#I don't mind showing it but I do want to strike a balance for those who are more squeamish

[bonefall]

Briarlights death makes sense to me. As much as I love her character, the movement technology you’ve come up with wouldn’t be enough to keep her alive in a society where her nether regions are constantly exposed to the outdoors. She would get UTIs and kidney infections very quickly, which would be fatal when you can’t feel pain. My partner has to use catheters to avoid them (he is paralyzed in the same spot Briarlight would be.)

I think it’s disingenuous to have a character that’s paralyzed but have no other health problems or concerns regarding it, even if it’s uncomfortable to think about for some readers. It’s just as ableist to minimize the additional struggles she’d face as it is to kill her off unnecessarily.

Not accusing you of ableism, but expressing my concern. They’d need to find a way for her to poop and pee in a way that’s sanitary and a way to combat infections long term - even if the thought is “gross” to some people it’s the reality she’d have to live with. She should, at the very least, remain immunocompromised.

That is a valid concern. I will keep this in mind-- I'll make sure to note her immediately being cleared out of camp at the first sign of sniffles to avoid it. My cats can do some very minor building and there are now several cats on Jayfeather's Garden Patrol, it wouldn't be too much of a problem to make that area into a comfortable "satellite camp".

I do want to add though that my most important guiding principle is a stronger narrative which includes better portrayals of disabled characters, not perfect rugged woodsman realism. The medicine I add and the guides I write are in the hopes of better representing the lives of the real-life people who see themselves in the fantasy battle cats.

Realism does factor into that of course! But it goes out the door the minute it would smash up against a disabled character's inclusion. This is a series for human beings like your partner; as close to it as I can get by bending the setting when needed.

For example, Epilepsy

Epilepsy was deadly before modern medicine. Full stop. The herbs I created for that guide would not save someone like Shadowsight, whose convulsions are at extreme risk of turning into Status Epilepticus. It would help manage, but Shadowsight's life would have been very brief.

All the chamomile in the world wouldn't replace phenobarbital... or even the older medications, barbituates. Barbituates have been replaced and good riddance, but it's important to understand that even this drug known for causing EXTREME lethargy and horrible side effects was revolutionary. It saved countless lives.

But I'm not here to write a story for the real-life horror that is epilepsy in a pre-modern society. I'm here for the parent who personally thanked me for making their daughter feel less alone.

Evil spirits attacking the living! God knocking over trees! Attacking a bulldozer! That all happens; there's no reason they can't help Briarlight too!!

But I'll make sure to include her being immunocompromised. And I'll include ways they handle that. Just like I included a cat engineer who made a blanket sled.

So... suggestion accepted! I will keep this in mind.

Briarlight's Canon Death

...I will maintain though that the canonical death of Briarlight was one of the worst, most short-sighted, cruelest decisions that has ever been made in this series.

Because ultimately Briarlight is not a real person. She is a writing choice. She is a character based on Vicky's paralyzed cousin, "Dan," and Briarlight was directly modeled on Dan's personality and recovery.

What did the new writing team do, the minute they were writing a series without Vicky? Killed Briarlight to fucking greencough. For shock points. Narrative moves right on back to the MAIN conflict-- Alderheart having feelings for Velvet and Jayfeather enforcing the vow of chastity. ShadowClan officially falls apart in the background lol

It was never about realism, or realistic portrayal of disability.

This series doesn't care about realism when cats have bloody Freddy Kruger deaths in their sleep, or when shadow goo starts eating cat hell, or when lightning strikes Shadowsight. But they suddenly care about how realistic it is that the only paralyzed character survives greencough?? No! Of course not!

In the middle of the CONSTANT "Ohh she's finally in heaven where she can run and jump and not have a disabled life"? And the infamous Squirrelflight's Hope line, "You don't want to be alive again, Squirrelflight! You might become disabled like BRIARLIGHT"

(WHICH BTW THEY STILL HAVE NOT REMOVED DESPITE PROMISING IT YEARS AGO)

I absolutely do not believe for a second that they had a realistic portrayal of an immunocompromised cat in mind when they did it! Hell, screw it. I'll just say it outright;

I firmly believe that the new writing team killed Briarlight because they did not want to deal with her.

I flatly refuse to give them charity towards this choice. At NO POINT did they earn a speck of good faith. They continued every negative trend that was set up by the previous writers (including Vicky herself tbf), and went a step further by killing her to "we need to get rid of some randos" disease.

Not only that; but the Clan dynamics were NEVER the same after her death, because there was no character who could replace her personality. In this cast of cardboard cats, they plucked out one of the few optimists with a clear, unique perspective, not shared by ANYONE else.

My ire wouldn't JUST be because they happened to kill a disabled character in the way they did (though that is frustrating on its own imo). It's because it was Briarlight.

I hope every writer involved with the decision to kill Briarlight in the "Nothing is Happening! Quick! Kill Someone!" book of AVoS chokes on it. I will DIE on this hill and my blood will never wash out of the grass.

#I've been getting a surprising amount of interest in the idea of portraying some of the 'grosser' aspects of disability #and illness in general while we're at it #I don't mind showing it but I do want to strike a balance for those who are more squeamish #Maybe I'll make follow-up guides when I tackle certain disabilities where it's relevant? #Maybe I can save the very sensitive things for the post-cut of a post? #My posts would get a lot longer though and I notice people are less likely to spread and share very long posts #Abelism #Disability #Briarlight #Bonefall Rewrite #Warrior Cats Analysis #I hope the part on realism makes sense #Realism to me is for fun and as a means to an end #Not THE point of what I do #I am an opponent of the sorts of people who say ''Oh there can't be [minority] in this because Realism'' #Yeah well there CAN be two of my fingers in ur eye NERD #Not that I'm accusing you of that either anon dsgffd #Just explaining my own feelings too you get me? #You clearly have a person in your life you care immensely about and want a good portrayal!! #I will try my hardest to give you that

[writers-potion]

Don't Fear Criticism

Creating homosexual characters can feel like planting an active grenade in the middle of your story. You start to fear bad reception of your work - even before you start!

But really, there is no need to worry. The fact that you're concerned only proves that you care.

You probably won't get it the first time.

You probably will get some criticism.

Only remember that it's perfectly normal to make mistakes. After you punch out your draft, have beta readers who are part of the community and incorporate their feedback.

No Diversity Shopping

Yes, diversity is important, but it's no checklist where you need to list all possible sexual orientations and have at least one character for each.

First of all, it would be quite impossible.

Second, that is likely to make all of them underdeveloped and stereotypical.

Check if you really need the character in your plot.

If they turn out to be homosexual, let them run their own course and shape their path. If your story's theme is related to the character's sexuality, think about the message you want to convey.

Quality over quantity, always.

Go Beyond Sexuality

Your characters exist, and they happen to be homosexual, not the other way around. This doesn't mean that it won't be an important, or that you should downplay their sexuality.

Strike a balance by showing readers their hobbies, interests, likes and dislikes, relationships with their family and friends, etc. The more holistic they are, readers are going to be convinced that you have an actual character, not a scarecrow holding up the #diversity tag.

How do their sexuality play into their broader narrative?

Develop a Backstory

Every homosexual character must have thought about their orientation and identity, with a process of how they came to recognize their sexuality.

Whether you're character is a confused teenage girl, or a middle-aged gentleman with a stable relationship, think about what brought them here.

Backstories don't have to be tragic. They can have supportive parents and find escapism in online communities who accept them for who they are.

There isn't just one "gay life". Get creative.

Normalization is Important

Sometimes, your story world will not accept homosexual people as normal. That's okay!

However, there is a difference between other character treating them unfairly and you as an author normalizing homophobia in your narrative.

Word choice and tone would play a key role.

When a likeable character is homophobic, avoid normalizing it by making it a flaw. Show that your conservative medieval village is narrow-minded when they treat them as outcasts.

Homophobes may not necessarily be the evil guys.

It's enough to state (clearly) that it's wrong.

Make Use of Tropes

Stereotypes aren't just an issue with gay characters, but when used successfully, have created wonderful retellings and spinoffs that are refreshing.

You can purposefully overplay stereotypes to show how silly they are. Deconstructing stereotypes can add humor to your narrative.

You can also use them to explore the expectations that readers have for those kinds of characters. The Gay Best Friend might be a trope, but you can get them to go deeper than the typical sidekick to realize their true potential as a cast member.

Religion and Homosexuality

In the real world, religion and homosexuality are often presented on far opposites of politics, and that makes me sad. Homosexual characters are free to be religious, find peace, support and mindfulness through any religion of their choice.

Vise versa, deeply religious characters can have wonderful relationships with homosexual characters.

It all comes down to how your characters interpret religion and homosexuality in light of those religious values. Though I'm an atheist, I believe all religions have the ability to embrace diversity at their core.

If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! 📸

#writer #writers #creative writing #writing #writing community #writers of tumblr #creative writers #writing inspiration #writeblr #writing tips #writers corner #writers community #poets and writers #writing advice #writing resources #writers on tumblr #writers and poets #helping writers #writing help #writing tips and tricks #how to write #writing life #let's write #resources for writers #references for writers

[underdark-dreams]

*please* give me Dammon-Rolan-Tav Poly HCs, I am begging you

Turns out I have a LOT of thoughts about this omg. Thank you so much for sending this ask, I might need to write something longer for these three 💘

Rolan/Dammon/Tav: Poly Headcanons

(Tav is gender-neutral)

SFW:

Without fail Dammon would be the one to wake up early and make you two breakfast. Hums a happy tune as he balances plates of scrambled eggs into the bedroom

Gives you both a sweet kiss good morning, the same way he does every day

Meanwhile Rolan grumbles something into the soft flesh of your thigh. Very much not a morning wizard

They are both very proud of their respective skills and love getting to share them with you in different ways

Dammon is used to hammering away for hours alone in his forge, but he’d be lying if he said it didn’t get a bit lonely

Would be delighted to find you and Rolan lingering to spend time with him and watch his work

The clang of tools and the roaring fire aren't always conducive to conversation, but it just makes him happy to look up now and then and see you reading or relaxing nearby

If you asked for any kind of lesson, he would be excited almost to the point of giddy. Info dumping a little as he settles you comfortably against his front facing the anvil

Strong arms wrapping around you from behind, his hands gripping over yours to guide the strike of the hammer

When he's between commissions, Dammon likes to tinker and experiment with novel ideas. He's got an inventor's mind. Often shows new things to you and Rolan first to get your opinions

Makes those little metal puzzles where you have to figure out how to untangle the rings and distributes them among the Tieflings kids

Rolan is the same way with his arcane studies, loves if you ever want to be part of them. He genuinely enjoys answering any questions you might have about magic or the Weave

He can come across overly self-assured (read: arrogant), but something about nerding out over magic makes his face softer and more youthful as he gets lost in his own enthusiasm. It’s adorable

Rolan loves when you play helpless damsel with little things even when he knows you're exaggerating. Enjoys seeing you struggle and give him puppy eyes and ask for the big powerful wizard to help you out with his spells. Honestly it gives him a semi

Watches you with a loving smirk. "Let me take care of it, dearest"

When it comes to physical affection: Dammon gives you the open devotion and adoration of a golden retriever. Doesn't matter who is around, he will hold your waist and plant a kiss on your lips natural as anything. Husband behavior

Rolan is much more subdued with PDA (his siblings still tease him mercilessly and they always will) but also kinda gets off on the chance to be sneaky about it. Not above cornering you to make out when no one is around

Likes to play the game of riling you up when he knows you have somewhere to be. It goes both ways of course, he’s embarrassingly affected by your kisses and caresses

NSFW:

Dammon tends to be a very generous and giving top to both of you

Rolan much more of a switch, depends a lot on his mood any given day. Rolan topping Dammon is a rare but absolutely glorious experience to be part of

Rolan is always the one to get impatient and jealous during sex, especially when Dammon is taking up too much of you for too long

"Hurry up," he mumbles while sucking at the skin of your neck, but Dammon ignores him, his mouth steadfastly doing the Lord's work between your legs. He’s fond of the brat but not about to rush your pleasure over it. Besides, he can think of a few better ways to shut Rolan up

They don't always agree on much until the first time they sandwich you between them. It’s a revelation for both men to find they enjoy your body even more together

Dammon whispers into your ear what a good boy/girl you are as you lean back against his chest, while Rolan enjoys kissing down your body with zero urgency

Rolan hides his pointed ears behind his hair because he's embarrassed by how sensitive they are

Dammon catches on instantly (it's a Tief thing) and pays extra attention to them during foreplay, licking and sucking on the tips until Rolan is groaning and squirming under him

Dammon's build might look more slender at first glance, but he's got a wiry strength that Rolan lacks. Can easily throw either of you around in bed, though he's sometimes too much of a gentleman. Could be talked into it once you’ve got him worked up though. He’s strong enough to hold you both exactly where he wants to for as long as he needs

Dammon's arms are solid as the steel he forges. Cords of muscle under his shoulders and forearms, prominent veins that run down through his hands

And his hands are firm and wonderfully calloused, so anything he does with his fingers, you're going to feel super clearly 

Rolan's hands are surprisingly strong as well, but it's like the strength of a pianist or artist. Soft to the touch but wielding a lot of dexterity and precision. It makes his teasing deadly effective, because he has perfect control over the pressure and the pace, and he knows it

Rolan is 1000% the dirtier talker

He’s definitely the type to take full advantage of the situation while you’re giving him head and you can’t respond. Teasing and running a commentary about how lovely your mouth looks taking his cock

It’s also partly to distract himself and prolong the experience because watching your mouth on him really, REALLY does it for Rolan

If Dammon gets chatty it’s going to be showering sweet compliments on either or both of you; he definitely has a kink for giving praise, it heightens the sensations in his own mind

You can watch it turn Rolan from cocky to moaning and submissive in under a minute

#rolan x tav #dammon x tav #rolan x dammon #dammon bg3 #rolan bg3 #bg3 dammon #bg3 rolan #bg3 headcanons

[kabie-whump]

How about another request, if you're up for it? 👀

Whumpee being kidnapped and used as bait for Caretaker. The kicker? Whumpee thinks it's not gonna work, since they and Caretaker got into a big argument before Whumpee was taken, to which Whumper reassures/taunts that Caretaker will come for Whumpee no matter what.

Then, to Whumpee's surprise and horror, Caretaker did come... and fell right into Whumper's trap trying to free Whumpee. 😈

-- @whumperofworlds

Of course pookie! :3 I'm just gonna continue what I wrote for u last time if u don't mind <3 (Just ignore the part where I said Ventis shows up on his own after a week lol)

Definitely ended up way longer than I intended teehee

Content: kidnapping, stress position + bondage, used as bait, child neglect mention, drug addiction + forced relapse, choking, blood, force feeding (not w food though cause ew)

~~~

Ventis takes stock of his condition. A cloth blindfold stretches across his eyes. His shoulders ache; unsurprising considering his hands are tied with a chain that stretches above him, forcing him to stand on his tip-toes to avoid putting too much pressure on his joints. Being unconscious in this position has probably fucked them up already. He much prefers when kidnappers tie him to chairs or leave him lying on the floor.

The next thing Ventis checks for is his magic. Sometimes he gets lucky and his kidnappers will forget to do anything to suppress it. Others will rely on the old-fashioned gag + blindfold + thoroughly bound hands method. And then there was his least favorite: anti-magic enchantments.

He's blindfolded but not gagged. That leaves two options. There's only one way to find out which situation he has found himself in.

Ventis steels himself, then tries to summon a simple lightning spell. As soon as the first draconic word leaves his mouth, pain shoots from the cuffs through his whole body. He cries out and his knees buckle, putting agonizing pressure on his shoulders until he recovers and goes back to balancing on his toes.

Definitely enchanted. Shit.

"Oh, you're awake." It's a woman's voice, coming from somewhere off to his left.

Ventis gasps for air as he takes note of the way her voice echoes. It sounds like they're inside, and it's far cooler than any building should be in the heat wave the city's been experiencing. He's either been taken somewhere very far away, or he's in a basement. Hopefully the latter.

"If it is ransom you seek, you took the wrong Riinturuth. Father will not pay for me."

Ventis has said those words so many times now that he wonders if there's some list of kidnappable nobles somewhere that he needs to get his name removed from. Just because he's the first son does not mean he's the favorite.

"Oh, I know. Don't worry. That's not what this is about."

That's... odd. "What do you mean?"

"Simple. You're going to help me capture the Ventura boy."

Onthyes. Fuck.

That's the thing about having an important father and being close with someone who also has an important father. Double the kidnapping risk. This scenario has only happened once before, and Onthyes appeared in no time and easily overpowered Ventis's captors.

It was kind of hot, if Ventis is being honest.

But that's not going to happen this time. Not after the argument they'd just had. Especially since Ventis had stated very clearly that he didn't want Onthyes protecting him from everything all the time. Oops.

"I will do no such thing."

"But you're already doing it." The woman's voice is just in front of him now. Ventis flinches away from her. "He knows where you are, and when he comes for you he'll be all mine."

"He will not come for me," Ventis assures her. "This is a waste of your time and mine."

Ventis yelps as an open hand strikes his cheek.

"Don't lie," the woman hisses. "I've been watching him. He's protective of you to a fault. He'll come."

"I did not- '' Ventis's words are cut off by a strong hand gripping his throat, making him squeak and choke, barely able to keep his weight on his toes. Claws prick at the delicate skin.

"He'll come," she says again. "And when he does I'm going to make you watch as I tear open his throat."

"No," Ventis chokes out. "Please. Don't hurt him."

The clawed hand releases its hold and Ventis gasps and coughs. His legs shake from the effort to stay up on his toes.

"Here, open your mouth. This'll make you shut up."

Something is pressed to Ventis's lips and he recognizes it immediately by the smooth texture and faintly sweet smell alone. Nightspill. The very same drug he had just fought to free himself from.

He seals his lips tightly, trying to turn his head away despite the urge to open up and accept his return to the blissful numbness the pill offered. He had worked so hard to get sober. Onthyes and Shayah had worked so hard to help him. He can't go back now.

The woman growls, "Stop being difficult," and digs her claws into Ventis's side. He can't help but scream, and she pushes the pill into his mouth and then covers it with her other hand so he can't spit it out. "Swallow," she demands.

Ventis sobs and shakes his head, trying to twist away from her but only succeeding at making his shoulders burn unbearably from the pull of the chains. She digs her claws deeper and pulls, slicing slowly through his skin.

The blindfold soaks up Ventis's tears as he continues to scream and sob and struggle while still doing everything in his power to resist the urge to swallow. The taste is familiar on his tongue. It's so tempting - it would definitely help to dull the pain he's in.

That one stray thought is all it takes. Ventis swallows before he even realizes what he's doing.

The claws retreat from is side and he can feel hot blood streaming down from the wound. The woman pries his teeth apart, searching his mouth with metallic tasting fingers to make sure the pill is really gone. Ventis tries to bite, but he's too slow and winds up snapping his jaw on nothing.

"There." Ventis's captor sounds entirely unbothered as she steps away. "Maybe that will help you calm down."

Ventis feels panic waking up somewhere deep in his stomach and struggling to fight its way to the surface, but it dies out before his heart rate can even begin to pick up. He's left feeling fuzzy and peaceful and devastated all at the same time.

"Now all we have to do is wait."

They wait for a long time. Ventis's legs shake uncontrollably. His hands go cold and tingly and then numb. The nightspill wants nothing more than to lull him to sleep but every time he starts to doze off he loses concentration on standing on his toes and a blinding pain in his shoulders rips him back to consciousness.

Onthyes isn't coming. Ventis wonders how long it'll take for his captor to realize that and just kill him.

Then- "Let him go!"

Ventis jolts. "Onthyes?" He croaks. That absolute idiot. Does he not know a setup when he sees one? "What are you doing? Get out of here!"

Armor clunks loudly as Onthyes runs up to him. A gloved hand touches his cheek, then pulls off the blindfold.

Ventis blinks spots out of his vision, everything slowly coming into focus as Onthyes fusses over him. "Run," he insists weakly. "Please."

Onthyes ignores him, his brow furrowed as he examines the chains. "I need to find the key. Hang in there."

An involuntary laugh bubbles out of Ventis. "Hah, hang? That is all I can do, my friend."

Onthyes just sighs and shakes his head as he turns away.

That's when Ventis's captor strikes. She emerges from a shadowy corner and pounces on Onthyes, all sharp claws and jagged teeth that barely fit behind her red lips.

Onthyes yelps and staggers backwards as she clings to his back, her claws searching for any holes in his armor. After finding nothing she turns her attention to pulling his hair so hard his head hits a nearby stone wall and he falls to one knee.

Pounding footfalls, followed by a battlecry and the appearance of a hulking half-orc woman - Shayah. "I told you to fucking wait for me," she yells as she rips Onthyes's attacker from his back and throws her across the room. She hits the opposite wall hard and goes still.

Onthyes rushes over to Ventis as Shayah retrieves the key to the cuffs. She barely has to reach to unlock them.

Even nightspill can't dull the pain that follows as Ventis finally lowers his arms and lands on flat feet for the first time in hours.

Sensation rushes back into his limbs and he screams. Onthyes is there to catch him when his knees buckle, holding him and whispering something along the lines of, "It's okay. You're okay. I've got you. I'm so sorry. Just breathe. You're okay."

When the pain finally recedes some Ventis is left gasping and trembling. He lets Onthyes lower him to the floor, too exhausted to support his own weight anymore. Shayah begins to check him over, using some scraps of fabric to stem the bleeding from the claw marks in his side.

She makes eye contact with Ventis, then pauses, a look of concern crossing her face. "Are you on something?" she asks softly, cupping his cheek.

Ventis gives a tired nod. "Nightspill. I'm sorry," he sobs. "I-I didn't want to. She made me."

"Shit," Shayah and Onthyes mutter at the same time.

"I'm sorry," Ventis repeats. "I tried. I really tried."

Onthyes brushes Ventis's hair from his sweaty forehead. "It's alright. We're not upset with you. We'll take care of you."

Onthyes's kind words don't help, not when the echoes of their argument from last night still haunt Ventis. "I-I thought you wouldn't come. After last night-"

"Last night's not important. I'll always come for you. Always. I..." Onthyes looks away, shaking his head. "I should've walked with you. I'm so sorry."

"Alright, boys." Shayah claps her hands, getting both of their attention. "You can wallow in guilt and pretend not to be in love with each other later. Let's get out of here."

"Right." Onthyes takes Ventis into his arms carefully and lifts him up, and Ventis finally nods off with his head lolling against Onthyes's shoulder.

~~~

Next Part

Ventisposting taglist: @scp-1296 @sapphicccici @acer-gaysimpstuff @morning-star-whump @yeetmyskeet @rainydaywhump

@unicornbeck @whumperofworlds

#whump #whump community #whump tropes #whump writing #whumpblr #whump scenario #whumpee #whump ideas #nonhuman whumpee #nonhuman whumper #tw kidnapping #stress position #drug whump #tw drugs #fantasy whump #whumpee x caretaker #ventisposting #ventis

[anneangel]

Ok, every time I watch 'The Great Mouse Detective' my mind clings to this.

Okay, there's nostalgia in this, my childhood and such. But that's not all, there's something 'magnetic' about the character Basil (Sherlock), which I can see why Dawson (Watson) is so impressed on Basil's presence. Basil is so energetic that he should come with a warning on his forehead: "danger 440 Volts".

This little mousie called Basil is incredible and unbearable at the same time, he is so full of energy that watching him act and talk makes me lose weight just by looking at him. Lmao. The fact is, Basil is very agitated and hyperactive.

And he's smart in a way that seems mad, especially when he gets an idea in his head and no one is going to stop him from following through. Basil can be harsh and full of himself at times, but he also redeems himself, as he can regret his bad actions seconds later when he realizes he hurt someone's feelings.

He wants interesting and vibrant cases like himself, like his mind is, that's what he likes. But he also hides too well that he knows how to care about people, when he should. Some empathy is in him, although he acts like a hyperactive machine of reasoning and action most of the time, who cannot remember client names or have no time for sentimentality. Lmao.

He is focused and proactive when his mind is working and everything is going as he wants. And at the same time Basil is a complete Drama Queen when things don't go as he plans. Changing mood so abruptly, from extreme vigor and energy to depression and anguish, that he is insanely exaggerated in 'Holmes' mode. Is fun to me.

Basil of Baker Street completely steals all the show, being a brilliant and charismatic protagonist

There is almost no space for Dawson (Watson), whose personality can go unnoticed and those who casually watch it may think that he is just the "fool and comic relief", the movie and fans are so focused on Basil, that we almost don't see how Dawson has so much empathy inside him, and a giant gentle, sympathetic and kind heart.

Dawson is balanced and calm and brings a good counterpoint to Basil's personality. Dawson is so naive, he seems silly in comparison to Basil. But don't be so easily fooled, Dawson can also be direct and angry and put Basil in the right direction, be it with questions, or by grumbling and bothering about how stupid the detective is being, or act sadness about something harsh, said by Basil, and its making the detective regret and be more 'condescending' instantly.

Dawson has the patience of a saint, an (half) limitless peace in relation to Basil, possibly Dawson is the only mouse who can be in the presence of the mouse detective without being overwhelmed by all of Basil's striking personality. Dawson colludes with Basil, without really being swallowed by him, knowing how to impose himself when he must.

Dawson makes a perfect pair for Basil, and yet it's barely noticeable, because he's there humbly adjusting Basil to good, but ignores his own participation, giving all the credit to Basil, adoring the 'amazing' Basil. When in fact Dawson also had a lot to do with the case and its good outcome. But Dawson doesn't care and is fine with making Basil proud as the star of the Show and giving him all the credit, and Dawson really thinks Basil deserves it all.

Basil and Dawson definitely manage to convey the Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson 'vibe' very well, so much so that for me this movie is a good adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes and John Watson universe.

Extra:

1) the 'case', although it is a Disney children's plot, is charming enough and brings good drama, from the beginning with the kidnapping scene to the end with the Big Ben scenes, the case has charismatic characters with whom we import (Olivia and Flaversham) and the film is full of references to the Canonical Sherlock Holmes books and others adaptations, to everyone's delight.

2) Ratigan (Moriarty), madness and dangerous he can be, beneath all the fancy pomp and satin. He kills a drunken accomplice for calling him 'Rat' (in other words, the truth). He tortures his most loyal henchman, Fidget, with his pet torture device (the cat). And he's so falsely polite when he's both blatantly cruel and mad. He is a villain with a lot of charisma, as well as scary

3) The movie soundtrack is so good. I love it from the 'main title', to the 'end title-credits' (Goodbye So Soon).

#the great mouse detective #basil of baker street #disney #sherlock holmes #john h watson #moriaty #sherlock holmes adaptations

[dukeofriven]

To Ravel-Out The Weaved-Up Follies: The Decline and Fall of Homestuck^2

[I first started this essay a few months ago during a strange, brief resurgence of Homestuck^2 discussion that vanished almost as quickly as it began. Because my brain is A Wretchedly Uncooperative Thing this essay has stayed in draft form, being picked at, until—naturally—Homestuck^2 surprised us all by relaunching with a completely new team at its head. I’ve decided to push myself to publish this anyway, because I still think the core of my thesis is correct. So, keeping in mind that this leaves the starting gate slightly later than I would have wished (not knowing I was in a race), let us commence.]

___________________________________________________

“A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct. -Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965 “Once upon a time there was a Boojum——" the Professor began, but stopped suddenly. "I forget the rest of the Fable," he said. "And there was a lesson to be learned from it. I'm afraid I forget that, too." -Lewis Carroll, Sylvie and Bruno Concluded, 1893

Several posts about Homestuck^2 have started to crop-up… adjacent to my dash. I'm not attaching myself to those posts because it seems rude, but their points are largely an attempt at revisionism of the fate of Homestuck^2. Understand I'm not using the term ‘revisionist’ pejoratively: it is common, even sensible for artists to look back at failed projects and try to pick up the pieces and derive some value from them. I’ve done it myself, many times. Nobody likes to say "I entirely wasted my time, my passion, and my creative energy for [X] days, months, years.” It is important to look at a failure and see what you did right, treasure the parts that were worth treasuring.

But equally I don't want to go too far in rehabilitating what was, undeniably, a failure. There's a lot of critical theory being brought-up, a lot of talk of Homestuck^2 from a standpoint of post-modernism, or post-post-modernism, trying to engage with what Homestuck^2 was as a platform for ideas. A habitus, if you’ll forgive the jargon, what Bourdieu famously called (in a Hussie-like masterwork of language) “the structured structures predisposed to function as structuring structures.”

I get it. I get what the Homestuck^2 team was trying to do intellectually: where their minds were at, the hostility they faced, the vitriol they were harmed by. I get it.

But that's not why Homestuck^2 failed. Homestuck^2 did not fail because it dreamed too big, or was too intellectual. It did not fail because its themes were not worth exploring, or because its lens was too meta: for most of its original run, after all, Homestuck is nothing but an interrogation of Homestuck. Its brains were not why Homestuck^2 failed. The problem was its execution. The problem was its heart.

There's a lot to be said about not giving fans what they think they want. The internet drowns in coffee shop AUs where everything interesting about a franchise's characters has been vulgarly ripped from the text, leaving a drama-less, tension-less pablum where everything is stagnant and unchanging, everyone gets along, all the romances are cute and smooth, and you can burrow in the comforting ooze of artistic and narrative death. Give fans exactly what they want and frequently nothing creatively meaningful will result. Fandoms famously resisted both The Empire Strikes Back and The Wrath of Khan when they first released because they pushed characters to change, and yet they grew to be beloved as fans realized that what they thought they wanted and what it turned out they could enjoy were not as alike s they assumed. There's nothing wrong with showing fans that there can be more to a story that just doing the same thing over again, retrenching into the pablum wastelands of growth-free comfort fics.

But when asking whether Homestuck^2 did or did not gave fans what they wanted or needed, we must first raise an important establishing question: which fans? That is to say: who was its intended audience? Who was Homestuck^2 written for?

At its peak, Homestuck Classic had millions of readers and a million page-hits a day. There was a whole contingent of fandom who came only for the trolls (in some baffling cases actually skipping the first four acts of the story to jump right to into Act 5). There was another contingent who loved the video game parody, there were Problem Sleuth junkies, and in the early acts there were the suggestion box obsessives: all of these were readers who were fans of parts of the story but largely stopped reading Homestuck as the story got more concerned with the complex nature of stories and narrative itself. Homestuck^2 is clearly not for them—as indeed Homestuck Classic itself had not 'been' for them for much of its run. Homestuck^2 is also not for new readers: if you haven't read the Homestuck Epilogues through at least twice, if you don't remember all its major plot points and the plot points of Homestuck Classic, it makes no attempt to onboard you and is, probably in-arguably, outright impenetrable to those not already in the know. It’s not impossible—there were SBaHJ fans who onboarded with the first context-free SBaHJ and went ‘yeah, I can vibe with this’ and never knew or cared that it was a reference work for something else— but it doesn’t seem likely that many people ‘jumped on’ the Homestuck train with Homestuck^2. I think Homestuck^2’s writers would agree that Homestuck^2 expected you to know the lay of the land. So: nobody new was likely going to read Homestuck^2, and (given its density of Homestuck call-backs) neither was it for more casual Homestuck fans. Homestuck^2 was not even for the truly otiose Andrew Hussie diehards: Hussie was only tangentially involved in the project, they weren't writing it, and there's seemingly no references at all to Barty's Brew-Ha-Ha or Inappropriate Time for Ham, so that's a full seventeen readers it also likely turned off (sorry, comrades. One day…)

So who, then, was Homestuck^2 for? Its intended readers seemed to be those who read the Epilogues and loved them. This is a complicated issue: for those who weren’t there, the Epilogues were… controversial. I defended them at the time: I liked them, even admired them, partially because I believed with the fervor of a zealot that there was still something else to come. I called this final entry ‘Pumpkin.’ Homestuck, a story that always rejected binaries, surely was not meant to conclude with over-the-top Candy and/or grim, dour Meat. I knew in my heart that Pumpkin was coming, where John rejected both of these dark and crazy futures and found a third way in which his friends grew up and matured without losing themselves and their friendship: not a story without conflict, but surely the prime timeline as existed in general fandom imagination could not accept Dirk’s grotesque, manipulative suicide, breastfeeding Gamzee, brutal civil wars, and Dirk and Jane becoming so cruel and hateful. Surely that was set-up to pay-off a better future later: after all, like its author, Homestuck abhorred a binary.

But Pumpkin never came, and now I look at the Epilogues and I find lot in it (for lack of a better term) ‘edge lord showboating.’ It feels like reading 90s comics all over again, including the bits with cannibalism. A lot of bleak and miserable things happen in the narrative, and I find myself asking ‘do they happen because they should, or just because they could?’ (And how many times can one franchise treat Jade Harley like absolutely garbage?)

But if the Epilogues had a true and golden virtue, it was their framing as intrinsically being fan-fiction: Meat or Candy, this was not the 'true' continuation of the franchise (as much as that means anything), this was speculative futures, not much different from Doc Scratch’s story of the Vriska/Noir battle. A one-shot, in other terms, an elseworlds: not a definitive statement about What Homestuck Was From Now On, but an experiment in tone and structure. How far can you push Homestuck before it doesn’t feel like Homestuck any more? (Turns out not nearly as far as you might think.) A lot of people didn’t notice, however, or perhaps simply didn’t care: the Epilogues ripped the Homestuck fandom apart. Homestuck Classic often did things in bad-taste as part of its odd charm: Gamzee’s codpiece, Jack playing dress-up after slaughtering a nice couple on a date, Caliborn’s cartoonish misogyny. Some bits land, some don’t, but for fans—I think for many, if not most—the Epilogues crossed a line that they were not comfortable with.

In some quarters the Epilogues are reviled, and I honestly can not fault people who found them off-putting. They are: intentionally so, provocatively so, and it should be okay for people to be put off by them without insisting that the haters ‘just didn’t get it.’ Often they did: they ‘got it,’ they just didn’t like it. It ‘squiked them out’ as we used to say, and the writers had to have known it would: discomfort is the nature and partial purpose of provocative art.

(Sidebar: Epilogue writers, you wrote a plot-line in which 16-year old Homestuck Act 6 protagonist Jane Crocker grows-up to become a racist dictator who has a cuckolding sexual relationship with Gamzee Makarra that involves kin-play involving public breastfeeding.

Sorry Andres Serranos acolytes, that’s not going to go down super-well with the majority of people, not because they are uptight suburban prudes but because they liked Jane Crocker and felt this outcome was not grounded well in the character they knew: only the obtuse would act shocked and try and argue it was due to a lack of sophistication. You took a gamble, you took a risk, you faced the outcome. You fucked around with ICP Hitler breastfeeding cuckoldry and you found out.)

So: who was Homestuck^2 for? It was for people who had read Homestuck multiple times, had read the Epilogues multiple times, and wanted a sequel that involved those Epilogues.

That is… a small audience. A very small audience. I counted myself among them, but had no illusions that its reach was ever going to be very large. Homestuck^2 was never going to be the Second Coming of Homestuck as a sui generis cultural phenomenon: seemingly by design, it was deliberately written for an insular audience who liked a controversial and difficult interpretation of a famous story and wanted more of that interpretation. So the Homestuck^2 team wrote for them: they came to the table with big dreams and big ideas. They came to the table with lots of critical theory under their belts: they knew their Barthes and Baudrillard, they could reference queer theory and the legacy of post-structuralism, they were the sort of people who knew how to situate Homestuck in post-post-modernism and what that meant for the nature of its exploration of stories.

They had an audience, and they had a plan. They were going to give the fans what they wanted.

So after much hype and fanfare, after interviews and the Tumblr equivalent of a press-junket—which saw the new team saying how excited they were to tackle Homestuck’s legacy, how many great ideas they had, how much having a diverse team was going to see Homestuck ‘done right’—Homestuck^2 first published on the 25th of October, 2019, releasing 32 pages.

We start in the glittering majesty of space. The camera swoops in among the stars, barrelling towards a rushing spacecraft (every frame of Homestuck^2 looks great, the visual arts team's work is its unquestioned highlight). We aim at a viewport in the spacecraft’s hull and slowly the Muti-Narratively-Dimensional Ubervillian Dirk Strider comes into view. Fresh from his triumph in the Epilogues, continuing his wicked schemes, he looks right at the camera, and—speaking directly to the audience—he voices the first line of dialogue in Homestuck^2:

"Surprise, bitch."

…

There is…

…

… there is no coming from back that.

There is no saving it.

It is the 25th of October, 2019, and Homestuck^2 launches with its own death-rattle. It stumbles out of the gate like a beautiful racing pony catching its delicate hoof on the sharp, treacherous edge of an unwieldy analogy and tumbling into the indifferent soil of hard reality, shattering all four legs and immediately marking itself for teary euthanasia at the hand of the devastated young girl with the violet eyes who raised it from a foal and dreamed of making Nationals.

We have established that Homestuck^2’s potential audience was small. The people who were most likely to like it were already an insular, distinctive group who had bought-in to what much or all the Epilogues had to offer. Homestuck^2’s opening-day crowd did not need to be sold on the word of the Lord—they already believe it: they came to see their first glimpse of the promised land.

And in its very first conversation with that audience, in its very first words, Homestuck^2 makes the most spectacular miscalculation of tone since 2013's DmC: Devil May Cry—or for those of us of who remember the 90s: ‘Dirk Strider’s about to make you his bitch.’

There's nothing wrong with starting a story with a villain, there's nothing wrong with a villain being a contemptible heel to its audience, but Homestuck^2 spends its opening 32 entries—which, at over 7600 words are longer than the prologue to the Homestuck Epilogues—jumping between Dirk’s smarmy conversations with fellow characters and a monologue to the audience, pages infused with an arrogance and condescension that is downright enervating. The text is frequently dense, so dense it feels like chewing your way through a plank of wood. It is actively tiring to read: I bailed on my first attempt at reading Homestuck^2 when it originally dropped because I just did not have the energy to squint at my screen and read that much orange-on-off-white text.

It is, to be clear, contemptuous. Dirk did much the same in the Epilogues, but the locus has changed. In the Epilogues Dirk taunts the reader with the changes he is making to the story: he knows they object to his manipulations, and he preens as good villains do. But in Homestuck^2, Dirk speaks not of his changes but of the very existence of Homestuck^2 itself. He treats his audience as inherently hostile to the entire existence of the work they have just shown-up to read (or even support via a Patreon), a hostility that culminates when he ‘opens’ a suggestion box and receives the suggestion ‘Dirk: Stop Making Homestuck,’—which he at-once rejects and goes on to monologue some more.

Dirk is talking to an audience who isn’t there. He is speaking to everyone who didn’t like the Epilogues and objects to Homestuck’s 'sequel' directly following them: but that audience isn’t reading Homestuck^2. They bailed in advance, and any who did try and keep an open mind likely jumped ship the moment the comic started by calling them a bitch and implying they’re idiots. The only people likely to read past the fifth page are those who already bought-in to Homestuck^2’s plan: and they are greeted with some 32 pages and 7600 words of the comic’s villain re-litigating and justifying that plan over and over and over again to people who nominally already agreed with him.

It is draining. It is annoying. It is boring to read.

There’s so much you could critique about Homestuck^2’s choices: from Rose cheating on Kanaya to impregnate Jade to Jane Crocker going full Trump and keeping kids in cages. Equally there’s arguments to be made that Homestuck^2’s very premature cancellation inhibits any ability to judge the story fairly: like any serialized narrative stopped mid-way, we have no way of knowing what narrative payoffs were supposed to be. Decisions that seemed baffling on page 8 might prove brilliant and bold by page 8000. But we never got to page 8000, because Homestuck^2 made one crucial error:

It started by telling its audience they were fools for not being smart enough to appreciate how brilliant Homestuck^2 was going to be, and then spent a majority of some 7600 words repeating itself like the worst self-pitying incel you’ve ever had the misfortune to be trapped with at a party. If only the ungrateful could realize how smart, handsome, and well-educated I—Homestuck^2—am, the love I deserve will come flowing in. I’ll show them all.

Homestuck^2 never recovered from that first, fatal error. The rest of its choices, good and bad, are almost irrelevant in the face of that opening broadside, that hostility, that tedium. Homestuck Classic earned its walls of text and at least knew how to space them: Hometuck^2 took its audience forbearance as a given and opens with a lecture on its principles and quality like an unusually snide abstract on a sociology paper. Homestuck^2 essentially began by telling its audience to leave unless they were willing to give it carte blanche, to roll over for its brilliance from the first, to accept in advance that its intelligence and virtue were first rate. So the audience did leave and it never came back and eventually the whole thing collapsed via artist infighting that was so rancorous and possibly subsumed by NDAs that to this day no one has ever halfway adequately explained what happened at the end.

But that ending was preordained from the beginning, for the balance was hopelessly incorrect.

So to anyone trying to write a revisionist history of Homestuck^2 in which its downfall was the fault of readers who simply didn’t ‘give it a chance,’ who didn’t appreciate its themes, who couldn’t grasp (or didn’t care to grasp) its intellectual bonafides (not to mention its extraordinary self-assurance that it was going to be queer Homestuck ‘done right,’ which is a whole essay about a priori reasoning in and of itself)... in other words, a history in which Homestuck^2' downfall happened because people just didn’t ‘get it,’ I’d like to sum up my counter-argument succinctly:

People didn’t like Homestuck^2 because you wrote it bad.

[Afterwards:

There is something bitingly funny about the ‘return’ of Homestuck^2 with the announcement that, from what I can gather, seemingly every person involved with the original project was fired (or, as they’d probably insist, refused to come back). Dirk’s preening, overwhelming arrogance, that ‘Dirk: Stop Making Homestuck’ prompt, will forever haunt the original team’s unwieldy vision. “I’d bet you just looove for us not to make Homestuck anymore” the team said, with all the confidence of an entrepreneur dismissing safety regulations before climbing into his homemade submarine, and boy were lessons learned. My problem with the return, however, is that I don’t know who genuinely wants to see the story of Homestuck^2 finished: the remaining cadre of die-hard patrons who still have enough goodwill to want the promise of the story’s finale fulfilled is microscopic. I’d argue there’s more people waiting for the conclusion of Wizardy Herbert, and I’m the only person I know who has ever read it. What I mean is: as a choice to revive a struggling franchise it doesn’t make much sense, and further—if it is not clear—I don’t think this is a story worth finishing. What is to be salvaged? Jane-the-Dictator, Rose’s cheating, Obnoxious BabyVriska, Dirk Strider the monster? The problem with Homestuck^2 is that Pesterquest happened, and those who played it went ‘this—this is the kind of story we were hoping for, not your edge lord showboating.’ And we only got one Pesterquest and Homestuck^2 limped on for another year reviled, ignored, and eventually forgotten. When it died, most people didn’t have any idea, because the drama never crossed their screens: nobody was talking about it any more. As my best friend noted, give us more Paradox Space. Give us more stories with joy and some sense of fun, something not written by people who often felt like they had an ‘End of Evangelion’ style hatred of Homestuck, or at the very least took the old joke that Hussie was ‘trolling’ his audience at face value. (Writing a good story with twists, set-backs, and tragic moments is not trolling, it is just writing a good story.) Homestuck^2 never felt like it understood that: it was rude and iconoclastic for no more compelling reason than it thought that was meaningful. But then I think the legacy of Epilogues has been extremely toxic—part of the positivity towards Pesterquest was that it let the Epilogues go, featuring a triumphant moment where YoungDirk confronts his Epilogues self and goes ‘I don’t have to be a huge wanker, actually, I can stay a character people can stand and even love again.’

Do that, new team. Pesterquest is named-dropped on the new site more than once, and my dream is that its cast arrives and overthrows the corrosive toxicity of the Epilogues, banishes it to the far realm of underbaked elsewhere ‘what-ifs’ along with every DC cannibalism story and that time Peter Parker’s radioactive semen gave MJ cancer.

The Epilogues and Homestuck^2 are, at this point, not worth salvaging—but I’d happily see them formally buried.]

#homestuck #Homestuck 2 #Homestuck^2 #homestuck beyond canon #andrew hussie #dirk strider #pesterquest #homestuck team #james roach #jane crocker #rose lalonde #kanaya maryam #homestuck epilogues #Wizardy Herbert #Vriska Serket #Jade Harley #daikatana #john romero

[notafraidofredyellowandblue]

so I've heard in the past that some members of the band have hinted at not being 100% straight and richard has given hints at wanting to know what it's like to be a woman, could you please give me some sources to those since I've looked everywhere and can't really find them? thank you, if not, it's totally understandable

Another really really old ask, not because i didn't want to, but because i wanted to findas much info as possible 🌺 sorry anon for taking so long..

Well, the most recent 'hint' was Flake's podcast with topic 'gay/lesbian' where he mentioned that the topic came up one evening when the band were chatting and it turned out they all had their experiences 🥰

Rammstein is imo a band who has always been very 'inclusive' in any sexual preferences, and especially in Till's lyrics you can tell he is very interested in anything out there (not that that makes him 'not straight' (to be honest, i think he is, by some other quotes in interviews 😊) but i wouldn't be surprised if he tried some stuff somewhere in life).

Richard did an 2010 interview in Canada (don't have a link to the original, just this transcript) where he was quoted (about 'Mann gegen Mann')

"Actually, Till showed the lyrics to our Gay community, to our friends, just to make sure, because if you talk about something that you not really are, it's always kind of hard. Sometimes you cross the line, you don't think about it, but it could be offensive. If you do something because it's your experience, it's fine, but if you write something and you're not actually a part of it, I think you should make sure that everything you want to say is right. So he gave the lyrics to some friends, and they were very approving."

Which sort of confirms that they don't see themselves as gay so much. Also in interviews where they were asked 'are you gay', they usually end up with 'no'... interestingly, i don't think i've seen an interview where an interviewer explicitely asked 'are you bisexual' 🌺 (by the way, i would be really surprised if Richard hadn't some experience with a guy when he was younger, i vaguely remember he alluded to such in a really old interview, but i don't have a link).

--

Richard indeed has expressed ideas about his feminine side several times, in the interbiew above he says for instance

"If you talk to me right now, I'm a big believer in getting myself in balance between the female and the male side. I have a female side too, obviously."

And very striking was in several interviews ca 2021 after he did the cover 'Always on my mind' with Till for the Emigrate album 'The Persistence of Memory' and then made it a duet, stating:

"I mean, obviously, Till has also this very characteristic voice. And then it was pretty fast. He recorded one day. And then I was listening to it, and I felt a little bit that his performance was a little bit too male-oriented. So I felt I need a little female touch to it. So that’s why my personality came in. And I think it’s a good combination"

So he felt a female touch was needed, and added his own voice to Till's track 🥰

And ofcourse in 2023 he shared on his ig

"I've always wondered what it's like to be a woman"

Now ofcourse this could just be a Kruspe-caption 😊 but with the 'DT' video in mind and his role in it, it makes one wonder doesn't it... where is that making of when we need it 🌺😊

---

From the others i don't have quotes at hand...sorry...but maybe someone else has and is willing to share 🌺

#rammstein lgbtq matters #rammstein and the feminine side #quotes #till lindemann #richard kruspe #rammstein #flake lorenz

[meenawrites]

Seo Yul Deep Dive - Part 1

Well, since my class ended early and I have 20 min to kill, why not.

SO Seo Yul.

First off, I think he's a fantastic second male lead, specifically because he's more complex than just being a secondary love interest to bring drama to the main couple. He's not at all, in fact he's the opposite of that.

Seo Yul is everything all the adults wanted Jang Uk to be in terms of obedience, principles, and morals. He is upright with a strict moral compass, obedient to his elders, and is prone to agonizing over what the right thing to do is, especially once Naksu enters the picture.

He is the foil against which Jang Uk is being measured.

It would have been quite easy and probably acceptable to just make him one dimensional and have him be there mainly to pursue Naksu and be another obstacle in the way of our main couple, but they didn't do that AT ALL! And I'm glad they didn't. In fact, Seo Yul is one of Jang Uk's dearest friends and he cares about him a lot and vice versa continuously throughout the run of the show.

Seo Yul's love for Naksu, or lingering love from his romanticized memories of his time in Danhyangeok serve to further Seo Yul's own character development as well as highlight just why Jang Uk is actually a better romantic partner for Naksu.

The way they love her is very different. I'm not trying to discount Seo Yul's love for Naksu in any way, I think he definitely does and did love her, but he is someone who is incredibly committed to his principles and to following the rules; it's just how he's constructed himself across his life. So Naksu's very existence throws him completely off balance. On the one hand, he's so glad the girl he once loved and thought would never see again is alive. On the other hand, everything he's been taught and everything he believes in is screaming at him to kill her, that her existence as a soul shifter is not right and cannot be allowed to continue. Yet she is also giving his best friend, Jang Uk, everything he's ever wanted–she is making him HAPPY. So Seo Yul is just kind of going back and forth in his agony over what to do. He feels a great sense of responsibility because he believed he was the only one who knew her identity for a while, and he's generally relied on by the adults in his life like Park Jin and Heo Yeom to kind of be their sword and do the right thing.

Jang Uk on the other hand (as I've seen described in a post somewhere) is more loyal to people than he is to principles, whereas Seo Yul leans a bit more towards the opposite.

So for Jang Uk, he's willing to bend his morals or defy what everyone around him says is wrong out of loyalty to the people he cares about, and Naksu quickly becomes one of those people to him. Like she tells him, everyone has always wanted her dead; no one has ever actually attempted to save her. And I think that strikes deep into Jang Uk's heart and he makes a decision very early on that he will be the one to protect her, and he accepts any collateral damage that comes with it.

Where Seo Yul is sitting and agonizing over the principle of Naksu's existence, all Jang Uk is thinking is how he's going to protect her and keep her by his side. There's no question in his mind, no moral quandary about it. He is as loyal to her as he is to Seo Yul or Park Danggu, or Maidservant Kim–some of the most important people in his life.

In essence, Jang Uk is the type of male lead who would let the world burn for the person he loves while Seo Yul would be willing to make the sacrifice if it meant saving the world.

I don't know if either is necessarily better as an attitude, and I don't feel qualified to comment on that. But Jang Uk's attitude is why he is better of a romantic partner for Naksu, because she needs someone like that, to feel like someone will love her to such an extent. She's been betrayed and discarded and used so many times across her life that she needs and wants that kind of unconditional love–chosen unconditional love, I should say. Because Jang Uk CHOOSES to be loyal to her no matter what.

This stark difference between Jang Uk and Seo Yul really comes to a head in the conversation they have (can't remember the episode) that goes something like this:

Seo Yul: We have a duty to protect the world from monsters. [referencing soul shifters and citing what he's been told his whole life]

Jang Uk: But we can also protect the monsters from the world.

I'm totally paraphrasing because I don't have time to go look up the quote, but yeah.

Underlying this conversation, they're both really talking about Naksu, but I'm not sure how aware both of them are that are each referencing her.

This continues on later, once Seo Yul has kind of finally made the decision to let them be, to let Naksu be happy because he does really want that for her. He was even planning on whisking her away to Seo Fortress to protect her and to take responsibility for her which weighs heavily on his shoulders. So we know he cares about her a great deal, maybe even more than his principles, which is what puts him in such mental agony in the first place.

I'm really glad actually that Seo Yul and Naksu got to have a closure conversation near the end of Part 1 (even if it all went to shit after) because they had so much history that needed to be addressed.

This conversation was really a turning point for Yul (again before the tragedy of the last episode) because he had finally made his peace with disregarding some of his principles that have been drilled into him and that he's held onto steadfastly for so long in favor of both his friends' happiness. His loyalty to people superseded his loyalty to his principles.

But then the tragedy happens. And not only does his worst fear come true that Naksu will run wild and cause havoc upon his world, but it comes with a huge price. Danggu and Choyeon's happiness is ruined, many people are killed by her hand or injured, and worst of all, Jang Uk dies on her sword.

Just when he's finally made peace within himself, it all falls apart, and he interprets it as the world telling him that he was wrong. That he should have intervened, done something, even if that meant killing Naksu. That he should have been more pro-active. That everyone else was right, and he should have done something about the monster.

He's a very subtle but very interesting character, especially when contrasted with Jang Uk.

He puts a lot of pressure on himself (possibly an attitude adopted because of other people's expectations of him growing up as the only Seo heir but we don't really know) and tends to take on everything quietly. He loves very deeply, and you can see it in the way he interacts with all the people he considers dear to him. He's very thoughtful and considerate and is always thinking of others at his own expense. His love for Naksu and for Jang Uk only added complexity to his character, and I absolutely love him. I think he's one of the highlights of the show.

I have to go to class but I will return for my thoughts on Seo Yul in part 2.

Let me know what you guys think or if I missing anything you thought was important!

#Alchemy of Souls #alchemy of souls spoilers #tvn alchemy of souls #kdrama thoughts #Seo Yul #Jang Uk #Naksu #Alchemy of Souls part 1 #hwang minhyun #Character thoughts #AOS rambles #Meena's thoughts #Meena's posts

[cyle]

Hi Cyle, I hope you're well. In regards to recent news about tumblr's redesign, I'd like to bring into light a topic that I haven't really seen being mentioned explicitly, but that is very close to my heart.

The via chain. Being able to click on the previous reblog. Then the reblog before that. Even if they're empty reblogs. Is that all staying? Is the mechanics behind reblogs staying? Just an interface redesign?

The via chain is the single most unique and important thing on Tumblr for me. I hope and pray there will always be up to 3 usernames attached to a reblog, even if the reblog is displaying just the source content with all empty reblogs. 3 usernames goes as follows:

1. the current blog which the reblog is on (depending on which reblog you're viewing, even if it's an empty reblog)

2. The via (the blog that this particular post was reblogged from. This is not always the source, this is usually another blog which reblogs other posts and reblogs. This is likely to again have the via different to the source, but the via and source will be the same if this blog reblogged the post directly from the source blog)

3. The source (the blog which originally posted the post. This post will just have one username attached to it)

The via chain is sorta like a better way of doing are.na's list of channels (collections) under every block (post). Tumblr does it better with the via chain as this shows you which blogs are interesting to the current blog you're browsing through. It gives a much better sense of community for curators of Tumblr content who just want to collect stuff and don't have anything to say, so it's just an empty reblog.

Allow me to illustrate: blog A is getting this post from blog B's reblog, so I go to blog B and I browse that, and I see that blog B is getting another post from blog C's reblog. And I just keep going forever. I can't browse like this on any other site and I pray and hope it stays like this on Tumblr, because it makes this place truly enriching as a browsing experience.

I feel like a true internet adventurer, I'm going places I'd never dreamt of before in my life, and I'm able to get to the exact blogs that are important for communities, because those are the blogs that people are reblogging from - not always just the source blog. Thank you for reading.

personally i like this whole thing as well, what you are describing here, so please keep that in mind as i answer this. it's very close to my heart as well. i have spent countless hours thinking about this stuff, as a part of my job these days and months and years.

we are going to experiment with changing basically all of this behavior you describe. at least on web, you can no longer go to the parent post, the "via" (2), you describe here. instead, now you go to the blog, not the specific post. i think that change is now already also out in the Android app, and it's coming soon to the iOS app. that's one change among many changes we're going to try out and see what happens.

we're experimenting with these changes because they happen to be very common points of confusion and friction for people trying to use tumblr for the first time. so we're trying to strike a very difficult balance between keeping tumblr unique in the way the interface is laid out and preserving behavior everybody already on tumblr is used to, while acknowledging that there may be a better way to do it for a larger audience of people who we know just don't "get it" and end up leaving tumblr pretty quickly for that reason.

that's really really hard to do, and we're gonna get it wrong, but at least we're trying, because we need tumblr to be easier to use for more people.

all that having been said, an important part of the changes we're going to experiment with will hopefully provide new, alternative paths to do exactly what you describe at the end -- "I'm able to get to the exact blogs that are important for communities" -- but through new, hopefully better ways. that's what i'm excited about, tbh. i hope we can showcase some of those new things soon on the @labs blog.

[bluebudgie]

Hello peeps!

Thought some of you might be interested in some tips and tricks for making gifs of your GW2 characters. Don't get me wrong here please, I'm by no means the be-and-end-all of gif-making, but maybe a handful of you might enjoy this? I do at least have experience with throwing myself in front of chak for hours. You decide if that's good or bad.

This is how I personally proceed and maybe some of you have better ways to do it! Feel free to share your own advice here :D

Let's get started! ･°˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°.

Choosing a location

So you chose a victim and have a neat little idea of what you wanna show. Now all you have to do is find a fitting location. Here's some things to consider:

How's the ambient lighting? Rotate your newly found top model at your location of choice to make sure the light hits from the best angle. Keep day and night cycles in mind. Some places also simply have bad light for your character; in that case try to think of a similar location that might look more flattering.

How busy is the background? You probably want your character to pop out, so the choice of scene is important especially if you don't have access to 3rd party depth-of-field filters. Keep in mind that moving background elements might look distracting.

If there are enemies around, can you get rid of them reliably or will they keep interrupting you? Are there safe spots to stand in outside of enemy range? Most enemies really don't hate you as much as you think. Unless you're in the Crystal Desert.

Strike a pose!

The basics:

Play around with the camera sliders in your options. Having your character big in the frame goes a long way! The vertical, horizontal and zoom sliders are your best friends.

Remember the UI doesn't have to be visible for you to type emotes in chat. Just to be safe from (public chat) typos though, I like to type the command with the UI turned on, then hide the UI, and then once I've adjusted the camera hit enter to play the emote. This is especially useful if you're trying to pose around enemies and don't have the time to frantically type things in chat.

Some tips for posing:

Rotating the camera while in first person mode rotates your entire character. This way you can turn around without having to redo your /emote all the time. This is especially useful if you use persistent emotes that last an infinite amount of time (as opposed to emotes that play an animation once and then return your character back to the default idle).

Similarly, zooming into first person mode and zooming back out will (client-side only) display your weapons and back piece. Those usually get hidden during emote animations.

If you swap weapons via keybind mid weapon idle animation, the animation will usually keep playing despite not fitting your newly swapped in weapon. This will often look silly, but can sometimes get you some cool poses too. Try out some combinations!

The technical side

So you're a master at staging the perfect shot, how do you get all of this into a neat little moving image?

To capture your gameplay, any recording software of your choice works. Windows 10 should by default come with the ability to record your game (press the Windows key + G to bring up the overlay; you can change keybinds for active and retroactive video recording & other things in the settings).

Once you've made your video file, the tricky part begins. It's kind of difficult to write a definite guide for this since programs and methods for making gifs vary so much. Different programs might compress your file differently, giving you different results in terms of file size and quality. Personally I've been using an ancient student version of Photoshop CS6 since the dawn of time, and it took some trial and error to figure out a good balance between quality and size.

About posting on tumblr:

tumblr currently allows a file size of 10MB max per gif (you can have several <10MB files per post).

The tumblr dashboard displays images at a width of 540px, so make this your gif's absolute minimum width if you want to ensure a crisp image.

Now for some subjective observations based on my experiences with how I create gifs. ! Important ! This is how my particular version of Photoshop handles sizes. You might get completely different results using any other software that compresses files differently.

Getting a good balance between image dimensions, quality and length of animation is hard if you're limited to a maximum file size of 10MB.

Your file size will depend on: The amount of frames your animation is using, the amount of colours, how much movement there is, and of course the dimensions of your image. Editing your image in terms of colours, saturation, contrast etc. can also impact the file size (it can go both ways).

Using a video recorded at 60 fps I can usually squeeze about (give or take) 3 seconds of animation into the gif before it gets too large (given a – by my standards – decent image quality). Take this into consideration when you pick your poses.

Things you can do to reduce file size, other than the two obvious solutions of simply making your animation shorter or image dimensions smaller:

Lower the amount of dither. This has a huge impact on file size in my experience. If you have many transparent effects (e.g. smoke, fog) or use strong depth-of-field filters in your image it will look bad if you go too low.

Limit the colour palette when you export your gif. Highly dependent on the scene, sometimes you can get away with reducing your colours by half, sometimes it will look atrocious.

In the end I don't think there's one formula that works for every situation. It really depends on what you're showing, so mix and match different methods to try and get the best compromise between quality and size!

And that's all I can think of right now! I hope that maybe one of these points could help someone :D

#long post #budgie plays gw2 #gif

[i-heart-hxh]

Hi! Your recent posts about Zoldycks got me thinking about something I was already mulling over, and stirred even more thoughts, sorry if my ramblings will get too much into headcanoning territory 🙏

I was thinking about the differences in Zoldyck children's personalities, and how much of is innate and how much is a result of conditioning.

Of course, it might just happen that Killua is naturally more rebellious than his siblings, but the way Silva treats him makes me wonder. Sure, Silva's very manipulative, but he does allow Killua to go out in the world, something that could potentially only strengthen his individualistic personality (and we see how Kikyo really doesn't like the idea of Killua in the wild). The needle prevents him from dangerous fights and fully protecting his friend(s), but it doesn't stop him from meeting new people, gaining new experiences.

Illumi says an assassin should be without passion and fire, focused only on the job, and it may be true... about what he was taught. I don't consider Illumi as a fully reliable source, especially with later evidences that he himself isn't the most stable person, but he's good at presenting himself as this emotionless perfect assassin.

So what I'm seeing there: Zoldyck children, other than Killua, are meant to be, for the lack of a better word, "employees". They're here to listen to orders, and just do their job without much thought. Both Illumi and Kalluto clearly conform to this idea, they don't show much emotion and treat the family as the priority. I feel like Milluki is kinda deemed as a failure, but even he takes the supporting role as a family "tech guy".

Meanwhile, Killua is meant to be the head of the family, The Leader. And what leader is passionless and obedient? It wouldn't make sense to completely break Killua's character, as his strong will could actually be the positive trait in that context. I think his training was more focused on shaping him in the "right" direction, eradicating his compassion, but keeping some of his individuality, and that's why he's so different from his siblings.

Hello!

This is a great bit of insight and well-worded--I agree with what you're saying here, and I have very similar lines of thought around what makes Killua a good candidate for leading the Zoldyck family and what disqualifies the other siblings, as well as what exactly the family is trying to foster in Killua.

I do definitely think that they want Killua to have some ability to think independently and make his own decisions (qualities of a good leader), which very well might be an aspect of why Silva allowed him to leave--along with Silva's confidence that the needle would do its job and bring him back sooner or later (and most likely disillusioned with friendship by then), of course. Killua having a mind of his own also might be part of why he was chosen as the heir in the first place--it may be an aspect of his "potential," though of course the specific way his individuality manifests is a problem for them. They're certainly trying to break him of his compassion and desire for friendship because those are the opposite of useful skills for an assassin, but I suspect they're trying to preserve his ability to lead the family and carefully consider options presented to him, so from their perspective it's a delicate balance they're trying to strike in how they raise and encourage him.

This is part of why I believe his upbringing must have involved a combination of being treated "well" (as usual, by Zoldyck standards) and being chastised and punished for the parts of him they consider unacceptable. Too much of being treated "well" and he wouldn't bend to what they want, but too much punishment might break his spirit in a way that's not desirable to them, so there must have been a constant back-and-forth on how to treat him in order for him to come out how they've envisioned. You see this tug-of-war in the Zoldyck arc with the different ways Zeno, Silva, and Kikyo behave with regards to Killua, and we even see some bickering about which is the "right" way to treat him--with Zeno having a somewhat hands-off approach and letting him free from being punished (being "soft" on him), Silva letting Killua go and having faith that he'll come back (via a devious set-up with the needle and blood vow), and Kikyo trying to keep Killua locked up where she has full control of him and his development.

I brought this up in a previous post, but I could see the training going too far with Illumi, and it's part of what leads to him being the way he is, both with regards to his instability and his extreme prioritization of the family.

I also agree that the other siblings come across as obedient, loyal to the family, and not possessing much independent will. Like you said, it's interesting to think about how much of their personalities are nature vs nurture. Under the extreme situations they're exposed to, the way they've been raised and treated must play a big role, though. I wonder at what point it's determined if a child is a candidate for being the heir or not, because that must majorly affect their treatment growing up.

Anyway, thanks for the thoughtful submission!

#hxh #hunter x hunter #killua #zoldyck family #asks #your-favourite-plague #my posts #long post #meta

[thestalwartheart]

A distraction! I've been wanting to start watching the Slow Horses TV adaptation and I'm posing this question to you since I know you enjoy it, is there anything to keep in mind as someone who has no prior exposure to it? (I know there are books but I haven't read any of them)

Hello!

The short answer:

I went in unprepared aside from knowing Gary Oldman was in it, and I had a blast. In general, I think if you like the world (and fanfic) of Bond you'll like Slow Horses a lot. It shows the full spectrum of working for a secret government service: the darkness, the lightness, the paperwork, the intensity and the idiocy. If you like found family dynamics, you'll love it. In many ways, it is the anti-James Bond franchise, but that's why I enjoyed it. Everyone is so dumb. They're doing their worst. It's fantastic.

Longer answer under the cut!

I'm not sure if you're asking about trigger/content warnings, but I will mention a few under the cut. As with Bond, there are some less savoury parts to the series, but on balance, I think something like London Spy is way more intense and hard to watch. Slow Horses is partly silly romp, and partly an unexpectedly moving action show.

The fatphobia (which really bothered me in the books for how rampant and unexpected it was) isn't nearly as bad in the TV show. But Gary Oldman's character is a bit of a visual gag, especially at the start (he's a lazy, washed up bastard - that's his whole thing).

There is some entertainment of white flag operations and conspiracy theories in S1. I think the show strikes the balance well when it comes to portraying those things tbh, but I know it is a point of criticism sometimes.

The only other thing I'd keep in mind is that during the first season, some of the more violent scenes are very intense. There are one or two pretty bloody/gnarly scenes, both of which involve an axe, but IMO it's not protracted beyond what the viewer needs to see to understand the story. I don't know how spoilery you want me to get, so I'll leave it there for now and if you have any other questions, just ask!

#ask box #slow horses

[drealovesxenomorphs]

Robot and Monster Appreciation Post because I said so...

For an upcoming project that I'm working on, I *had* to rewatch Robot and Monster, and I have too many feelings in my heart and too many thoughts in my head to function, so this is a bigass love letter to one of the most underrated Nicktoons shows.

[TL;DR: the show is funny, give it a chance.] Before I get into the meat of it all, I want to say that the show features a lot of physical humor (characters being crushed and blown up etc etc) as well as dry humor and japes. I like both nuance and point-and-laugh humor so this was made for me (or I was made for it), though I do want to warn you, the first 5/7 episodes are very corny, just like any other beginning to a cartoon. I do ask that you give the show a chance despite those moments, the lore doesn't get too deep until later in the series so it's all pretty straightforward if you don't pay close attention to the beginning episodes.

Anyway, I wanna talk about the characters now 'cause I love 'em to death.

💜MONSTER:

-Monster is my favorite because. The best.

-Whether explicitly stated or not, Monster is a himbo. Sweet towards others-literally everybody loves this big lug,-buddy gets hugs by complete strangers and so much love and and more hugs; though not too much, Monster is shown to be fairly strong and physically inclined; and we know Monster ain't that smart.... but that does lead me to my next part, and a personal headcannon that I feel very strongly about.

-OH MY GOODNES OKAY so we know that Monster's character is meant to be the dumb sweet dude that completely contrasts Robot and provided character balance and all that, but I swear man, the guy is just leading everyone on with that idea. So, when Robot messes up on an invention (which happens often,) Monster will try to say something supportive that ends up being a blunder that insults Robot, and we just chalk that up to it being nothing more than a blunder. I BELIEVE WITH MY WHOLE HEART that Monster is actually very cunning and witty and will get occasionally angry at Robot that this dude will actually use the misconception of his intelligence to strike Robot right in the heart. Monster is just too good at bullishitting that nobody can tell the insult was meant to happen. Good lord ❤‍🔥

-Gardener. Understands that love helps grow plants. Too good for this world.

-Has a security blanket from childhood. You're telling me this grown-ass adult STILL has the heart and understanding of sentimental value to hold onto a comfort item regardless of societal pressure to suck it up and forgo childlike tendencies? A whole character.

🧡Robot

-Robot strives to be a great inventor, wants the fame and all that, but I'll be honest with you, only Monster sees the best in Robot's abilities, and there is nothing more relatable than a character who has the entire universe against them.

-If there was ever one thing that bothered me about the inventing, it was the fact that this dude was making MACHINES. Would this classify as regular handcrafting that we humans do, or is Robot actually creating children? If Monster could bring the organic bacon tree to life, you cannot tell me that Robot Default was not creating fetuses of the mechanical variety. And this is where I burden you with a headcannon: I think that this is based on Robot's own upbringing: Robot wants to put all of the attention and love into the little machines and projects because this guy won't let his ruined and near-loveless childhood get in the way of a healthy and happy future generation. Wants to heal the inner child while making sure the newest generation gets all the love and support they need. Anyways great character 🙏

-Sorry, the inventing this has me hooked to an unreasonable degree... does this mean Robot has a huge understanding in mechanical biology, or does Robot just understand how things are made? Look, this show was built on the bases of wanting to incorporate all the fun ideas that come to mind without giving any rhyme and reason, and I truly think that this is beneficial to the imaginations and mental stimulation of young'uns. But regardless, if that's the case, Robot would probably be regarded as a medicinal herbalist in our society (or maybe a chiropractor.)

-Arch-rivals with another scientist named Lucy, and this dude cannot catch a break on civilians that hate him. However, these meetings show us the depths of Robot's morality, and in the end (though pushed to do the right thing by Monster,) the well-being of another person is always chosen. Lawful-evil critter :D

-Already established that the Defaults are horrible to the baby of the family, but guess who Robot works for? That's right, Robot and Monster work for the Default Family Business, and I am near POSITIVE that they only receive minimum wage.

-Robot takes a lot of damage, and I assume if the heart is still beating in his chest, then everything is A-okay. Love a character that can take fall damage like a bug 💕

-Oh yeah, and despite the ego and sarcasm, Robot could have ended up being a snob and stuck-up just like the rest of the fam, but tries not to be. Robot keeps it real 99%, and I can respect that.

-One last thing that probably goes against all the good things I just talked about, I'm pretty sure that when Robot couldn't seem to make Monster feel happy again, he was literally going to kill a dude. Robot was going to make Perry disappear so Monster could be happy again. I shouldn't be this happy about the situation, but Robot's a true homie omg.

🤍Ogo

-Mentioning this Mofo at all will either be the catalyst to get you to watch the show, or deter you from it. Regardless, I am giving you the straight up facts, and if you think you won't like this kind of character, then I promise you won't. However, if you appreciate a little spice in a cartoon, then Ogo's got PLENTY to offer.

-Mega ultra horrible creep. Neighbor that knows everything about Robot and Monster. Slimy. You could consider him a yandere. Had the show been more popular, probably would be the fan favorite. Has that creeplord rizz.

-The first ever gaslight gatekeep girlboss. This SOB is manipulative. Will keep the darkest of secrets. But radiates the purest of girlboss energy. I can't explain it. It's just Ogo.

-Apparently accidentally leaves stains on their stuff, you know, when Ogo is breaking and entering into their home. What kind of stains is never mentioned, but even Ogo thinks it's gross.

-Has a dream journal filled with trips and delusions. I actually ache to be able to read what this dementoid's head can create.

-Speaking of delusions, this girlboss also invented the word delulu. Again, can't explain how.

-Knows how many bumps are on Robot and Monster's tongues. This show molded me into what I am today, send help and watch the show.

🩷❤JD + Spitfire

-Look, this show made 2 great, badass female characters. That's all. But, I was debating on whether to make their own separate lines, but you can't separate these two... I mean they tried to in an episode so you understand why I can't do it now. They are a team.

-Biker girlies. They beat up gangs and keep the streets safe at night. Fight dudes bigger than them and win. Wonderful.

-I love that they were able to make JD have everything going for her, but also have flaws as well. I mean, she's extremely strong, she's very pretty, she's got a sweet personality, and she's academically gifted. However, she's also a slob and doesn't really read people's emotions all that well. I don't know, I just feel like that's a great character.

-Spitfire is the complete foil to JD (and vice-versa, of course.) Spitfire is grounded and down-to-earth, cynical towards life and people, organized and calculating, and uncaring about the norm and societal standards. Seriously, sarcastic and badass. That's a great character.

-Despite their differences, they still have the same level of calmness. They work together so well from a fundamental standpoint. Dynamics similar to Robot and Monster, just... different vibe.

-JD has a very feminine air about her, and Spitfire has a very butch air about her. They very much level each other out.

🤖👾Final note💕🌚

-I would not be surprised if they have explored each other's bodies/hj. Very nonchalant as well.

-No lie, I don't know how to describe Robot and Monster's dynamic. "-And they were roommates." If you watch the Christmas episode, it seems like they were trying to make a nicktoon-friendly family splitting up a non-hetero situationship [which, hey, they find happiness with each other, wouldn't be surprised.]

-The show is weird, funny, sweet, comforting, the best. It is what it is, and for better or for worse, it will always hold a special place in the core of my soul.

#sorry I have problems #this will not be the last time I talk about them like this #I like their big dumb faces #robot and monster #my headcanons #i'm just speaking nonsense #long post #appreciation post #thank you for coming to my ted-talk

[atlasofthestaars]

i love love love this timeline's raiden i want to hold him in my hands like 🤲 and the little moment reader and him have at the end of chapter 4 was so cute oh my word 😭😭😭 "Yes please!" DO YOU HEAR ME CRYING 😭😭😭😭 ++ a question if you dont mind!! which of the characters (either ones you have written already or havent yet) would you say was the hardest to get a grasp on, personality wise? i deeply admire your dedication to writing a series following the story mode!

Same! I've always been a fan of Raiden, but this variation of Raiden has a VERY special place in my heart. I'm glad you enjoyed that part! I wanted to end it on a cute and light note :D

Hopefully within the next few chapters I can continue to provide more of those cute moments!

Oh and for your question, you gave me an opportunity to rant on characters for my FAVORITE series, so I will take this opportunity.

Also! I finally figured out how to put the keep reading link, so hopefully now I can prevent my page from being such a scroll LMAO

I have a lot of different reasons and feelings why the characters I find "difficult" are difficult, so I'll be splitting them into tiers/groups so you can kinda get a grasp on my mindset, tiers are ordered from "easy hard" to "hardest"

Also I'm JUST talking about MK1 characters in this post.

VILLAINS

On the BASE level I think the villains are actually pretty easy to write for. Aside from Shang Tsung and Rain who I am NOT including in this tier, I find that most of the villains are kindaaa one note. General Shao seeks power and seeks to elevate his position (actually, on second thought this isn't the BEST way to describe him, but I feel like I can write dialogue for him no issue), Bi-Han wants power and is kind of an asshole (sorry! but it's a good way to describe how he talks towards others) Quan-Chi, etc. etc. they all kinda fall under the "want one thing and are willing to do anything to get it with varying degrees of assholishness. And then there's Reiko who feels like the slight exception to that rule but his gimmick is General Shao and fighting. So why do I have a tier for them for hard to grasp personalities?

It's trying to figure out how to flesh out these characters without making them too far off from their original characters. It's not TOO hard, but I do think a lot on how to add depth in a believable way.

I'M IN JUST MY HEAD

This tier is like, I understand them, but I feel like I ALWAYS need to double check with their intros to make sure that I am getting them right, and when I do I just find oh. Nevermind I'm right.

Scorpion - I do NOT know why I struggle with Kuai Liang in this timeline, but I do! I just think for some reason I write him weird or don't quite understand how to write him, but every time I double check I'm like, yeah no that works.

Johnny Cage - He confuses me for NO reason at all, and I think it's because of how in every game his attitude is SLIGHTLY different every time in storymode/intros. In MK9 he's full comedic relief. In MKX/11 they tone him down a bit, but in 11 his younger self is more akin to his 9 self. I would say 1 is a good balance of comedy and and seriousness, but I always want to make sure I'm striking that balance.

Kung Lao - I don't know WHY I doubt myself so much on him. He is legitimately my favorite character, and that's probably it. I trust that I know him, but I worry that I might flanderize him despite how much I adore him. I think this is just me putting a lot of pressure on myself to get him so right so I can show you all why I personally love him.

NOT A LOT OF EXPERIENCE

While I've finished the MK1 story and watched a lot of intros, I've not dedicated a lot of time to these characters and looking too much into them.

Tanya - I like her! I just haven't gotten around to looking too much into her. I get the basics of her character, but I don't quite get the nuance of her yet. She also mostly sticks around the princesses in story mode too so her personality doesn't get to shine too much there either.

Havik - I haven't looked too much on him, and it doesn't help that the story mode doesn't do much with him (probably due to the credits scene), so I don't really know much! I know about his whole archanist schtick for the freedom of his people, his self heal, etc. but I don't really know much about him outside of that.

Sindel - I like her as well, it's just that she keeps on changing in every iteration so this has me all jumbled up. I know she's a strong, firm leader who cares about her daughters and isn't afraid to do what she must for her people, but I don't really know why I don't feel confident. I feel like I don't quite understand all of her motivations as deeply as I should to call myself "confident", and I don't have a clear grasp on how she would treat those she isn't too familiar with but cordial with vs those she knows better, and even though that may not seem too important, it is to me since I don't know how to quite write a proper interaction between her and the reader yet.

VILLAINS PART TWO

Here I place the more complex villains.

Shang Tsung - He's sly, sneaky, cunning, etc. But he's a bit more than that I feel. He looks out mostly for himself and tries to gain power by putting others down, and I feel like despite me dabbling in villain characters, I'm a bit afraid that I won't know how to write the nuances that make his character more than just a simple snake and into an iconic character.

Rain - Okay. Lowkey I did NOT care for Rain before until this game. I didn't care for the descendant of Argus schtick before, so having him in this game as an ambitious mage with a character arc that goes from greeding for unlocking more of his power to a man who regrets those he hurts really interested me. I just wish that WHOLE arc was in the story mode and that most of that story wasn't locked behind his story. So the issue with him is that I feel like he never got much time in the story to show how he acts before he was revealed as a character, he was kinda just there. And we don't really get to know how he acts before because I feel like a good chunk of his intros talk about the aftermath of his crimes and how he feels afterwards. So basically, I know how to write him after the tragedy, but not clear on how to flesh his arc out since he was sidelined so much.

COMPLEX TO ME

I just feel like these characters always make me question if I'm writing them right, both in actions and in dialogue

Kenshi - Everytime I think of him his MKX variation pops up instead. I know he's more of a serious character in 1, but I know there's definitely more there. I just feel like I always need to refer to all the material I can for Kenshi because I get SO worried that I'll butcher him badly and I do NOT want that because I think he's a cool character. He's a character I struggle to write for at the moment, and I hope to improve on that.

Reptile - I feel like most times people brush him off as just a "good man" but I feel like there's more to him than that? And I cannot describe him well. I know he's a good guy at heart but that's all I feel like I can describe him as despite watching a good chunk of his intros. I don't know, I feel like I'm just ALSO worried about butchering him.

HARDEST

Smoke.

THIS MAN. Okay, so I feel like he is the one I fear flanderizing the MOST. I feel like I already wrote him kinda off character in the two lines I wrote for him. I feel like a lot of people simply write him off as a golden retriever, which I personally disagree with. BUT, I can see why people misinterpret this. I only get that vibe when he's with Johnny Cage since he seems to really look up and almost idolize the dude due to his acting career. Aside from that, I think he's a more down to earth person who is really respectful. He's a bit more lighthearted and can be an optimist at times, and even has a more playful and I feel like people take this aspect way too far. I don't think it's helped by the fact that he is contrasted by more edgier and serious characters like Bi-Han and Kuai Liang. I could go on and on about Smoke, but yeah. I think I understand him and can put him into words, but I feel like putting all those concepts into paper is just...a struggle for me.

[ambrossart]

I was wondering how you created Víctor Criss so well? ,

especially their way of being and their personality because I feel that there is more information about Patrick and Henry, data about their family and dialogues that show at a glance what they are like. In addition, those two are very striking characters that steal all the attention and make them stand out. easily due to its peculiarities.

On the other hand, there are not many things about Victor and during the movie Victor and Belch are one of the characters that are least shown, but it is true that in the novel there were very interesting descriptive fragments about him that left you a lot to reflect on how during the rock fight, so I was wondering that with the brief information about him, how you have done to decide what Victor would be like, I don't know how to explain it but Henry and Patricio are so canon and yet Victor is not, I have read several fanfics in the This character comes out and changes so drastically in each of them in every way, he is a shy and lovable boy or he is a bad boy among other things and on the other hand your character is the perfect balance so I was wondering how you have done to Being able to decide what traits characterize him as a character, what things Victor would do and what he wouldn't do, what scares him or not, what things he would say and what he wouldn't,

I feel that it is

A great character is as if you had filled in the blank spaces as if you had finished writing it completely, it is as if he were a drawing whose sketch is in black and white and you have given it color, you are great 😊

I actually love that there's so little info about Vic because it gave me a lot of flexibility while developing his character. And that’s why I’m so happy that he’s been received as well as he has. I worked very hard on my interpretation of him.

Honestly, the rock fight in the novel is what completely sold me on Victor and made me love him as a character. He didn't want to be there. He didn't have any emotional investment in that fight. But since he was stuck there, he figured he might as well do some damage. I love that, and I tried to keep that scene in mind while shaping his character.

With Paper Men, Vic's character developed organically chapter by chapter. I've said this many times before, but I wasn't intending for him to be a major character, and I was really struggling to find roles for both him and Reggie because, as you said, there's so little information about them. With Reggie, I decided to have him be Henry's closest friend (because that made the most sense to me), but I had no idea what to do with Vic. Initially, he was just supposed to be a classmate of Evelyn's, but then I became randomly obsessed with the image of Evelyn smacking him in the back of the head (like she does in Ch. 4) and I decided to run with it. I thought, okay, maybe they're not just classmates; maybe they're childhood friends, but that was too simple, so I thought, okay, maybe they were friends but they haven't spoken to each other in a while, and now they're slowly starting to rekindle their friendship. From there, I started to explore the reasons why they weren't friends anymore, and that eventually led to Jimmy. And I think once I had Jimmy figured out, I had a pretty clear idea of who I wanted Vic to be in this story.

And so the introverted, guilt-ridden, self-loathing, stoner was born! 😂

In the novel, Vic appears to be more intelligent than the other members of the gang, so I wanted him to be good at school but not necessarily the academic type. Vic is naturally very smart, but he's also unmotivated and afraid of failure, so he doesn't try very hard to challenge himself academically. If he doesn't strive for success, then there's no risk of disappointing anyone... including himself.

In the movie, Vic hardly has any lines, so I knew I wanted him to be the quiet type, but I didn't want him to be just another shy boy because that doesn't fit the Bowers Gang. That's a little too cute. Instead, I wanted to approach it more like Vic is an introvert who gets extremely exhausted talking to people, especially stupid people like he encounters every day at school. Socializing is a serious challenge for him, but he doesn’t want people to know he struggles with it. Vic would rather be seen as a moody, aloof asshole than someone who’s socially awkward or anxious in any way (because that would make him a target for bullying; he learned this at a young age). I have no idea why I made him a stoner, but it seemed to fit, and once again, I just ran with it. He self-medicates with weed and occasionally alcohol to dull himself and ease his anxiety. Makes sense, doesn't it?

I’m sorry, I never know how to answer these questions. I feel like Vic was a happy accident. I started off with a few random traits and just kept building off those chapter by chapter. That's pretty much what I do with everyone, which is why all the characters tend to get more complex as the story goes on. It's like peeling an onion.

Okay, I'm rambling. I'll stop now.

#answered asks #thanks for the ask! #bowers gang #victor criss #vic criss #it stephen king #it 2017 #it fanfiction #paper men #ambrossart

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

Breaking down the comics: A little Brutal

Moon Knight, Issue #16: Shadows of the Moon. 

Ben Grimm (The Thing) shows up in this one!

This one is more Marc centric and I don't mind. 

We start with Moon Knight high up on a building construction site confronting a man that used to work for Bushman. 

"What is a former hired killer for that scum Bushman doing skulking around a construction site at dusk? [...] What does concern me is how you returned illegally to the United States...I want to know why--Now!" 

Marc Spector, you are one to talk. I'm fairly certain Marc is more than a few watch lists for more than a few countries. 

"It's impossible! Everyone who nows me is out of the country or...or..." 

"Or they're dead!" 

Moon Knight again puts the fear of ghosts on his foe as he gives chase. 

The man tries to shoot at him but Moon Knight evades easily. 

He knocks the gun away with a crescent dart. 

"Sharp! Don't reach back! You'll lose your balance!" Moon Knight calls out, but it's too late. Sharp falls back into an elevator shaft and plummets to his death. 

A crowd gathers around the fallen man and they all see Moon Knight leave the scene. 

He's having a rough time with cops and murder lately. 

Marc sits with Frenchie. They discuss how they've been tracking down the Bushman's old henchmen. 

Back on the street, we see a boy run up to his father, excited that he's finally seen The elusive Moon Knight and even gotten a picture of him. 

His father is not impressed and even more upset that his son is even there. 

His father yells at him to go home and takes away the picture, destroying it. He's no fan of 'costumed vigilantes'. 

'Detective Stephen Mills of New York homicide holds deep and strong convictions to his job and to his family. It is unfortunate that the former overshadows the latter..." 

Yeah, it's going to be one of those stories. 

Back at the boy's home, he laments that it isn't fair. He has many Moon Knight posters up on his walls. 

The dad returns home. The boy exclaims that he thinks Moon Knight could do better work than the cops could and the father lashes out. 

He rips down all the posters and destroys them. 

"If it takes drastic action to teach you respect for the law -- and your father, then drastic action it will be!

These come down -- No more hero worship of these costumed adventurers who take the law into their own hands! Hear?!" 

"And there is a rending of more than paper... A relationship is now forever torn..."

Enter the bad guys! 

We see two corporate men talking about the demise of Sharp and their plans for a nuclear bomb hidden under the construction site. 

They decide they need to hire a new guy: Blacksmith. 

In prison, Blacksmith heard about Moon Knight and became obsessed. Working out and training constantly to take a shot at fighting the hard and painful style of Moon Knight. 

"He uses great cunning, physical prowess... But most of all... Most of all the Moon Knight creates an image and countenance enhanced by awesome weapons and striking uniform..." 

Yeah, we got Moon Knight's first obsessive fan. 

Now we find ourselves back at Grant Mansion where Marc has been working out all night.

Marlene comments that Moon Knight was lucky the cops know him well and didn't think he was a murderer. 

Except for one Detective Mills, who hates him and claims to want to tear him down. 

Marc isn't worried about that. 

He gets a tip about who Sharp was working for and what he was up to. He gather's Frenchie and they take off. 

Now we see Detective Mills investigating the construction site. 

He finds a tunnel under the building that isn't supposed to be there that leads over the subway. Having figured out that Sharp was a terrorist, he explores the tunnel, wondering what he will find. 

He suddenly falls down a hole to the subway tracks below and is hit by a train. 

We go back to the home of Mills and see his son finding out that his father has died. 

"A subway car?! No! He was investigating that guy Moon Knight was after!" 

"Moon--?! Oh, my Lord, Douglas! Is that all you can think about--Even now?!" 

"But Mom--You can't believe Dad...DIED by accident! Not Dad!" 

"I don't care how he died! All I know is that he's gone and there's no way to bring him back!" 

The boy is upet and knows his father died on a mission. He runs from the house and heads out into the city. 

"I know who could help me--he Moon Knight! If only dad were alive, I'd make him see what a great Crime-Fighter he is! But how can I--Hey! Mister, take me to the Baxter Building!" 

Yeah... This is going to go well. 

We reach the Baxter building where The Thing is going out with his girlfriend. 

The kid asks Ben for help finding Moon Knight to help him continue his father's investigation. 

The Thing is upset at this. 

"The Nerve O' Some people! Moon Knight? This is FF HQ -- Check out Avengers' mansion if yer lookin' fer one o' them second raters--They all hang out over there! Cheeezee!" 

(This is hilarious on so many levels. Especially since the Avengers don't want Moon Knight, but that's later stuff further down the line). 

Ben's girlfriend is miffed at him and tells him he had no right to be so rude to the boy. 

Ben calms down and decides to help. He uses his radio and sends out a signal seeking Moon Knight. 

Frenchie hears the message and relays it to Moon Knight, who accepts and goes to investigate where Mills was killed. 

As he lands at the tunnel's entrance, he finds Blacksmith waiting for him.

He starts trying to land blows and spouting off about how it's been a long time coming. 

"I don't know you, pal. Why not let me pass and we'll get acquainted later!" 

Oh Moon Knight, such a common problem for you specifically. 

Blacksmith starts to get the upper hand, He's been practicing and studying Moon Knight's moves, after all. 

But this is a common theme that pops up in later comics by other writers. 

They can spend years studying Moon Knight's moves, tactics and fighting style... But no one can predict Moon Knight. 

No one can predict how brutal he can be, how fast, how sharp, or how totally unconcerned with his own safety he is. 

(See Task Master in some of my favorite moments as he learns this the hard way). 

"I have learned all there is to know of the Moon Knight. I know your methods. So you shall fall--For you know nothing of Blacksmith! The advantage is mine!" 

Oh sir... You are in for a bad day. 

You see, he's called Blacksmith because he walks around with a giant hammer and a superheated clamp that he uses to burn people. 

Moon Knight uses some quick moves and cuts the fuel line to the heated weapon and....

"Reverberations briefly rattle the steel structure! Moments later there is silence save for distant voices of men racing to learn the reason for the disturbance.... But, for the moment, they shall find no movement here..." 

Yeah... 

Moon Knight has moved up the building to find someone Blacksmith was sent to protect. The man was sent to activate the bomb. 

He follows the man through the tunnel, noting the hole that Mills fell through. 

And he comes across a Nuclear bomb! 

But wait! 

"You shall make no move, Knight of the Moon! As I know how you value life, even a small one, I once again hold the advantage..." 

Blacksmith! He somehow avoided the blast! And has the boy as hostage! 

Also, that's a hell of a bold claim about Moon Knight valuing life after trying to blow him up... 

Moon Knight recognizes the boy as Mills' son. 

The boy jumps onto the man that's working to activate the bomb while Moon Knight fights with Blacksmith again. 

"You're hurt worse than you thought, Blacksmith, if a boy can escape your grasp!" 

"I let him run... It is not my way to hide behind a youth! We are now weaponless. Our contest shall be decided upon skill alone..." 

"You're warped, Blacksmith... And if my efforts have spawned such as you, then Moon Knight is a curse!" 

"You are my curse as long as you live! I--" 

"You've forgotten the most important thing..You're not me!" 

Moon Knight pummels him and throws him at the man with  the detonator. 

Now look, no one ever said Moon Knight was exactly a genius. 

The man by the bomb drops the detonator he was working on and it blows up, singing everyone present. 

The man realizes that if he had connected it to the bomb, it would have gone off instantly, rather than be delayed enough for him to get away. Looks like his boss double crossed him. 

The boy yells for Moon Knight to kill them while they are down. He wants revenge for his father's death. 

"Son... Be quiet! Think about what you're saying... You're talking like them... They are betrayed, Douglas... They will testify against the men who hired them...They will face justice!" 

Blacksmith also notes that he will train harder. He swears he will never work for someone else again and only work for himself if it means he can be more like Moon Knight. 

Yeah... I'm pretty sure he never shows up in later comics again. I could be mistaken, but villains that try to BE Moon Knight usually don't do so well. 

(Overlooking current MacKay villain Zodiac, who is ultimate fan boy and actually has done his homework and knows about Moon Knight and his past.) 

Meanwhile, the boy laments that his father was wrong. That the criminals were stopped by Moon Knight an not the cops. 

Moon Knight disagrees. 

"No, Doug... Your father was probably right. Latimer will be picked up now by the police... By your father's colleagues...And by the testimony of Blacksmith and Morris, he'll be put away. No one murdered your father, but other crimes and manslaughter charges will put them all away through the system...." 

"You stopped 'em, then... They won't hurt anybody anymore, will they?"

"I can't promise that, Douglas... Because the system isn't perfect by any means... Maybe that's why I do what I do! Just to give the system a little help..." 

The boy talks about how he needs to figure out what he wants to do now too. If he will help keep the bad guys from hurting people by doing it in the system like his father, or if he needs to take work into his own hands eventually like Moon Knight. 

Moon Knight listens to him. 

"Moon Knight listens to the sound of the boy's voice... And he is gladdened. Silently he departs.. Knowing that the shadows he has cast across lives can nurture goodness as well as evil...[...] For it is a truth that if shadows are cast...There must also be light!" 

End of this issue! 

Okay, this issue has some things to consider. 

There was a lot going on and a lot that was glossed over. 

1: When comics say "Special appearance by..." and list a major marvel character, there is a good chance they won't actually be IN the story. They just kinda show up in the background and are used as a way to get people that are big fans of that character to buy that comic in hopes that they will become interested in the new comic and start purchasing that. 

I can't tell you how many random comics I've purchased because they have Moon Knight somewhere in the background. It works and I hate that it works. But here we are. 

The only time a character will actually BE in the comic is if they are splashed across the cover. Or in Moon Knight's case, appear to be fighting the title character. The man cannot make friends. 

2:. I really hate how the abuse of the kid by the father is glossed over. Ripping up things he loves and being so critical. It rubs me the wrong way. Sure, the guy died, but death does not erase abuse/trauma/harsh words/cruelty. 

3:. Moon Knight just flat out aided in the death of one man and then attempted to blow up another dude! 

When you look at it, there is a high death rate in Moon Knight comics. They have never been afraid to kill people, villains, and goons. 

We can blame Marc for this if we like. Death is just another thing that happens and it makes it easier for him not to have to think about pulling punches or using less lethal fighting styles. 

If we think of Moon Knight as being predominantly Marc, it makes sense. It's his outlet. It is where he can let go of his restraints and be as destructive as he likes. But there is also an element of Moon Knight itself that restrains him. Makes him think about his choices and makes him choose a path of less destruction and less bystander risk. 

Things he didn't get to do as a Mercenary, as he admitted in an earlier issue when he shot up a village full of the enemy as well as women and children. 

BUT. This all does come back to them later. Moon Knight is getting a reputation. 

It isn't apparent until much later (especially in Huston's era). But Moon Knight is starting to be known as someone you don't mess with because there is a high likelihood that you are going to end up dead. 

Even the Avengers will start to take notice of his tactics and high death count. 

His chickens will come home to roost. 

4: I LOVE how Moon Knight deals with the child. He listens to him. He is honest with him. He doesn't sugar coat it. He tells him flat out that the system is broken. He refuses to lie to him and promises that these people won't hurt anyone ever again. Something Captain America or others might say in passing as the bad guy is hauled off to jail. 

It all goes back to Marc's own dealing with the system as a young boy. How the system failed him over and over again. 

He isn't going to tell the boy to trust in things that might hurt him. He isn't going to promise to him and hope it doesn't fall through. All he can do is tell him the truth and hope the boy turns out for the best making his own decisions. 

5th. His fear that his presence was only casting darkness on lives is a fear of Marc Spector's. He's out there cleaning up the people he used to work with under Bushman. People labeled as terrorists. He used to also be like them. He could be listed as a terrorist on many lists. 

Marc is trying to erase his past. To clean up what he views as his mess. 

So seeing how he affects the boy and helps him cast off his own misgivings... This is something Moon Knight himself needed. He needed to see that he could be separated from Marc Spector's shadow. That his own shadow is lined in silver. 

Now... SPEAKING OF MARC SPECTOR! 

BONUS REVIEW! 

Many of the earlier comics have small little after comics and this is one!

Marc Spector and Moon Knight in: 

SEEKERS OF STONE. 

written by Jack C Harris

(What’cha doing up there buddy?) 

We see Moon Knight standing ON a news stand reading the newspaper. 

He starts with the obituaries and finds out a former acquaintance of Marc Spector has died. 

"I was already well into the mercenary business... But I hadn't linked up with Bushman's army on a permanent basis! And Stuttgart, Germany made for some great Freelance territory that autumn..." 

Now that is a lot to unpack there. 

A lot of comics assume Marc went right from the military to Bushman. 

But that isn't the case. Marc Spector was an individual for hire man. He became the force he is on his own. 

Bushman recognized that force and attempted to harness it and focus it in for his own use. 

In short, Marc Spector is and always has been a very dangerous and highly skilled man. 

Here we see a younger Marc dealing with a client. 

The client is an old man in a wheelchair complaining about Marc delaying despite being paid. 

"I like to work at night, Mr. Collins... but I refuse to work in the Dark!" 

"I've paid you to obtain a box for me--And I've given you my word that its contents are truly mine!" 

"Your word--BUNK! I don't care about your word or who really owns your precious box--I just want to know what it is I'm after!" 

TITLE CARD: 

(Look at that style. Marc no. You aren’t a spy. What are you wearing? Don’t let Steven see you in that.) 

SPECTOR: MERCENARY! The Man Who will be Moon Knight!

(This is the first of the SPECTOR comics. I adore the Spector comics. They are little shorts that highlight Marc working as a freelance individual Mercenary. Some of them are sad, some highlight how brutal Marc was, some highlight the trauma he underwent in the field, and some are just flat out goofy and show that Marc is just a man with one brain cell firing the best it can.) 

Marc continues to argue with the man. He demands to know what it is he's seeking and the man calls Marc ruthless like himself. 

"Don't compare us, Collins, our motives are our own. You told me you discovered something on a Greek dig back before World War II..." 

He tells Marc it is an artifact treasure that was stolen from him and now he means to get it back from a man named Karg. 

We cut to Karg, standing before a good sized box. He puts on a thick glove and opens the box to reveal snakes ready to strike. 

"The serpents coiled and struck... Seeming to guard something deeper within the wooden box..." 

A guard shows up an Kard explains to him that while he is set to sell the box at midnight, he plans to double cross them and keep the box after being paid. 

And since Marc is there to steal the box, there's just a whole like of double crossing going on. 

And while Mac is breaking into the building, a woman shows up, following him. 

Marc makes quick work of the guard and starts looking for the box. 

Before he can snag it, he suddenly finds himself tied up! 

"A woman! Looks like Karg employs all sorts of interesting guards for this little treasure box!" 

"You idiot! I'm not working for that scum Karg!" 

Marc breaks free and grabs the woman but gets cocky and misses the guards sneaking up on him. He gets knocked out. When he wakes, he finds himself in the presence of Karg. 

"You are with us again... You and Collins' charming daughter." 

The tie Marc and the woman up together. Marc's got a mild concussion and feeling not great. 

He demands to know why the daughter of Collins is trying to steal the box. 

She claims it is to save him from himself. He used to be a great sculptor but his arthritis has destroyed his career. 

Collins believes that he can heal himself with the Head of Medusa! 

Look at this man. I love this man. He’s just trying to make the best with what he’s got and he’s lucky he’s pretty. 

He finds the woman's purse with a big hand mirror inside. He manages to break the mirror and use the glass to start to cut through his ropes. 

"Did you succeed?" 

"Al-Almost. But I keep blanking out... Seeing double... Blow to my skull must've scrambled my brains." 

Karg shows up with the box. He intends to use the head of Medusa to turn them to stone and be rid of them. 

Good thing Marc keeps blacking out because he can't focus enough to look at the head. 

Marc panics and tries to fight them off with the mirror shard, slashing blindly. 

This idiot... He holds up the mirror shard and accidentally reflects Medusa's gaze. 

"Something happens then, something he will never be able to explain, for he sees nothing. He only feels an instant of terrible chill as he loses consciousness... Somehow, he is on his feet watching Karg's men flee in a panic." 

(We can take the blackout as him having a legitimate concussion, or of one of his headmates trying to get him up and out to protect them. ONE of them has to have a brain cell and it obviously isn't Marc.) 

"Now do you believe me?" The woman asks him. 

"I'm not certain what I believe. And at the moment, I hurt too much to care." 

He finds the statue of what was once Karg before him, holding a petrified Medusa head. 

He returns to Collins' office and presents him with the sawed off arm of Karg holding the stone head. 

Marc simply says "I don't know. I don't want to know." 

Narrator: "And he never found out. He recovered from his injury and years later became someone else." 

Yeah… Good ol’ Marc Spector. Most of his individual adventures are him being gruff, getting in over his head with some magical/supernatural item, and then shrugging his shoulders and running off without asking questions. 

Is it any wonder Khonshu got to him in that tomb? Old bird knew an easy mark when he saw one. (LOL easy Mac). 

I’m certain that if Steven or Jake ever actually knew about half the things Marc did out there on his own, they’d wonder how this man became such a problem. That or they’ve had to personally get him out of so many issues that they just give one another a side eye any time Marc says he’s got a plan. 

Any ways, I love the Spector comics. A real treat each time it pops up! 

#Moon Knight #Moon Knight comics #Meta #Analyzing the comics #Marc Spector #Jake Lockley #Steven Grant #Two for one #He's not the brightest moon in the sky #but he's sure pretty though