-nuclear literature struck terror into the young Morrison. Therefore they seized upon superheroes as being an idea powerful enough to counteract – and overcome – the idea of the bomb.

“It’s not that I needed Superman to be “real,” I just needed him to be more real than the Idea of the Bomb that ravaged my dreams”.

Within the narrative of the movie, Iron Man takes the only option available to him to save New York. Destroying thousands of alien lives to save thousands of human ones. But The Avengers isn’t a documentary; the scriptwriters could have written a satisfying denouement which didn’t involve mass murder. They could at least have included some words of regret by the heroes over what it took to win, acknowledging that killing is not the ideal solution. Instead the Avengers trade banter and eat shawarma, collective conscious clear.

There is a moment in another Grant Morrison work, Final Crisis, which always brings the MCU to mind. In Final Crisis #3, drawn by JG Jones, (published in 2008, the same year the MCU began) “evil gods” from a higher plain of existence have been reincarnated on Earth. In order for the Justice League to counter this threat, a “draft for Superheroes” is implemented. Green Arrow (a Batman-a-like character who was subsequently reinvented to embody the countercultural sentiment of the late 1960s and has since served as the social conscious of the superhero set) responds to receiving his draft notice thusly:

“If anybody falls for this authoritarian, militaristic crap, it’ll prove I’m absolutely right about absolutely everything!... “

Cue the next page, where the drafted heroes have gathered en mass (including Green Arrow, impotently shaking his fist.)

Such an assemblage of characters in usually a triumphant moment in a summer "event" story, but here is framed as a sign that evil already has it’s hooks into reality. This world has fallen to the darkness and the superheroes who inhabit it are too morally compromised to realise it.

#the marvels #mcu #the avengers #grant morrison #mark millar #bryan hitch #the ultimates #marvel #dc comics #the authority #opinion #long form #comics #movies #superheroes #superhero #spider man #mcu critical #marvel critical #mcu criticism

[kinetic-elaboration]

December 24: Miller/Bryan, Boyfriends

This is literally the least Christmas-y thing I could write on Christmas Eve but I just had the urge to write some angsty Miller/Bryan stuff instead of trying to do fluff. I'm just not in the fluff mood.

This is in the same universe as this scene, is extremely self-indulgent, and may or may not be good, but it was fun.

Canon-divergent, S3-era, ~760 words, some sexual content

Written in 22 minutes

*

When they were dating on the Ark, they would fantasize often about domesticity. They'd find quarters together as soon as they turned eighteen, either on Alpha or on Farm, or anywhere else that would take them; they'd sleep together in a bed big enough for two. They'd develop some sort of morning routine. Their clothes would get mixed up. They'd kiss at every threshold, before parting, upon meeting.

Miller was a damned romantic in those days too: trading stolen goods for extra ration points and extra ration points for private time in the mess and a dinner for two; memorizing love sonnets; handing Bryan sprigs of plants from the fields on Farm as if they were bouquets. Some of the gestures made Bryan laugh. But always with such fondness. And after Miller was arrested, they promised to stay faithful—Bryan promised to visit and promised to wait—and so everyone in the Sky Box said they were married. That was the word for couples who believed in a future like that. Miller never told anyone that he proposed for real, with a bit of junk metal fashioned into a ring, as earnest and as quiet and as serious as he'd ever been in his life, never told a single soul that Bryan said yes. Yes Miller would live and as soon as he got out, they'd be married in Miller's father's quarters and afterwards, never separated ever again.

Later, when Bellamy asks, he says he has a boyfriend. Fiancé seems too heavy somehow, like maybe Bellamy will read it as kids playing dress up, or only frown as he does at Sky Box slang he never got the hang of.

It's easier to live with himself, too, when he's got a boyfriend up there or out there or possibly dead, than to let himself go on spinning fantasies about the love of his life.

It's not domestic now and it's not sweet either, or soft, or easy, when they don't know what to say to each other, so every time they meet, they just fuck. Bryan hangs out with Farm mostly, without saying they're family in so many words. Miller’s got his dropship survivors. Thy almost never talk about that now. The scar on his shoulder aches when it's about to rain, and when he puts on the Guard jacket, it feels heavy on his shoulders.

Bryan's assigned quarters in some of the new outbuildings, where they've stuck the rest of the station because all the rooms in Alpha have already been divided up. But it's not hard to sneak over, hardly more of a challenge to sneak Bryan over to his. Bellamy practically lives at Gina's now. Their bed is a double, and it's easy to shove Bryan down on it.

They never get fully undressed and they lie to themselves and say it's because it takes too long, and they need something hot and hard and now, they miss each other so goddamn much. It doesn't hurt the way that sex always hurt in crowded spaces up on the Ark: banged elbow in the supply closet, ache in his back from trying to twist around too much in his single bed, and then he couldn't even catch his breath after, because soon his father would be home. He might say it hurts in a worse way now, like poking an old bruise. Old man, Bryan says, half-smiling, when his heart starts beating too fast and his lungs burn but he's thinking about Bellamy giving him a hand job in this same bed and then about how many people have fucked in it over the last 100 years, and how little it matters, sentimentality like that.

He can feel Bryan's palm pressed close against him, that moment of pressure before his fingers start scrambling for Miller's zip, and he thinks that if he's breathing in the air from Bryan's lungs right now, open mouth to open mouth and the darting slick press of tongues, maybe he's also hearing Bryan's heart in his ears. Maybe they are one person. Maybe that's the rhythm he can feel coming of its own accord into his hips, as Bryan straddles on top of him, and they move as if they were fucking, and everything else drowns out and is still.

They haven't mentioned the word marriage since their reunion at the settlement gates. Not even once. No words like boyfriends or domesticity or even home, but again and again he huffs you into Bryan's mouth: you and want and need. You, you, you.

#the 100 #nathan miller #bryan the 100 #bryan #miller x bryan #briller #briller fanfiction #mine #my writing #the year 2023 #2023: free write #the first fic is probably better but the goal here wasn't good it was fun for me #can't emphasize that enough

[lord-squiggletits]

Do you like continuity cross MegOP? Like TFA Optimus x TFP Megatron and the sorts? (That's the most popular pair, it seems. Unlikely but I can see their point)

Not at all unless it's for a joke pairing, like IDW OP/IDW2 Megatron for both being jocks that like jumping off things or something.

I'm someone who very much feels that characters are a product of the world/story they're written within, so blending continuities or just ripping a character and putting them in another continuity makes it feel very disjointed imo.

Plus, one of my biggest MegOP pet peeves is the fact that the AO3 tag is proliferated with fics that are basically IDW Megatron/G1 or TFP or some vague continuity soup Optimus, because I hate IDW Optimus erasure.

Tangential hot take below the cut about a particular crossover MegOP pet peeve of mine, IDW Optimus, and the MOP fandom's treatment of him in general. If you don't like bitching, this is your disclaimer to not read.

Also. I really really hate how people will erase IDW Optimus and ship IDW Megatron with literally any other Optimus besides him, because for me it's incredibly boring and cowardly lmao.

Like, people can handle the fact that Megatron is a bad person (I mean honestly some people write him as if he has no flaws and doesn't need to apologize for anything, so maybe they can't handle Megatron being a bad person considering they refuse to acknowledge that he is/was idk) but they can't handle the idea of Optimus being morally gray? Megatron is allowed to be a complex pacifist-turned revolutionary-turned warlord-turned regretful Autobot, but Optimus has to be frozen in some G1/TFP mishmash where he's just an innocent librarian/dockworker whose main personality trait is being a nice dad completely erased of anything that makes him "problematic"?

You can't even argue "oh IDW OP sucks because he's a cop and cops are bad in real life" because 1. the story agrees with that and Optimus constantly faces the consequences of his pre-war alignment 2. people have no problem with the fact that Megatron was an imperialist technoist, and imperialism and racism are both bad in real life. And 3. if people had an issue with him being a cop, they could just write IDW OP's personality but give him a different job, except no one writes IDW OP's personality at all. For some reason people will excuse all of IDW Megatron's shitty behavior/beliefs away (or just pretend they're not canon) but viciously attack IDW Optimus's personality and the occupation he only had for like a fifth of his total life? It's really disappointing to see such favoritism and bad takes from MEGOP SHIPPERS who are the people you would expect to like BOTH Megatron and Optimus, but this fandom has an overwhelming amount of Megatron favoritism where people write him as having all the initiative and Optimus is just some oaf that doesn't understand why the war happened.

If people want an Optimus who's conscious of his role in perpetuating social inequality and contributing to the civil war, while still having relatable depression and having some moments of humor, IDW Optimus is literally right freaking here waiting for people to read his huge and interesting story.

Plus, half the people who bitch about IDW OP and say they hate him either haven't read the comics or completely misread/misrepresent what IDW OP actually does in the comics. If you want IDW OP to be "called out" or criticized then he gets called out and criticized all the fucking time. People just want OP to be a happy dad or a sadboi or an uwu twink and refuse to accept that since IDW is a darker story, Optimus needs to be dark and problematic along with it or else he doesn't fit within the context of his story.

This fandom's tendency to whitewash IDW Megatron while villainizing IDW Optimus is one of its most annoying qualities, and frankly I find it boring and childish lmao. Accept the fact that IDW Optimus is written like an actual person with flaws that can become ugly when he's put under the immense pressure of everything he's dealing with. Real people don't go through all the trauma and guilt IDW OP went through and remain perfect saints who are always nice and never snap out of anger/frustration. IDW Optimus is too interesting and cool for the people who just want unproblematic happy dad Optimus lmao.

And MegOP shippers shitting on IDW OP for things he didn't do or things that were understandable in context, while acting like Megatron did no wrong and should have everyone else apologize to him, is literally the reason why I don't read any MOP fics outside of my circle of friends/mutuals any more. It's just not worth reading fanfic when my favorite character is constantly erased and excluded from having stories written about him.

#there's some bitching in this one lmao this is your warning #if you have a problem with my tone or opinions you should probably not read the readmore or just unfollow #ppl say 'don't like don't read' so i took their advice and dont read fics/headcanons that i think are boring and annoying #doesn't mean that i can't complain about it in the space of my own blog #squiggle answers

[salsedine]

Oh no you reblogged it too. :/ Well then. *cracks hands*

Irene Adler, Merrill, Rings of Power Tar-Miriel and at this point I have to ask him: Ishmael from Moby dick. (how many/if you want of course💜✨)

Hello! <3 And these are all great, thank you for asking! But definitely under 'the read more', this is going to be a little long.

Irene Adler

-First impression: talented opera singer that managed to outwit both Holmes and the king that was stalking her AND carve a happy life for herself + her husbands; “The Woman” indeed.

-Impression now: pretty much the same - although with age I've come to appreciate more the crossdressing subplot. You get the idea that it is something that she does quite often and enjoys (especially given the freedom that comes with it). This is also for the -headcanon/idea for a story section, but I hope that eventually some adaptation will explore the potentially queer aspect of it. No, not you, BBC.

- Unpopular opinion: maybe it's not a big deal NOW, but I still consider the aforementioned BBC adaptation one of the worst in terms of characterization. They managed to make it worse than a story written in the XIXth century, congrats!

- Favourite relationship: her canon husband seems to like her as she is- which is nice, so he can stay.

Merrill

- First impression: I almost didn't recognize her from her tiny cameo in Origins, ops. Beside that, as soon as the other dalish started badmouthing her I pretty much immediately switched into 'protective mode'.

- Impression now: she is brilliant! why nobody notices that! By trying to restore the eluvian she is actually doing a keeper's job, and she didn't even get possessed despite doing an internship with a spirit/demon - that's impressive. And sure, sometime she can be a little awkward, but she comes from a completely different culture compared to the other characters - of course she is awkward. It’s like moving from Abbiategrasso to Amsterdam, I’d be a little overwhelmed too.

- Favourite scene: The "I believe in you, Hawke" moment during The Last Straw - everybody is (understandably) a little torn and full of doubts and yet she is the first one to be 100% on your side.

- Headcanon/story: since she cleansed the Eluvian, I guess that it’s almost-canon that blood magic could cure the taint? It’s kind of a shame that her relationship with Anders doesn't progress past his prejudices (and a few admittedly nice but short dialogues), because then you'd have a dalish mage that actually knows how to deal with spirits and can potentially cure the taint AND a possessed mage/grey warden. It’s pretty much 80% of the magical plot condensed in two characters, come onnnn.

(same with the whole 'tranquility' thing, since we saw very early in the game that interacting with a spirit can, albeit temporarily, reverse it. No I'm not over that quest)

- Unpopular opinion: I wish the romance storyline was... better written? I would have been 1000% more supportive lol. No really, they emphasized how much Merrill idolizes Hawke, while I would have opted for a more equal relationship.

- Relationship: beside the romance option, I'd say Varric and Isabela. And special mention to Aveline – I know she is not a particularly popular character but some of her dialogues with Merrill are quite sweet.

Tar-Miriel

- First impression: Cynthia Addai-Robinson could stab me and I'd thank her for her time.

- Impression now: same :P no really, this character has a lot of regality and grace, like some sort of fragile strenght. She really felt like a Tolkien character, so to speak.

- Relationship: not romantic, but I enjoyed her clashes with Galadriel and Elendil, and the overall idealism VS political realism contrast.

- Favourite moment: the whole sequence with the falling white flowers, and her final parting with Galadriel - she looks like a byzantine empress 90% of the time, so it's hard to pick one.

- Story/headcanon: not much of an headcanon, but I hope that they'll show more of her ruling in Numenor.

- Unpopular opinion: I don't think i have any? Are there popular/unpopular opinion about her?

Ishmael

- First impression: The novel starts with him explaning that he sails to fight depression (“with a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship”) so I immediately liked him. And "call me Ishmael"? - he is the one that tells the story and we don't even know his real name. The epitome of the unreliable narrator, and he tells you that himself.

- Impression now: Pretty much stayed consistent – I appreciate how he is the opposite of what people expected from a male character in a seafaring novel: introspective, melancholic and prone to philosophical musings, with an unconventional approach to religion (a lot), not particularly adventurous in the physical sense, and gay.

- Relationship: “Thus, then, in our hearts' honeymoon, lay I and Queequeg — a cosy, loving pair.” What can I add? It’s like a marriage, "until death to us part" and everything- and even after that, since Ishmael avoid drowning by clinging to Queequeg's coffin.

- Headcanon / idea for a story: I don't think I can write Moby Dick fanfiction, really. I’ll leave that to Vinicio Capossela lol.

- Unpopular opinion: I don't find Ishmael’s musings about whales boring? They are definitely not the worst part of the book (that's the XIXth century racism).

+ cute seal bonus if you read all that stuff, congrats!

#ask #greypetrel #dopo solo 239843290 anni yay

[cagedchoices]

Okay listen everyone knows that I think that Caleb is a cutie, and most of y'all also seem to agree that this is true, but I have a thought that's been nagging me all day because it's relevant to a few drafts I've been trying to work on: Does Caleb himself actually know this?

When someone compliments him and calls him cute, handsome, kind, a good man, a gentleman, etc. how does he actually feel about it? I imagine that he has pretty low self esteem and a low opinion of himself and I tend to write in that direction pretty consistently, but low self esteem isn't always the cause for someone not accepting compliments. I made a list of canon moments where he's given a compliment of some kind and he's mostly just 🧍🏼‍♂️ about it, otherwise he quickly tries to find a way to change the subject:

Dolores tells Caleb he is a good man after he helps her fight the RICO ops who pulled over the ambulance.

Caleb's mom tells him he's a good boy after he brings her a stack of her favorite books.

Maeve tells Caleb Frankie must be a credit to Uwade's genetics. (Caleb smiles and kind of chuckles at this, but he leans into what Maeve said with his own "She and her mother are the best thing that ever happened to me." Like he had 0 influence on Frankie. Despite the fact that he HAS had a ton of influence on Frankie.)

Maeve sorta checks Caleb out while he is dressed in a tuxedo and says "You don't look entirely awful". (Caleb returns the favor with "You don't look too bad yourself" which is really just. both of them telling each other they look great.)

Temperance Clementine caresses Caleb's face, saying "Well aren't you just the cat's meow? I'd love to take you upstairs and show you-" (Being propositioned for sex is not something I would really consider a compliment and especially not in this context but. Caleb's reaction, or lack thereof, is interesting to me.)

Maeve tells Caleb "You weren't half bad out there." referring to his ability to handle himself in a fight while he was protecting her. (Caleb actually looks quite touched by this for a second. Maybe the first compliment he has actually thought about accepting?? But he immediately shifts the focus back to Maeve via "You've saved my life before. Happy to return the favor." while healing her bullet wound.)

Caleb definitely doesn't take compliments well in practice. He probably won't argue against you because that's like, Your Opinion. But he will probably try to change the subject or ignore the compliment in that sort of "if I don't acknowledge it... maybe it will be forgotten about" kind of way.

#i'm an underachiever — out. #big data compiles information on everybody — meta. #less of a meta and more just. random thoughts floating around in my head #but there is like. canon evidence here to support the claim that caleb can't take a compliment

[discipulusmaleficus]

CO-OP :3c

@idolsummons BOSS BATTLE.

🎵 for a battle theme song

idk this might be the vibe

🏰 for a location or dungeon theme and setting

You recognise this living room from a couple of Miyu's streams. (She hasn't done one in a while, huh?) It's decorated with an assiduously cutesy charm, overflowing with things that are pink and soft and sponsored. It's dark, cosy, lit by candlelight - A mohair rug has been lifted up and nudged to the side of the room. Oh, and there's a complex pattern scrawled in blood on the floor --

💬 for a opening dialogue before fight

The taller figure's gaze fixes on the intruder first, a small, unsympathetic smile crossing his face. "I didn't know we invited an audience, Miyu." Hana turns, eyes wide and guileless. Oh, dear--

👊 for a description on a special move

[ stagehand: ] The daemonic energy coursing through Hana's body leaves her distorted, unstable, strong. All it takes is a minor casting to make her even stronger. (kal sacrifices health to buff hana's attack/speed/defense dramatically for a short time.)

[ shadow actor ] : shockingly easy to lose track of the second robed figure when you're already trying to fend off each blast of energy from Hana. He's behind you, by the way. And he has a knife ready to pull over your throat -- (burst damage, bleed.)

👏 for a subordinate or mini-boss they might have

A stuffed toy has just leapt from the shelf and latched onto your arm. Why does it have bones, how are its teeth so sharp, and what sort of wretched energy can you feel it frothing with?

☠ for a game over if they win the fight

Hana looks different up close, or maybe she's just not the girl she used to be. You could have sworn she didn't have a third eyelid. A dainty arm pins you to the wall. Her assistant moves to gather a scattered bunch of papers, deliberately not looking at you. Sighs to himself. The idol seems to think for a moment, eyes predatory and sharp. slips a ritual dagger back into her skirts (no need for more mess than you've already made.) Her claws tighten around your throat --

👌 for an key item left from them after losing

Miyu's Journal! X3: A detailed and perhaps cautionary chronology of daemonic ritual. In Japanese. (If you can translate it, perhaps you can replicate some of what she did... if you really want to.) Pastel Handbag: You're pretty sure this featured in some music video or other. Might fetch a decent price on eBay.

💯 to know if they would be a easy or a hard boss

Kind of mid-game, I suppose. Thinking it might be a DPS race.

#idolsummons #is this good idk #bet you forgot you sent this

[bringerofplagues]

Hades 2: Information, Speculation and Wishes

So, last night at the game awards we got a trailer for Hades 2 and i have been looking through the trailer several times trying to find every scrap of information in there, and now i am gonna share it with everyone. When i am done with that i will be doing some speculation on what this might mean and then i will talk about some stuff i would love to see.

First of all let’s talk about the new characters. According to the games steam page the player character is Melinoë, and in the mythology she is the daughter of Persephone and Zeus, and she has some connections to Hecate the goddess of witchcraft. We know from the trailer credits that Hecate will be in the game, and we can safely assume that she is the trainer character whom Melinoë refers to as Headmistress. First of all, Melinoë is a witch and it would make sense if her trainer was the goddess of witchcraft. Secondly: Hecate was often described as a three headed goddess, and while it would seem like the Headmistress only has one head, you can see two heads, one on each shoulder, but we don’t know if they are real or decorative at the moment. Then there is Moros, the embodiment of doom, and Nemisis, the goddess of vengeance, both of whoom are children of Nyx and Erebus thus making them siblings of Thanatos and Hypnos from the first game. The first boon we see comes from Apollo, the god of music, the sun and Medicine, but all of the boons we see in the trailer are damage focused and seem to have a sun theme. We also seem to have this games version of Dusa aka Dora, who i assume to be Pandora like how Dusa was Medusa. And of course there is the big bad of the game Chronos/Cronos. Now these are tehcnicly two different figures, Chronos is the god of time, and Cronos is a titan, the god of harvests and the father of Hades, Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Poseidon, Hades and Zeus. Long story short he swallowed his children but then he got killed by Zeus and locked up inside of Tartarus. It would seem that the game has combined the 2, Hades refers to him as a titan, which Chronos wasn't, and he is locked op both of which point to Cronos. But then Hades also calls him “time itself” and we hear clockwork in the background which indicates a time connection, thus drawing upon Chronos. To be fair it is fairly common to combine the 2 into one as they have very similar names and this simplifies things. Now let’s get on to the speculation.

First of all i have an idea of what the story will be. At the very end of the trailer Melinoë says “Wait for me father. I will be there soon.”, and since her father is Zeus this would seem to indicate she is trying to reach Zeus. However we can also see Melinoë tell Hecate that she will “slay the titan yet” so she is gonna try to kill Cronos. This makes me think of  2 possibilities, either Cronos has captured Zeus and Melinoë wants to save her father, or in order to leave the underworld she has to kill Cronos, possibly as a test from Hades. In the trailer Hades sounds worried while talking about Cronos, stating “Time can’t be stopped” which makes me think the first possibility is the most likely. Nemesis does say that she wished to receive “the task” from some one only referred to as she in one of the screenshots from the steam page. This would indicate the task to kill Cronos would have come from Hecate. It also indicates that both Nemesis and Melinoë are being trained by Hecate, and given that she is refereed to as Headmistress i think we can assume some sort of school setting. And for the last bit of speculation, since we have both Moros and Nemesis i think we can probably expect some expansion on the Nyx & Erebus household / family dynamic, at the very least between those two but maybe also some references to Hypnos and Thanatos.

And here are my personal wishes. First of all i really hope we get to see Hestia in this game, she is my favorite Greek deity and i think it would be cool if she was in the game, maybe giving a self-healing based boon-set. Then, since we have Apollo i really hope we get Artemis back, i really like her depiction in the first game and i would love to see how the studio handles her relationship with Apollo. I also hope we get Hypnos and Thanatos back. Hypnos is one of my fave Greek gods, and his dynamic with Thanatos in the first game was really well handled but i just want to see more of it, specifically i would like to see Thanatos not being a complete jerk to his twin brother who really deserves better. There are also some Greek heroes i would like to see. First of all there are two of Apollos former lovers of Apollo, Hyacinth and Daphne (all though in Daphnes case the word lover is really that fitting. Daphne was a nymph who didn’t want Apollos infection and turned into a tree before he could kiss her. Hyacinth was a much more willing lover of Apollo, but sadly got killed by the jealous wind god Zenyth who threw a discus at him and so Apollo turned him into a hyacinth flower. I think these two could function like Patrolcus did in the first game, the dead lovers of Apollo where Patrolcus was the lover of Achilles. Then i would love to see Jason, mainly because i want to beat the shit out of him for how he treated his wife Medea (long story, basically she carried his ass to get him the golden skin and then he decided to dump her for another princess so he could become king but promised he would still keep her as a mistress). Speaking of, given the games witch theme i would be shocked if neither Medea or Circe showed up, since they are both famous witches from Greek mythology. And at last i hope they add Odysseus, i love that clever scoundrel.

#super giant games #super giant hades #hades #hades 2 #hades 2 trailer

[animehouse-moe]

Fate Japanese Art Book Haul

So, a big old order of Fate material. But still, even with this much being added to my collection I've scratched the surface of Fate/Type-Moon material. This (alongside my other Heaven's Feel stuff) represents the majority of anime art book works, but still I'd say I'm only getting to about 50, maybe 60, percent of the anime art books currently. So yeah, still loads to go on all fronts, but good progress! Anyways, let me dive into the art books from top to bottom in the above image.

Fate/Prototype Animation Material

This one is really interesting to me. The vast majority of the art book is just the storyboards for a single 10 minute OVA. The amount of projected and potential work in this art book comfortably outweighs the information we get in the OVA, making it a super cool look into the original concepts that Nasu had for the Stay Night route.

Of course, the book has more than just storyboards to it, as it starts off with character and prop design pages in full color. Super cool to see so I sort of wish they included more extraneous production aspects alongside it, but I won't really complain given how much material there already is, and the fact that I got it for dirt cheap (a little over 5CAD at auction).

Fate/Zero Openings and Endings Key Animations

Another sorta extra purchase, but for how much it was (10.50CAD and it's Hardcover), I wasn't going to pass it up in the moment. Have to fill out that roster somehow, right? Anyways, it's a relatively small art book, just a bit bigger in trim than the Prototype one, but it's really cool to have the openings and endings in keyframe format. Lots of pretty stuff in there.

There is a proper item set for this though. It originally comes in a box with a pair of extra material books including storyboards for the openings and endings. The whole set itself is a bit of a challenge to find at times, but the individual items are very abundant, so I'll probably be picking them up in the next haul or two if I can find them for cheap. Or maybe I'll double dip and get the box if I can, it does seem pretty cool (also comes with bonus full sheets from the OPs/EDs).

Image from this art book blog, which you should definitely check out

Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works First Season Key Animations

This was really cool. I'm a big cheapskate (despite how much I buy), so I was incredibly happy to have won the auction for this pair of books at only around 20CAD each. What's not cool, but rather confusing, is how different the second season key animations set is. It's a colored and metallic dust jacket. Very weird, right? Anyways, it's super cool fate stuff and the key animation is as incredible as you might expect.

Fate/Stay Night Heaven's Feel AD Correction Collection Volumes 1 & 2

I feel like a fraud, only having things for Heaven's Feel 1&2, but Spring Song stuff is so expensive. I could get the first two storyboard collections for both Heaven's Feel and Unlimited Blade Works for less than I can typically find the Spring Songs Key Animations for. It's so rough. Anyways, these are a collection of the correction done by the Art Director for Heaven's Feel. You could say it already overlaps with the Keyframe Collections of their namesakes, but I think it's interesting to see the changes and overall process of the work.

Fate/Zero Key Animations Collection

I really appreciate that Zero kept the dust jackets consistent for itself. UBW Season 2 really is just the odd one out of Ufotable's Fate collection. Regardless, it's pretty much the same story as the UBW keyframe collections, plenty of cool and very pretty keyframe art that provides a window into the production and work of Ufotable on the series.

Fate/Grand Order Trailer's Trail Volume 1

Now hear me out, I don't play FGO, but I do enjoy the quality of the trailers, and when an A4 book comprised of over 400 pages of key animation is 10CAD it's hard to look the other way. In general though, it's pretty cool, and well organized into chapters so you don't get pieces mixed up with each other. Definitely worth it for any fans of the game, or just like some really well animated Fate stuff.

Ufotable 15th Anniversary Exhibition Pictorial Record

This was a pretty cool pickup. Special art stuff for studios as a whole isn't something that greatly interests me, but Ufotable is definitely a studio I'd be interested in having a history of, even if I'm not a fan of everything they work on. Overall it's a very pretty and well constructed hardcover art book, with a nice helping of works from all across their years (which they did an excellent job of selecting the best moments from).

And that about does it with this haul. As you can tell, there's a lot here, but also a great deal that I'm still missing. The more you come to understand and have, the deeper the abyss seems to grow. At the end of the day though, it's incredible fun and something I've grown to be incredibly passionate about. There's so much history to all of these art books, so many memories and so much passion behind it all. Having a record of all of my favorite series and titles and animators just feels right. I'm able to be in control of what I remember of them and it's a really great feeling.

#fate artbook #kinoko nasu #type moon #fate/stay night #fate/zero #heaven's feel #unlimited blade works #ufotable #fate/grand order #fate series #fate #anime art book #art book #animation

[onethousandrbirds]

hey! sorry to ask, i'm just curious but i cannot figure it out — what is the one that's suspiciously missing from those bad kink posts? (i tried looking at the notes for clues but lasted about a second before being taken out by the people asking this random person on the internet what kind of sex they're allowed to have. i feel like i'd need... idk a psychology degree to even begin to understand how someone gets there.)

oh, no big. i wrote both of my posts to be both playfully obtuse—you were never going to find clues in the notes b/c i don't think anyone there noticed the same thing i did. also this might be a bit long, so feel free to skip down to the TLDR; under the cut

so in both linked posts that i was responding to the overall thesis is "being pro-kink doesn't mean loving all of them but it does mean recognizing that what consenting adults do together is neither a moral failing or any of your business" and they mention some controversial kinks (ageplay, cnc, incest shipping, fauxcest, petplay, somnophilia, intoxication kinks, and much more¹) as an example of this idea.

because they name kinks that people often find themselves having intense feelings about re: their morality and their ethical performance, i noticed within these lists a lack (technically a lot of lacks since it would be impossible to list off every controversial kink in existence, but that's neither here nor there in this moment). but for example, in posts that gesture towards this overall idea of "pro-kink" or "neutral support of kink" often seem incapable of recognizing that kinks based on bigotry—race play for instance (this will serve as my main example for the rest of this response)—exist as well.

and my observation that i was originally talking around was that perhaps kinks like that one can't be brought up alongside the others (regardless of the baggage they all may carry) because maybe the OP really does think that one is a unique brand of evil or because their knowledge of kink is pretty limited and thus their own perspective of their idea might be limited or because they recognize that to even broach that topic with something that degree of abject would get a theoretical reader to stop listening entirely. but who knows for sure though?

like, that particular kink does make me VERY uncomfortable (for obvious reasons, i hope) and so whenever i see posts like the two linked here that gesture broadly to "scary" kink being okay but somehow never seem to mention ones like this, i get suspicious. and that's not a ding on either of these posts i'm responding to! instead it's me doing a meta thought experiment of sorts. like the posts are right: if you are "pro-kink and pro-weird nasty gay sex" then you do have to accept that there's gonna be something in that classification you will find abject but your disgust doesn't define the morality of those acts. however! it's pretty easy to remember that in the face of kinks that maybe only exist as abstract ideas and that you may have only dealt with in the theoretical space rather than ones that may (or may seem) to effect you on a material level!

which brings me back to the absence of mentioning certain "bad" kinks. i've been in school studying literary analysis for the past 12 years of my life. one of the earliest things they teach you to do is "observe what a text is saying, but also what it is (or can)not." and so when i see posts like the two linked above i can't help but find it interesting (in a completely neutral sense, i swear) when i notice these recurring absences. i also can't help but speculate about them either, but speculation requires active thought which i might not always have the wherewithal for.

(and to digress re: the weird discussion you noticed in the notes: that just sounds like people cosmically missing the point to avoid thinking about the matter at hand.)

so tldr; there isn't a "one" actually. i was just observing that, even in a laissez faire approach to kink, something has to still remain unspeakable or unmentioned—especially when communicating to groups of people who might stop listening entirely if one takes the laissez fair perspective to its logical conclusion in an explicit manner or if one feels that perspective might require them to "accept/like/tolerate" things which may be pretty dang close to sources of harm in their everyday life.

i hope this all made sense/helped

¹ the "and much more" in this post technically covers the wide swath of even more unforgivable/unspeakable kinks but notice: still it cannot/does not/will not name drop them specifically and instead rhetorically relies on you, the reader, to fill in that blank for it

#medium post? #sometimes i talk back #friendly talk with gray faces #if it wasn't helpful we can talk about it more one on one later