#I honestly prefer her disliking the Hulk over her liking him | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

silkling · 3 years

Note

Hi Silkling, could you please write a TFP story where Sierra discovers the Autobot's secret and joins up with Team Prime? TFP never really did much with her, and I think that a shame. I think Smokescreen would make a good partner for her.

Absolutely! Great to see you again in my ask box! :D your last prompt was super fun to write to, so I’m looking forward to this one! Now, I admit, I never paid much attention to Sierra, and the show didn’t give us a lot to work with, so I’m going to have to come up with some of her characterization. And I agree. So I’m mashing her with Smokescreen. It’s gonna a be great. I love Smokescreen very much! I even have a whole AU of my own for him. He’s a tiny happy dumbass and since Sierra has basically no canon personality, I can make her be his long-suffering but still very fond best friend.

———————————————————————————————————

Sierra had been having a good day. Emphasis on the word had. It was the weekend. She had packed a small picnic, grabbed her favorite book, and hopped on her bike. She’d ridden out to the popular hiking trails, intending to take a short hike and finding a nice place to spend the afternoon with a her novel and her snacks. The sun was out, the weather was great, and she had nothing to do today. It was perfect. So, of course, the laws of the universe demanded that something go wrong.

‘Murphy is a cruel bastard and and I’m going to punch him in the face when I see him in the afterlife.’ She thought viciously, staring up at the hulking titan that had just crushed her lunch and bike under a single massive metal foot with a sense of numb disbelief. ‘At least I still have the book.’ She ignored how the thought echoed with a note of hysteria as she shoved said book into the messenger bag over her shoulder.

“Are you Sierra O’Niell?”

She was only slightly surprised when the massive robot spoke. Because why wouldn’t the giant robot that had just moments ago been a jet be able to speak? Honestly, what even was her life at this point. She was more concerned with the fact that the thing knew her name. Her initial instinct was the demand how it knew her name. But she’d seen the movies. She knew that would only confirm it’s suspicions.

“Who?” she forced herself to ask instead, surprising herself with how steady her voice was. It was the shock, she told herself. It had to be. It was making her emotionally numb. “What are you?”

The robot seemed startled, before it snarled something that was most definitely a curse. It started speaking, though not to her, and it took Sierra a moment to realize it must have been talking over some sort of built in communication system. “-wrong human, Soundwave! This pathetic fleshling you pointed out to me doesn’t even know who I am talking about.” It paused. “What do you mean it’s not the wrong human? I just told you-“ it cut itself off. “Ah. I see.” A sinister grin twisted at metallic features. “Thank you, Soundwave. I will return with my prize shortly.”

Oh, Sierra did not like the sound of that.

Sure enough, the robot turned to face her when it was done. “It seems you lied to me, little fleshling.” it sneered. “My associate tracked the signal of your personal communications device. You humans never go without it, I’ve been told.”

She blinked. “You hacked my phone?” she sputtered, and oops, she’d just confirmed her identity. ‘Stupid, Sierra.’

It’s face twisted into a cruel expression of glee. She did not like it. “Indeed.” It began bending down, and then a large hand was reaching towards her. “You shall be coming with me, human. Soundwave has seen how Jackson Darby is fond of you.” it purred. “You will make a lovely bargaining chip against that pathetic human runt and his Autobot protectors.”

And wait, this was because of Jack? How did he come into all this? If this thing was after her because of him, that had to mean he knew about it and it’s…friends. Did robots have friends? She didn’t know. And wait, Autobot?

She stiffened, scrabbling away from the large metallic hand, shunting those questions to the back of her mind to be answered later. Escape the terrifying metal monster now, murder Jack for pulling her into this later. Clearly though, the robot disliked her attempt to flee because it only growled and stepped towards her again.

That’s when she heard the roaring of a powerful engine. It made the robot pause too, and they both looked to where the sound came from. Then, over the crest of a hill, a white and blue sports car came flying in. It had red accents and bold 38s painted onto its doors. Sierra was impressed. She was no car person, but even she liked this one. Only, the car started breaking apart once it hit the ground, unfolding and growing into the form of, you guessed it, another robot.

Sierra despaired for her luck. ‘Murphy is going to die a second time for this. He’d better be prepared.’ She thought with vicious hysteria.

Except, to her great surprise, the new robot didn’t try to help capture her. No, instead it rammed full force into the tall jet robot that had tried to snatch her up. Said jet yelped before quickly getting back to its feet. Sierra heard the should of metal and gears shifting, and saw the newcomer’s large hand change to some sort of weapon, though not one she could recognize.

“Terrorizing humans now, Starscream?” it taunted. “Can’t say I’m surprised, you always were one to sink so low.”

The first robot, Starscream, apparently, snarled in outrage. “Pathetic Autobot!” it roared, and oh, so this newcomer was Autobot?

Except, from the two names she’d heard already, that didn’t sound like the type of name these robots seemed to have. She did notice the little face badges they wore, the white bot bearing a red one proudly on its shoulders while the jet robot wore a smaller, pointier face on its chest. So maybe those had something to do with the whole ‘Autobot’ thing? Hell if she knew. Sierra was clever, and she’d always been good at puzzles and mystery solving, but she didn’t have enough information for this whole…thing.

“I’m not the one who’s picking on defenseless humans, ‘Con!” the car robot barked, smirking at the skinnier jet.

The jet only snarled, lifting an arm that she was just noticing had a freaking missile attached to it, and the white robot stilled briefly, before shooting her a frantic look and oh, would you look at that, she seemed to be right in the blast radius of the missile, and oh god she was going to die-

Except, there was that shifting sound again, but much larger, and then car robot was leaping towards her. It hit the ground in car form, it’s driver door open as it slid sideways in her direction, and then she was swept up into it and the door slammed shut. Tires squealed, and then they were peeling away to the sound of a missile screaming and impacting where they had been a half second before. The jet roared in outrage, but the car robot was speeding straight towards civilization, and it seemed to want to avoid that because when she glanced at the rear view mirror she saw it leap into the sky and transform before flying away.

Sierra slowly sat up from her ungainly sprawl, pulling the seatbelt across her chest on reflex before sitting back against the driver’s seat and wheezing. Her heartbeat, which she only just noticed had been thundering wildly in her chest, started to slowly calm, and she had to force herself to take deep, even breaths to keep herself from hyperventilating.

Now, Sierra wasn’t an irrational girl. She was among the top students of all her classes, she was smart, she knew a lot about various topics, and she had a good understanding of how people worked. She was clever, she knew she had a good head on her shoulders. She kept some of her interests closer to her chest, and she played the good, polite, quiet girl for the adults, because she wasn’t without manners, thank you very much. All that meant, though, was that she wasn’t prone to screaming in terror and running like a madman when she was freaked out by something. She would prefer to understand something rather than be irrationally terrified of it.

This, though? This was a bit much, even for her. As her heartbeat calmed, a sense of nausea built in her throat. “Excuse me, robot?” she squeaked. She wasn’t even sure if she could communicate with it while it was in car mode, but it was worth a shot.

“It’s Smokescreen.”

What?

“What?”

“My name is Smokescreen. Not “robot”.”

It sounded miffed. Which, okay. That was fair. If someone called her just “human” she’d probably be upset too. Hell, she had been upset when that other one, Starscream, had called her a “fleshling”. Smokescreen’s voice also sounded very male, and she paused before asking.

“And you’re not an “it” either, then?”

“No, I’m a mech.” A pause. “Uh, a male, by your definitions.”

“Okay. Smokescreen. Well, I’m Sierra, and as grateful as I am for your rescue you should really, really stop and let me out. Humans don’t handle extreme stress very well and I’m about to be sick.”

“Sick?”

Oh god, did robots even get sick?

“I’m about to vomit. Which means I am very close to expelling internal body waste, and it will be right in your seats if you don’t let me out so I can barf behind some rocks.” she informed him tightly, fighting down a gag.

There was a brief moment if silence as Smokescreen seemed to process her words, before he turned off the side of the road, drove behind some rocks, and popped open the door. “Please don’t be sick in me.” Oh, now he sounded sick. Sierra felt a little bad.

She didn’t say anything to that, instead stumbling out of the car and out of sight, before promptly bending over and tossing her breakfast. She gagged on bile, and after a moment of pause to make sure there was nothing left in her stomach, she stood and made her way back to where Smokescreen was waiting. She pulled her water bottle from her bag, taking a sip and washing out her mouth with it before spitting it to the side, and then she proceeded to drink everything left in the bottle. She tucked it away, turning to her impromptu ride, and opened her mouth to speak, when-.

“Oh slag.” He beat her to the punch.

She was confused, recognizing that as a curse of some sort, and then she heard the beeping from his radio.

“Um, hold on for a minute, alright? I gotta take this.” He sounded anxious, and didn’t give her a chance to answer before there was a click as he did just that.

She heard muffled noises over the radio, though she couldn’t make out the words being said.

“Um, yeah. There was a ‘Con signal. I was close so I checked it out.”

More radio noises, angry sounding ones.

“I know, I know! But I was closest and no one would pick up their comm. so I thought I should st least check it out! It was a good thing too, Starscream was there and he was about to snatch up a human!”

A pause, and then an explosion of garbled noise from the radio. Sierra got the feeling that Smokescreen was wincing.

“Well what was I supposed to do? Let her be taken? Plus she’d already seen him so it wasn’t like seeing me was going to do much damage!”

A growling noise, followed by a hiss of static.

“Yes, Ratchet. I know. And I am sorry, alright! I know I went against code again but if I had waited a human would’ve been in Deception hands and as new as I am to this planet, even I know that’s bad!”

Wait, planet? Was this giant ass robot an actual alien? That…honestly made sense. With that day she’d had, she wasn’t even surprised. Smokescreen was still having his discussion with…whoever was on the other end.

“Yes, I’ll bring her back to base. I’m not going to apologize for saving her, though.”

More angry static.

“Yeah yeah. I get it.”

He sounded tired, defeated. Sierra felt bad, and wondered what was being said to make him sound like that when he’d been so bright before.

“No, you don’t need to send a ground bridge. I’m close to the base anyway. I’ll be there soon.”

There was a click as Smokescreen disconnected from whoever called him, and then she could tell he was talking to her when he spoke next. “Mind hopping in? I gotta bring you back to base. The boss can explain everything. I promise you won’t be hurt or anything.”

Sierra hesitated for a moment, then sighed. She knew she probably shouldn’t, but at this point what was the harm? Besides, her gut instinct was telling her that, based on what that Starscream character had said about Jack, she wouldn’t have to worry about being hurt. Not if Darby spent all his free time around these weird alien robots and came back fine. Mind decided, she slipped into the car’s open door. It shut on its own, and she buckled herself in once more.

“Thanks.” He sounded grateful. And then he was driving off.

He wasn’t saying anything, and neither was Sierra, and she let herself be alone with her thoughts. They drove for a while, and Sierra let herself enjoy the landscape that passed by Smokescreen’s window. He really was a nice ride, she mused. Sleek and fast, and his engine purred quietly as he drove along the highway. She didn’t know much about cars, but she knew his car mode was a good one.

Soon enough, they were coming towards a large mesa. Smokescreen drove right toward its side, not even slowing as he approached, Sierra tensed, about to protest, when a previously invisible door opened in the rock face. She shut her mouth, her eyes blowing wide. Oh. That explained that. Their base was hidden in plain sight. Which…she supposed was fitting, for alien robots who disguised themselves as cars and jets. Smokescreen took them through a tunnel, and then they were coming into a large central chamber. Sierra peeked out if the window to see two other robots there. One, stocky and painted in red and white. The other…was absolutely massive. He towered above the red and white bot, and she had a feeling he’d tower over Smokescreen too. He was broad as he was tall, with wide shoulders and a heavy looking chest, his metal armor painted in red and blue. Sierra didn’t know how she knew, but she just knew that this large one was a he, a mech, as Smokescreen had said.

The door at her side popped open, and after brief hesitation she unbuckled herself and stood up. There was that sound of transformation behind her, and she glanced back to see Smokescreen rising to his feet in his robot mode. Then a voice spoke and she snapped her head around to see the large bot speaking.

“Greetings, young one. My name is Optimus Prime. My companion is Ratchet, and you have already met Smokescreen.”

Ratchet. That’s who Smokescreen had been talking to earlier. “I’m Sierra.” she said after a moment. “Sierra O’Niell.”

Optimus tilted his head downwards in her direction. “May I inquire why Starscream was attempting to abduct you, if you know?”

“You’re very polite.” she remarked dryly. “He said something about wanting to use me to get to Jack Darby, so that he could in turn use Jack to get to the “Autobots”. I’m guessing that’s you guys?”

Optimus shared a look with Ratchet, then looked back at her. “Indeed. Myself and my team are Autobots. Starscream is a Decepticon. Our factions are enemies, I am afraid.” he explained. “We are not from your world, Sierra O’Niell. We hail from a planet called Cybertron. Our two factions were at War on our home, and that War destroyed our world. The Deceptions came here, searching for energon, and we have followed them to keep them from destroying your planet and it’s people in their quest for it.”

Sierra turned that over. She’d guessed they weren’t from Earth, so that wasn’t a surprise. The rest of the information was new, though. And appreciated. “What’s energon? And how does Jack fit into all this?”

Optimus sighed. “Energon is an energy source, and the very lifeblood of every Cybertronian.” he explained. “It is a natural resource that was once common on our home, and somehow Earth too produces it in great abundance.” he explained. “Jackson, Miko, and Raphael became involved with us by accident. They were seen with my Autobots when they mistakenly were pulled into a battle with the Decepticons, and the Decepticons assumed they were our allies. In order to protect them, we took them under our watch and guard to ensure they could not be harmed.”

So, Esquivel and Nakadai were part of this too. She shouldn’t be surprised. She’d seen the cars that picked those two up, now that she thought of it. Speaking of which….

“Jack’s motorcycle is an Autobot, isn’t it? And Miko and Raphael’s cars?”

Optimus hummed. “Indeed. Arcee, Bumblee, and Bulkhead were the ones to initially partner with and save the children in that first encounter. After they were brought into the fold, it made only sense to assign them as their Autobot guardians.”

Sierra nodded as she took that all in. Then she frowned. “I’m involved now too, aren’t I? I would have been involved regardless, if the Decepticons were really after me, but Smokescreen saving me just means my involvement is going to be more pleasant than it otherwise would have been.”

Optimus and Ratchet shared yet another look, before casting their gazes to Smokescreen. The white bot fidgeted under their combined stares, head ducking and looking uncomfortable. “While we are not pleased that the youngling acted on impulse and charged into battle against protocol, we are pleased that he saved your life, young Sierra.” Optimus said after a moment.

Sierra blinked. “Youngling.” she repeated in confusion. Then she narrowed her eyes. “You’re not getting him into trouble for saving me, are you?” she asked heatedly. The very idea insulted her.

Optimus twitched as if startled, then rumbled a soft chuckle. “Youngling, yes. It is a term used by Cybertronians to refer to those of us who are not yet fully grown. Smokescreen is the equivalent of a human teenager.” he explained. “And worry not. In this instance, we can overlook the breach in regulations. It would send a poor message to punish a bot for upholding the Autobot creed.”

Sierra relaxed at that, nodding. Then she narrowed her eyes. “I’m going to want to have a discussion with you later about why you’re letting teenagers fight in a war, but I know now isn’t the time.” she said threateningly.

Both older bots startled back and her tone and words, and Smokescreen squeaked from behind her. She turned and drew a harsh line across her mouth before he could say anything, and she watched as he stared, slack-jawed, before closing his mouth with an audible clack. That done, she returned her attention to the apparent leader. There was one more thing she wanted settled.

“You said the others got guardians, right?”

A nod.

“Well, if I’m going to need one, and something tells me I will, then I want this one.” she jerked her thumb over her shoulder at Smokescreen.

Optimus’s eyes narrowed in what she realized was a faint smile. “If Smokescreen agrees, then I have no issues with that.” he hummed. “All I ask is that you remain here until our liaison with the human government arrives. Agent Fowler will want to discuss some matters with you before you return home.”

Sierra blinked. So the government knew about all this. That was good to know. It meant she wouldn’t get in trouble for conspiring with aliens if it ever came to light. She could also understand why they kept this whole thing a secret, even if governments hiding things from the public wasn’t always a good thing. In this case, it was a good thing.

“As long as I’m home before my curfew.” she agreed.

Another bow of that great head, and then Optimus was turning to stride away. Presumably to make contact with this Fowler. That left her and Smokescreen with Ratchet.

The stocky bot glanced at them, then turned to that odd console she’d noticed earlier. “Smokescreen will show you around.” Was all he said, waving them away with a dismissive flip of his hand.

Sierra, taking that as her cue, turned to the youngest bot. She thrust out her hand. “What do you say? Partners?”

He seemed confused, before slowly crouching and extending his hand to tap a finger to her palm. “Yeah, sure.” he seemed a little awed that she’d want to partner with him.

She smiled. “Good. In that case, why don’t you give me a ride and show me around your base?”

Smokescreen seemed confused. “Ride?”

“On your shoulder. I’d like to see it from your perspective.”

He blinked, then shrugged and put his hand, palm up, on the floor. Sierra took that as her que to climb up, and he carefully transferred her to his shoulder. Cool. Very cool. She just wanted to ride on the giant alien robot, and now she got to. That was cool.

She saw him look at her out of the corner of his bright, shining blue eyes, and she smiled warmly. “Well? Show me around your home, big guy. I’d like to get to know you.”

Smokescreen perked up, the little protrusions on his back wiggling with his apparent joy, and Sierra grinned a little wider. Oh, he was cute. How a giant robot could be endearing, she didn’t know, but he did it. He was sort of like a puppy. A giant, metal, alien puppy. She held on as he started walking, and she listened with half an ear, processing and noting what he told her as the rest of her mind turned over the events of her day.

It had been stressful, and scary, but now that it was all done and she was fine…

‘Yeah.’ she thought, watching her new partner eagerly show her around the small, hidden base he called home. ‘I think I’m gonna like it here.’

———————————————————————————————————

And that was that! I hoped you like it! It was fun to write. The show didn’t give Sierra a last name or a real personality, so I had to kind of do that bit myself. And I was right! I did enjoy writing this. The prompt inspired me to write this faster than I thought I’d be able to. I do not expect to be able to fill a prompt this quickly again. Unfortunately. Also, Sierra is definitely going to be the straight man to Smokescreen. He’s going to need it. Badly.

Until next time, friends!

#silkling request fics #request fic #tfp #transformers prime #tfp sierra #tfp starscream #tfp smokescreen #smokescreen #tfp optimus prime #Sierra joins Team Prime #smokescreen is her partner #maccadam

56 notes · View notes

paragonrobits · 3 years

Text

its not that I dislike Found Family as a trope; its a main feature in most of my character dynamics. It’s a very fun trope! It makes for excellent and heartwarming characterization, it provides a good emotional beat, and it can be a very fulfilling narrative. However, I have to object to this notion I’ve seen where it feels like people genuinely think that found family is the first and primary purpose of literally ANY group assembling for a given goal.

For example, if you have a group of heroes coming together to fight a given villain, becoming a new family should not be their primary goal. Defeating the villain should be their goal. If they work together so well that it’s like coming home, or finding people that finally Understands? That’s great! But it shouldn’t be the most important thing.

But you see this idea here, where you get this vibe that people think that found family is the most important aspect; that any group of people MUST find family together. This has some serious complications (does a family only be family if they’re constantly together? Does the idea of continuous proximity not sound EXHAUSTING to you?? what if they meet different people on travels; do they automatically join them as family? Is it not possibly to simply be friends with someone, without needing to have a super intimate emotional bond???), and yet its a default assumption. If something DOESN’T go found family, even if there’s nothing to indicate the characters actually want that, people seem to feel like they were cheated out of this narrative.

Take the MCU Avengers; a lot of people were mad they didn’t lean into the Found Family narrative, and to be honest, I DO prefer that dynamic for them rather than the ‘people who come together for threats, otherwise do their own thing, and are generally great friends outside that’. But most of the Avengers don’t need found family. they HAVE families. they already have extensive character galleries; why does Tony need a number one best friend when he has Rhodey, for example? Thor has all of Asgard to return to, and so on. The characters that lean the hardest into the Avengers as their primary relationships (Bruce Banner/Hulk and Cap, mainly) do that because they have NOTHING else in their lives. They’re fundamentally alone or isolated, and it make sense that they seek out people like them. But its not the rule for the others.

part of it is a personal reaction; I’m honestly burned out and pretty cynical on the idea of family. I’ve lived with family for most of my life, and no joke, I hate most of them. The vast majority of them are pretty terrible people; racism runs RAMPANT through my family, and a good chunk of them are authoritarians. I’ve spent most of my life constantly being exposed to people fighting each other or getting violent over incredibly stupid things, or family members abandoning you to the streets and instantly coming to mooch off you the second you’re doing better and abandoning you once again while insisting that its family’s job to take care of each other, and doing absolutely nothing TO take care of you, but acting like wounded martyrs if you bring up, say, that time they stole all your food stamps and left you to starve for a whole month.

So when I see people waxing romantic about how found family is everything they want, I just think about, I don’t know, my sister’s ex-boyfriend throwing an ash tray at her head for buying him a christmas present and insulting his manliness because HE hadn’t done one for her, and I think: “this isn’t the perfect, problem-solving situation you might expect.”

Sure, it’s a romantic notion. But the primary thing about romantic ideas, to me, is that they work best as fantasy. When you try to impose them for real, things tend to break down.

4 notes · View notes

magicmastered · 4 years

Text

@darealbellabelleoftheball

About this post you tagged me in, which I’m screenshotting because Tumblr never lets me link posts:

(Should I have scribbled out the url? I don’t want anyone getting harassed because of me, regardless of whether I agree with them....)

Anyway, thanks for thinking of me.

I try not to reblog people’s original posts to start arguments with them, so I’ll respond here.

Reinvent Thor as being a more relatable and fun character

Relatable to who? At some point I might make a post asking people why they found Ragnarok Thor more or less relatable than pre-Ragnarok Thor. I’m curious as to what the response would be.

Personally I found Ragnarok Thor to be insincere, arrogant, and manipulative, though his “save Asgard” thing was obviously good. I agree with the goal, but his means...not so much.

ALSO. “Reinventing” a character is the exact opposite of what should be done at the end of a trilogy. At that point, you wrap up the plot threads and character arcs. You do NOT throw them all out and start with something that’s regressed even beyond where the character was at the beginning. It’s just not how trilogies work.

If you want to reinvent the character for LOLs, call it what it is—a parody. Parody is a perfectly legit genre. It just makes it clear that it’s not to be taken as part of the original canon.

With a far more extensive power set

Thor was already really powerful. Yeah, the Thor-nado is pretty cool, but he was doing fine without it...?

As well as making him the star of his own GD movie for once without worrying about some other character overshadowing him

You know how you make a character more interesting? It’s not by just flattening all the competition. It’s by giving them more internal conflict. That’s one of the reasons Loki’s so popular. He’d had internal conflict to deal with from the get-go.

They could’ve had Thor finally realize that Odin did screw up, and it wasn’t just a one-time thing, and he wasn’t actually a great parent (or person in general). Through that, he could realize that maybe the things Odin always told him were wrong. Maybe, for instance, Loki wasn’t 100% evil and Thor’s inferior. Maybe that Thor had himself made some mistakes at least as bad, and come to terms with that. He could’ve broken out of his toxic family dynamic.

That would’ve been a lot more compelling than erasing everything that made Thor, Thor.

And established that his arcs from the first two movies were realized on the level of him assuming control of his powers on Odin’s level—assuming ultimate worthiness

....

Why is aspiring to be like Odin in any way a good conclusion to Thor’s character arcs? And “worthiness” is entirely based on Odin’s professed values.

What would’ve been better is if Thor had finally broken free of Odin’s arbitrary worthiness paradigm. He’d been letting Odin define his worth for the previous movies. He realized that Odin was flawed for a bit in TDW but was back to submitting himself to Odin’s judgement at the end of the movie. It’s time for him to finish that journey. Yet in this movie it’s Odin (or rather Odin’s memory) that Thor turns to for strength.

And Thor honestly does not seem to change at all throughout the movie, character-wise. He starts off snarky and arrogant. He finishes snarky and arrogant with a throne and a missing eye (and no planet).

Introduce Valkyrie

Love the character, don’t love how they used her. Seriously, “and suddenly you’re overcome by the urge to do the right thing?” Five minutes after she did just that? Please.

Give Heimdall more than two minutes of screen time

Admittedly I like Heimdall better in this movie, so I’ll leave this alone.

Destroy Asgard

Why is this a good thing?

No, really, why is destroying Asgard better than, say, exploring its culture and history—and the people the movie repeatedly refers to—in a more nuanced light?

Reintroduce Hulk with the ability to speak and show emotion beyond smashing things

If I remember correctly, Hulk is a manifestation of Bruce’s anger and fear from his abusive childhood. (I don’t know if I’m phrasing this correctly at all. Someone who’s more into Bruce and Hulk could probably help. :/)

Ragnarok did not exactly explore that in any way.

And Hulk HAD emotions besides “smash”. Look at his reaction when Tony was falling out of the portal in Avengers. Hulk has real intelligence to him.

F colonialist lives!

This really isn’t my area of expertise at all...but I’m pretty sure the thing they were saying was bad was the imperialism, not colonialism. They’re not the same thing. And even that was confused by the whole venerating-Odin thing. I believe others have gone into this in more detail.

Korg is skinny!

I don’t even know what this is supposed to mean...?!

Contain good and funny jokes

This is entirely subjective. For instance, several people I know find butt jokes funny. I find them kind of immature and prefer dry humor. Neither of us is wrong in our preferences. It’s just not something you can argue.

Conversely, this movie also has Loki joke about his own suicide attempt. So.

Was directed by the MCU’s first director of color

I didn’t even know Waititi was a man of color when I first started disliking Ragnarok.

Controversial opinion here, but a movie that contradicts previous canon and has a plot as airtight as a colander is still a crappy franchise movie no matter who wrote it.

Fix Loki’s sad broody boy problem

Loki does not have a “sad broody boy” problem. He’s genuinely mentally ill, in no small part due to spending over a thousand years as the scapegoat in a narcissistic family. It’s also due to spending who-knows-how-long falling in space (see how that affected Tony) then another who-knows-how-long getting tortured by a purple space grape. That’s a lot more than going through an emo phase or something.

And this movie does not “fix” Loki’s mental illness. It waves it away like something that was never that bad to begin with, which is very much not the case.

It also erased Loki’s fierce intelligence from the previous movies, and his anger, and his strategy. It turned Loki from courageous to cowardly (except when the plot said so). It ignored Loki’s old reserve and trust issues.

Examples: You can’t tell me he couldn’t have thought up a better plan than “get help”. He could’ve disguised both him and Thor as more Sakaarian guards with his illusions. I just came up with that in five seconds. No way would that not occur to him at least as quickly.

Loki had the nerve to sass Laufey and the Other and Odin even when any one of them could’ve hurt him in previous movies. In Ragnarok he’s terrified of the Hulk to the point of trying to run.

In previous movies, Loki didn’t trust anyone enough to talk about any of the things that’d happened (aggravated since no one had even asked). In Ragnarok, as mentioned above, he joked about his own suicide—to a bunch of strangers.

Make fun of Thor: The Dark World

Again, why is this a good thing?

Ragnarok is one of the best Marvel movies for the “prisoners with jobs” joke alone

Subjective, again.

#marvel #anti ragnarok #mcu loki #mcu thor #anti new thor #mcu odin #tw: suicide attempt #tw: suicide mention #gagnarok #loki meta #thor meta #the hulk #bruce banner

182 notes · View notes

the-old-dip-and-stir · 5 years

Text

So today is the one year anniversary of rdr2′s release

Honestly, I don’t know what I had expected out the game because I never got to play the first one, even though I heard such good things about it. I can say that I’m happy I invested my money into the game because holy shit, it was a wild and amazing ride. The characters and the story is all just so *chef’s kiss*. The actors are amazing and sweet people, seriously, I don’t know it I could’ve asked for better people to work on this project. Some amazing art and writing has come out of it and I’ve met some really cool people from it. So in honor of rdr2, I wrote some hug headcanons for the entire Van Der Linde Gang. Thanks to the Red Dead Discord for inspiring and even helping a little with this cuz even though we are a cursed bunch, we are also very wholesome.

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

Arthur hugs are grounding. He doesn’t hug often, but he knows words tend to escape him when he needs them most. A hug can convey what needs to be said. He cups the back of your head and brings you close, cradling you as if you were made of glass. Arthur will rock you both back and forth, swaying side to side in an intimate dance to the comforting, steady beat of his heart. He may slip in a “I got ya,” a “Yer alright,” or maybe a “Won’t let nothin’ happen t’ ya.” He holds you as long as you need, even if it’s for an hour.

John hugs are spontaneous. He doesn’t really know how to hug, and most hugs he received lasted a few moments at best. When he does decide to give a hug, it’s a quick, in the moment thing. He may look at you for a few moments and then suddenly you’re being jerked into his lanky arms for a bit of a bony, yet meaningful hug. It won’t last very long, but it’ll have one, tight, little squeeze before he lets go. You may even question what the hell it was for and John will just shrug, with a simple “Just wanted to,” or “Felt right.”

Dutch hug are uplifting. He knows life can be a cruel mistress, and she will kick you down even when you’re at your lowest, so he will try his damnedest to keep you from drowning in the harsh sea. He’ll cradle the back of your neck and rest your head on his shoulder, an arm wrapped around your waste and the other rubbing your back. He may talk to you about absolutely nothing or tell you how strong you are. He sees a strength in everyone he loves and wishes they could see it too, but he never, ever minds emphasizing how much his family means to him.

Hosea hugs are comforting. He is fully aware that many adults won’t admit they need a hug, but he’s a sensible man that understands that even those with a strong will need reassurance, so he makes it a point in letting everyone know they can talk to him. If all you need is the hug, he’s more than willing to envelop you in his wispy arms, pet your head, and hold you until you feel better. Any tears shed will be met with an equal amount of understanding. “Kindness isn’t a commodity, child.” Hosea makes it his job to remind you and anyone that being kind is important.

Javier hugs are heartfelt. Physical affectionate is something he usually received from family or a loved one, so he’s not one to give out hugs willy-nilly. He gives them to those he cares about greatly. So say you happen to be one of those people, he won’t hesitate to take you into his arms. He holds you like it’s his one and only job, and he’s gonna make sure he does it right. He may sway, maybe sing you a little song, whatever you need. And he will end it, no matter what, with a kiss on your temple. Doesn’t matter if you’re a hulking figure, you’re his family and he loves you.

Bill hugs are gentle. You wouldn’t think this would be the case, but he prefers a soft hug. The outlaw life is so harsh and wild that he craves something more tame, more tender. He hasn’t been hugged for a long time, but, contrary to his grumpy exterior, Bill adores a good hug. So when you need one, he makes sure to be delicate. He wants it to be sweet and comforting, not some hard and unfeeling thing. He wishes to appear as much as the teddy bear he, not so secretly, is. He won’t have much to say since he’s not too good with words, but he’s hoping you know that he cares.

Charles hugs are safe. He doesn’t come off as the type to hug often, but it’s not that he dislikes touch, Charles respects people’s boundaries. He constantly one step away from hugging others, all they have to do is give him the go ahead and his arms will immediately encircle them. He understands what it’s like to be afraid, so he wants to give others a sense of security. His arms will engulf you, his body swallows you in order to hide you away from your troubles. He’s the barrier that keeps all the bad out, even if it’s just for a little while.

Lenny hugs are friendly. He’s a little on the touchy-feely side. There’s almost always a hand on your shoulder or back. He’ll bump shoulders with you or just stand in close proximity, so it makes sense that his hugs are just a welcoming as his demeanor. His hugs are a little lanky given that he’s still young, but it doesn’t make them any less lovely. You need a bit of bone-crusher? Just want to be held and talk? Lenny’s ya boah, and he will happily do it with a big grin on his face.

Sean hugs are enthusiastic. In fact, he’s almost never not touching you. There’s always an arm slung around your shoulders or a hand sitting on the back of your neck. It’s worse when he’s drunk, but it all done in fondness. So need a hug? No problem! Sean’s always a willing participant in a good ol’ fashioned bear hug. They’re bony hugs, but full of joy and happiness. He practically reeks of glee, and also booze, so it’s nearly impossible for it not to rub off on you. Beware of whiskey breath, though.

Micah hugs are protective. You wouldn’t think the words affection and Micah would go together, but that’s where you’re wrong. He’s not publicly affectionate, it embarrasses him. Now in private? He will hug the shit out of you. The man has been starved of kindness for quite awhile, so if you need a hug, you will get a hug, and, surprisingly, they are very nice, comforting hugs. But there is one case where Micah won’t give a damn what others think of him, if he decides to throw an arm around you. That is when he feel like you are in immediate danger. He likes to make sure that anyone who’s watching knows that if they mess with you, they mess with him.

Sadie hugs are tight. She holds on like it’s the last thing she’ll ever do, for good reason of course. She’ll circle her arms around your waist, pulling you as close as she possibly can, and won’t let go for a while. You’ll feel Sadie bunch up the back of your shirt in her hands, as if to make it harder for anyone to haul you away. You can feel everything she feels, and her you. She needs this hug. You need this hug. You don’t have to hug back just as hard as she does, but if you do, she will most definitely squeeze you tighter.

Abigail hugs are loving. Perhaps that comes with her being a mother, she knows just the kind of hug you might need. They can be as gentle or firm as you need, and she’s not shy to tell you how important you are. How much you mean to her. How much you mean to everyone. Abigail can almost feel when you need a hug too. It can be the way you say something, a look, or how you carry yourself. She will know and she will provide. She’ll hold you as you cry or if you’re hurt, she doesn’t mind. You need someone and she’ll be there as you’ve always been for her, and for Jack.

Jack hugs are short and sweet. Pun intended and not. A young Jack clings to your legs with a quick “Love you!” before running off to play again. He doesn’t like seeing you sad and his mama’s hugs always make him feel better. An older, more hardened Jack keeps his hugs short as well. Much like his father, he’s not too sure on how to give hugs, even though he’s received quite a few as a kid. That doesn’t stop them from being meaningful in anyway, though. He makes sure he conveys how much you mean to him.

Tilly hugs are special. She more likely to lend an ear than she is to cradle you. Not everyone wants to be touched, and physical affection is harder to come by in a large group of men. So she’s always willing to listen, and asking for a hug, instead of talk, may surprise her. It’s not a bad sort of a surprise, Tilly feels honored that you’re comfortable enough to even want that sort of thing from her at all. When she takes you into her arms, it makes you feel as if you’re the most important person to her. The hug isn’t grand, it’s not absolutely extraordinary, but it sure does make you feel special.

Mary-Beth hugs are sisterly. Most of the gang sees her as a little sister, it’s nearly impossible not to with how she dreams and how sweet she is. The way she hugs is very much how someone would great their family. It’s almost as if you’re a long lost sibling, or her favorite cousin that came over for the holidays. Her embrace screams that you mean the world to her. That she’s so happy that you’re there. Though, be warned, if you have long hair, it may get tangled up in her necklace with how closely she holds you.

Karen hugs are strong. She’s the type to actually give you a bone-crushing hug. It’s the only hug she’s capable of. Karen is even the type to do a full side hug and trap your arms against your body. If you want a soft hug, the closest you can get is an arm around your shoulders, but everything else nearly bruises. It’s not her goal to hurt you, she really doesn’t know her own strength. She’s really used to being a tough gal, so even her hugs are tough on people. You can’t hate her for it though. At least you know she’s excited to see you.

Susan hugs are motherly. The entire gang is basically her kids, you included. She’s not the type to immediately hold and coddle you. She’ll lend and ear and set you straight, but she knows when to hug you. She knows when words and a firm hand aren’t going to help you. She gently bring you to her breast, as any mother does to comfort her child. She’ll pet your head and listen as you cry or just talk. You need support and she’s giving it all the while. Susan is a force to be reckoned with, but she isn’t one to be harsh when it’s not needed.

Molly hugs are unintentionally tender. She hadn’t intended to hug you. She had come to you to vent about Dutch, seeing as you were the only one who would listen to her, but as soon as she saw you, any and all complaints flew out the window. You’d been crying, and seeing you so despondent broke her heart. When you saw her, you tried to act like nothing had happened and asked if she needed anything, but she said nothing. She simply approached and wrapped her around your shoulders. It wasn’t immediate, but you eventually hugged her back and started crying again. She cried with you, taking comfort that she wasn’t the only one feeling down.

Pearson hugs feel like home. As much as he likes to talk, Simon is an incredible listener. He also gives really good advice if you need it. Many of the others don’t really like hearing him talk about his days in the Navy, but you enjoy hearing them while you help him. It’s a bit of an escape from the rough life you live. So if he notices that you’re not as into his stories like usual, he’ll ask if you’re alright, if you need to talk. Whether you do or don’t, his arms are quick to open and let you seek comfort from him. They are warm and smell of coffee, and the best hugs you’ve ever received.

Kieran hugs are nervous. He’s unsure if any of it is okay. Are you sure you want a hug from him? What if one of the others gets upset at him for touching you? It’s not that he doesn’t want to, he’s just terrified of doing the wrong thing. Of course, there’s absolutely nothing he can do if you’re the one who engulfs him in an embrace, but the fear is still there. Your hugs are nice, though, and it makes him feel a little less unsafe with you being so nice to him. Although, he’s always embarrassed to hug you because he always seems to be sweaty and smell like a horse whenever the opportunity arises.

Uncle hugs are funny. He’s a jolly person, a little smelly, but joyful all the same. He likes giving hugs, likes to put smiles on people’s faces. So if Uncle ever sees that your down, expect to be scooped up into a big hug, if his lumbago doesn’t act up of course. He’ll twirl you around and tickle you with his beard until he’s got you laughing. He’ll only put you down if he knows your mood is brightened and if that doesn’t do the trick, expect him to bother you for the rest of the day. Nobody’s gonna be sad, not on his watch.

Trelawny hugs are magical. Much like Uncle, he tries to make you smile, but instead of tickling and twirling, he puts his magician skills to use. He’ll dramatically embrace you, then pull back to tell you how darling you are and-- oh? What’s this? A coin behind you ear? BOOM. MAGIC. He’ll hold you to his side as he examines the coin, rolls in between is knuckles, and-- oho? Now it’s a dove! BOOM. MAGIC. He will take off his hat, as is the gentlemanly thing to do, and-- well, would you look at that. A hare in his hat! BOOM. MAGIC. Josiah gets a kick out of your pure, unadulterated wonder at his magic tricks.

Swanson hugs are mutually beneficial. At first, it’s really just a hug because you need it, but he can’t help but melt into your arms as well. He can’t remember the last time someone held him that didn’t involve picking his inebriated ass off the ground. It’s a lot nicer than he remembers and he accidentally holds on longer than either of you intended. He’ll apologize profusely, but tell you let him know if you need anything else. He cares a great deal, but he’s also hoping maybe he can another hug in as well.

Strauss hugs are a little awkward. He’s not much of a hugger, at most he’ll wrap his arms around you with a pat on the back, but usually it’s a hand on the shoulder or holding your hand softly. He didn’t receive many hugs growing up, and those he did were from his mother a long, long time ago. If he’s unsure of what you need, he will sit with you and listen to your troubles, or sit with you in silence. He’s not very touchy-feely, but he wants you to know he’s there for you whenever and however you need.

51 notes · View notes

perpetuallyfive · 5 years

Text

some thoughts on Endgame

I always find it a lot easier to write very long rants about things I dislike than praise about things that I like. It just feels like the good things are obvious, you know? So compiling them in lists feels a little pointless.

It’s why I haven’t written anything about Endgame yet. I honestly thought Infinity War was pretty average at best, so the fact that I fucking loved practically every single minute of Endgame kind of caught me by surprise. It checked so many of my boxes that it’s almost hard to even articulate.

So much of what was good about it honestly felt almost inevitable.

Mark me down as pretty confused then as I read some of the negative responses. Like... obviously, I’m just being dense. Nothing exists, especially on the internet, without some negative response. And I don’t even mean that in a pithy way. People are really different and what works for one person doesn’t work for everyone.

Which brings me back to my earlier point.

Just because I thought some of this stuff was obvious or amazing doesn’t mean everyone did, so here are a few observations, in an unordered list:

The way that time travel works in the movie is deliberately left a little vague, in my opinion, to allow wiggle room for the multiverse moving forward, especially as they expand into streaming services.

They do however clearly say that you cannot change your own past. Bruce says it. This means that Steve absolutely is not in our timeline, whatever the writers might say about it now. He’s not. In our timeline, he knew Peggy married someone else. That’s in his past. He cannot change his past in his own timeline. Therefor he cannot change who Peggy marries in his own timeline.

Seriously, he’s not in our timeline. They’re just wrong.

This means you have a million possibilities in fanfic for all the things Steve did that sent out ripples in his own new timeline or the many multiverses he could have created. It’s a fucking candy shop.

Try not to be too hard on the writers for having no idea what they’re talking about, I guess; it’s hard writing characters that are way smarter than you.

Am I less than charitable toward the writers because of their dumb takes on Natasha in defending why she’s not a part of the funeral at the end? Yes.

Just put a fucking second wreath there, god damn, would it have been so hard.

Framing Nebula’s storyline as a bad thing, which I’ve seen a few times now, is frankly insane to me. She isn’t, as the daily dot put it, killing herself. She missed her chance to save her sister five years ago and has regretted it every since. The second Gamora is at stake this time, she makes it clear that she would sacrifice anything (even someone who looked like her), to prevent losing her sister again. That’s great shit!

I am bummed we don’t get original Gamora back, but I’m also intrigued by the soft reset this does on her relationship with everyone in the Guardians. I wonder what their plans are with that in Vol 3. In many ways, her healing process away from Thanos was sidelined in the first two films and this allows the possibility of reframing that as more central to the focus in the third. Fingers crossed.

More Gamora and Nebula in general but especially in Guardians 3 please; I might threaten to retroactively like this movie less if this is the last we get of this much attention on their relationship, please and thank you.

The problem with the MCU crossover movies is they have to exist as two things at once. They have to be a movie that works as its own thing with good timing, pacing, structure, and an end that feels conclusive. They also have to pay off minor characters that mainstream audiences might not care about, as part of larger world building and the stories shared across an entire universe. Endgame, in my opinion, did a much better job of it than Infinity War or Ultron. (it’s hard to compare it with Avengers, when the scale was much more intimate.)

No but really, I don’t think a lot of us in fandom have an appreciation for how many people don’t know any of this shit we take for granted. A shocking number of the people I have spoken to IRL who are entirely apart from fandom didn’t even know what “on your left” was a reference to and were actually a little confused by that moment.

Just think about that and understand the levels this movie has to operate on at all times. It’s almost enough to make me feel bad for the writers, except they still said dumb shit about Nat, so I’m good.

I did actually love all the more subtle callbacks, like Natasha’s necklace and T’Challa knowing Clint’s name, but the direct quotes were pretty great too, especially Steve’s reaction to “I could do this all day.” Super charming.

Another awkward thing about the crossovers is they have to try to level the playing field slightly and there are some Avengers who are just way more powerful than others. Carol was disappointingly absent, but she’s also insanely OP. It’s why Thor got depressed and it’s why the Russos now say that Hulk will have limited use of one arm. They nerfed some of the classic Avengers, but kept Carol full powered just off in space. That’s preferable, so long as she gets more screen time later and jesus please fix the wig. Or just do the actual haircut now that it doesn’t have to be a secret.

Please dear god the hair is great in concept but seriously if there’s anything about the straight agenda ruining Endgame it’s how borderline soccer mom they managed to make that hair look.

Natasha deserved better and I think we can all agree on that, but here’s hoping that her prequel is deliberately designed to echo the destination we know she’s headed toward and to give her a better resolution more in line with what she deserved. I want to believe that they didn’t give her a full ending entirely because they knew she still had a movie coming up and didn’t want to create that sense of finality that might keep audiences from seeing it. Here’s hoping they can make it work.

Like specifically with very different writers, please. Hopefully a woman. You’ve maybe heard of them before, one of them wrote Guardians, the movie that nobody thought could work and fucking made it work. Yeah.

Tony and Steve were always headed in opposing directions at the end of their arc. This has been covered. Tony went from living selfishly to living selflessly. He went from a playboy bachelor, to a husband, to a father. His one priority when he decided he had to save the world wasn’t even himself, it was specifically keeping his daughter in existence. He went from a selfish dick with daddy issues to someone whose only priority was being a dad.

it was perfect. Like people can say otherwise... but they’re wrong.

I’m an expert on this, clearly. Tony’s death was perfect.

THEY FINALLY GAVE ME RESCUE. I loved everything about it, from Tony planning it carefully for a long time -- like obviously I think it’s because he was customizing the design to be more in line with Pepper’s wants and values, like it is in the comics -- to the fact that it actually does look more defensively focused but still super capable in battle. I want to watch this movie a billion times, honestly, but this scene in particular. I need to know everything about what her suit can do.

Steve was always going to end up settling down. We don’t actually know what he did in his own timeline -- again, IT’S NOT OURS -- so there’s a chance he was still a bit of a troublemaker, but honestly the five years seemed to take a lot out of him. He doesn’t always need a war, and that actually is forward momentum and growth. I get that some people are against the idea and think that getting to be with Peggy was somehow a step back, but I’m not sure I buy that.

Tony taking out the arc reaction at the end of IM3 wasn’t actually about him erasing his trauma or leaving it behind, and Steve getting to be with Peggy doesn’t erase his growth. It was part of it.

Theoretically Sharon was always an option, except the audience (and fandom) response to her was pretty terrible, so actually she wasn’t.

And not to just keep harping on points made in an article that I think is frankly pretty terrible, but Steve going back to the past instead of settling in the present wasn’t about compulsory heterosexuality so much as it was about a franchise that is going to keep making movies needing to keep the next decade of films in mind.

If Steve is still around in the now, that will always linger as a nagging question. The same way that people can’t shut up about where Carol was for the last decade, Steve hanging around in retirement refusing to help would hang over the next phases of movies like a cloud. Putting him in the past lets him live (which he deserves) and clears the slate.

Let Steve rest but, more than that, dear god won’t you please let Chris Evans rest too.

This goes back to how these movies, especially the crossovers, have to work on almost too many levels and it’s frankly shocking that they manage to do it and still have moments of sincere humanity and sweetness.

Like I’m not going to try to oversell it, but seriously fucking think about the fact that one of the most successful blockbuster movies of all time actually has quiet moments where people talk about trauma, loss, parental abuse or neglect, failure, and depression.

Hey remember when the movie gave us acknowledgement of Rhodey and Nebula’s disabilities? In the possibly going to be most successful movie of all time, they had characters with disabilities say how they’re different now but it’s okay, they work with what they got, and they bonded over that and it was so fucking shocking for me and BEAUTIFUL. Just a reminder for us all that THAT happened in the movie that may actually pass Avatar to become the MOST SUCCESSFUL FILM OF ALL TIME.

Just allowing another moment to let that sink in while I try to wrap this up (for now).

ps I can’t believe this movie made me have nice thoughts on Ultron, which I fucking despise with most of my being.

Actually I might have to take back every nice thing I said, just because of the Ultron thing. How dare you, film.

But still lol at the fact that even talking about Ultron for a few seconds was enough to make Tony Stark pass the fuck out. Hard same, Tony.

LOOK OBVIOUSLY I LOVED MORGAN STARK. I AM EXCITED ABOUT MORGAN STARK. SHE IS A PRECIOUS PERFECT ANGEL AND I LOVE HER.

SHIT.

So this is a totally incomplete list but here you go. Some of my thoughts on Endgame.

#avengers 4 spoilers #avengers endgame #avengers endgame spoilers #marvel

339 notes · View notes

heroesmusings · 4 years

Photo

FULL NAME: Thor Odinson

MEANING: Thunder

NICKNAME: Pointbreak

MEANING: It’s what Tony calls him

AGE APPEARANCE: Appears 36, actually over 1000

BIRTHDAY: Unknown

ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Unknown

SPECIES: Asgardian God

GENDER: Cis male

ALLERGIES: None

SEXUAL PREFERENCE: Pansexual

THEME SONG(S): Thunder by Imagine Dragons, Sunlight by Hozier, Lover of the Light by Mumford and Sons, Young Volcanoes by Fall Out Boy

APPEARANCE

HAIR COLOR: Dark Blonde

HAIR STYLE AND LENGTH: At times it can be long to shoulder length but also can be buzzed on the side with a little more on top

EYES COLOR: Blue

EYESIGHT: 20/20 he’s a gOD

HEIGHT: 6″6′

WEIGHT: 235 lbs

OUTFIT/CLOTHING STYLE: Usually he wears his Asgardian get up but when he dresses down he wears jeans and a hoodie

ABNORMALITIES: Missing an eye

DISTINGUISHING MARKS(SCARS,MOLES): Many battle scars cover his body

SELF CARE(MAKE UP): Sometimes sports a beard

FIRST IMPRESSION ON PEOPLE: He looks big and intimidating but he’s actually super friendly once spoken to

SKIN COLOR: White to tan

BODY TYPE/BUILD: He’s built like a goddamn GOD, there is no way to explain it.. He’s big and made of pure muscle

DEFAULT EXPRESSION: He tends to look serious just because he was raised a prince

POSTURE: Thor has perfect posture he was PRINCE OKAY

PIERCINGS: None

DESCRIBE THEIR VOICE: Thor’s voice is deep, with a bit of a forgien accent and when angry his voice carries like thunder

RELATIONS:

MOM: Frigga

HOW WELL DO THEY GET ALONG: Thor was so close to his mother, he adored her with all his heart and misses her every day

DAD: Odin

HOW WELL DO THEY GET ALONG: Thor has mixed feelings when it comes to his father. He used to think of him as a good man but as things came to light and realized some things Thor has slowly come to realize that Odin was never a good father

SIBLINGS: Hela, Loki

HOW WELL DO THEY GET ALONG: Thor loves his brother, sees the good in him but Loki doesn’t like him and neither did Hela…. So not well.

CHILDREN: N/A

HOW WELL DO THEY GET ALONG: N/A

OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS: N/A

PAST LOVER(S): Many one night stands, Jane Foster (ex-girlfriend)

CURRENT LOVER: Bruce Banner

REACTION TO MEETING SOMEONE NEW: He likes making friends he’s really a sweet guy

ABILITY TO WORK WITH OTHERS: Thor is very easy to work with and loves to work with people

HOW SOCIABLE(LONER,ETC): Thor is vERY sociable he loves going out and being around people

FRIENDS: Hemidall, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Carol Danvers, Bucky Barnes, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton and literally anyone else

PETS: None

LEAST FAVORITE TYPE OF PERSON: Anyone who thinks they can take advantage of meeker people

PARENTAL TYPE(PROTECTIVE,ETC): Playful and Protective

FAVORITE PEOPLE: Bruce, Steve, Bucky and Hemidall

LEAST FAVORITE PEOPLE: The Dark Elves, Thaons,

PERSONALITY:

..WHEN YOU FIRST MEET THEM: He looks regal from a distance but he’s very warm and friendly

..AS YOU KNOW THEM BETTER(AND THEY LIKE YOU): Teasing, Excitable, Gentle

..AS YOU KNOW THEM BETTER(AND THEY DISLIKE YOU): Gruff, Cold, Confrontational

FAVORITE COLOR: Silver

FAVORITE FOOD: a stew his mother would make

FAVORITE ANIMAL: ALL ANIMALS, but he’s partial to snakes

FAVORITE INSTRUMENT: ALL OF THEM?

FAVORITE ELEMENT: Fire

LEAST FAVORITE COLOR: White

LEAST FAVORITE FOOD: Weird midgard foods

LEAST FAVORITE ANIMAL: NONE HE LOVES THEM ALL

LEAST FAVORITE INSTRUMENT: None?

LEAST FAVORITE ELEMENT: Water

HOBBIES: training, video games, learning anything he can about earth

USUAL MOOD: Usually in a good mood

DRINK/SMOKE/DRUGS: Drinks socially

DARK VERSION OF SELF: Thor would be the perfect weapon, powerful and unforgiving, the realms would tremble at his feet

LIGHT VERSION OF SELF: close to what he is now, happy and unworried

HOW SERIOUS ARE THEY: IF the situation is a tense one he’s very serious but other than that he’s rather joyful

BELIEVE IN GHOSTS: Yes and no?? He can connect to the allfather but that’s it

(IN)DEPENDANT: Thor thinks himself rather independent but he’s not. He’s very connected to everyone he loves

SOFT SPOT/VULNERABILITY: Talking about any of his family, when people try to threaten the avengers, people hating Hulk

OPINION ON SWEARING: He’s rather clean spoken just because he's a prince

DAREDEVIL VS CAUTIOUS: oooh daredevil

MUSIC TYPE: he leans towards what Steve tends to play, he also loves classical music and typical asgardian music

MOVIE TYPE: Anything ANYTHING

BOOK TYPE: Again Thor loves to learn so anything

GAME TYPE: If it’s Asgardian games, it’s anything that has to do with brute strength or drinking -- human ones he doesn’t really care about

COMFORTABLE TEMPERATURE: Thor likes it a little on the cooler side

SLEEPING PATTERN: When Thor is out HE’S FUCKING OUT, he’s a rock its impossible to move him.

CLEANLINESS/NEATNESS: Thor is used to being cleaned up after but he is polite so he keeps it as clean as he can

DESIRED PET: ALL PETS EVER

HOW DO THEY PASS TIME: Helping rebuild Asgard

BIGGEST SECRET: I don’t know if Thor really has any secrets? He’s an open book anyone can ask him anything

HERO/WHO THEY LOOK UP TO: His mother, Frigga

WHAT ANIMAL WOULD THEY BE: the biggest puppy dog on eaRTH

FEARS: Bruce getting hurt, anything happening to the avengers, and losing Asgard again

COMFORTS: Being around the avengers, spending alone time with Bruce and training

HOW DO THEY ACT WHEN THEY ARE:

SAD: Thor is a prince, he has always been told to hide negative emotions, so Thor bottles it up, he puts on a brave face because he is a warrior and royal. So for a long time no one knows he’s sad until he starts pulling away and secluding himself

HAPPY: Thor is like a ray of sunshine, he talks fast, and tends to just want to touch and laugh

ANGRY: ……………………...AN ANGRY GOD IS NOT SOMETHING YOU WANT. It’s pure rage, the sky turns black -- a storm swirls above him and he’s lit up with lightning. He’s brutal and will not show mercy

AFRAID: Thor doesn’t really fear? He’s never been allowed to fear. He’s a god and he knows his powers but when he is he tries to face it head on, take it by the horns and conquer it.

LOVE SOMEONE: Gentle, and understanding -- he cares deeply about them and checks up on them often. He’s always around and is expressing his admiration for them

HATE SOMEONE: He’s cold, which is a VERY rare thing for thor. He doesn’t hate many but its an angry hate, so if he hates you, then you’ve done something so wrong

WANT SOMETHING: He asks permission.. That is what he was taught to do, so he’s polite as he requests whatever it is.

CONFUSED: He wants it explained to him he loves learning okay

HOW DO THEY REACT TO:

DANGER: THOR LOVES DANGER, but he’s protective if it involves people he loves

SOMEONE THEY HATE WHO HAS A CRUSH ON THEM: I’m sorry if but Thor hate you you are dead no way around it so YOU CANT HAVE A CRUSH

PROPOSAL TO MARRY: Thor would be ????? so confused. He would have not expected such a thing but he’d of course say yes and would want a human and an asgardian wedding

DEATH OF LOVED ONE: He interlizes it, he hasn’t ever had a proper way to express his mourning.. He’s still recovering from the death of his family.

DIFFICULT GAME/MATH/ETC: He’d try the best he can, and usually he figures it out

INJURY: ...he’s a god so he’d just take it as a badge of honor

SOMETHING IRRESISTABLY CUTE: He would want to squish thank you

LOSS OF HOURS OF WORK: Thor doesn’t LOSE hours of work okay he’s always wanted on missions

KNOWLEDGE:

LANGUAGES: Thor has allspeak so literally everything

SCHOOLING LEVEL: Graduated from formal Asgardian education and warrior school

FAVORITE SUBJECT (S): Ya know… fighting

INTERESTED CAREERS: Valkyrie until he realized it was for women only

EXPERTISE: asgardian physiology, weather manipulation, flight, electric manipulation, combat

PUZZLES: Thor would rather hand them off to someone else so he can do other things

CHEMISTRY: for human, not so great at that because he’s not from earth but asgardian chemistry he excelled in it

MATH: Again, human math? Not so great but Asgard? Expert

ENGLISH: HE didn’t HAVE ENGLISH

GEOGRAPHY: he knows how to get to realm to realm

POLITICS/LAW: Given he’s a prince he had to be very involved in all of it

ECONOMY/ACCOUNTING: Again a prince so its his job

COOKING: Nope not at all, he’s always had things cooked for him

SEWING: Medical sewing he’s okay at

MECHANICS: This is just way over Thor’s head all of it

BOTANY (FLOWERS): Not really interested in all of that

MYTHOLOGY: HE IS THE MYTH

DRAMATICS(ACTING,SINGING): Not for him, for Loki maybe

READING LEVEL: Proficient in all languages

HOW GOOD ARE THEY AT PLANNING AHEAD: somewhat? He did have to do battle strategies

ROMANCE:

DO THEY TAKE INITIATIVE: Yes ALL THE TIME, he’s so touch

HOW DO THEY ACT(SHY,ETC): He’s fairly forward honestly

GENTLEMAN/LADYLIKE VS KLUTZY: A GENTLEMAN HE’S PRINCE

GO SLOW VS JUMP INTO: With people before Bruce? He usually just jumped right in but he likes taking it slow with Bruce

PROTECTIVE: uh hell yeah

ACT LIKE FRIENDS OR LOVERS: Both

WHAT KIND OF PRESENTS DO THEY BUY: Thor likes bringing Bruce all sorts of things from Asgard honestly, anything that he thinks Bruce will like he brings

TYPE OF KISSER: Surprisingly, Thor is a very soft and gentle lover. So his kisses are the same, gentle but VERY through

DO THEY WANT KIDS: i don’t…. Know. i actually don’t think it’s crossed his mind?

DO THEY WANT TO MARRY: YES YES

MAKE GOOD OR BAD DECISIONS: Uh both, but he likes to think he’s got good intentions

ARE THEY ROMANTIC: yes OF COURSE

HOW ARE THEY IN BED: Thor’s a god.. And he’s very well versed so sleeping with Thor is truly otherworldly

GET JEALOUS EASY: Actually no, not really

WIFE/HUBBY BEATER: NEVER

MARRY FOR MONEY: LMAO NO NOT AT ALL

FAVORITE POSITION: oh my god.. he for sure likes to top.. Really any position he just likes intimacy

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN ON THEIR DREAM DATE: DATE ON ASGARD, he wants to treat Bruce to a perfect evening on asgard filled with food and magic and science and watch the sunset over the water

OPINION ON SEX: Sex is almost a ritual to him? It’s a very important and meaningful thing.. He never takes having sex lightly. Its meant to be a celebration of intimacy.

#thor ;; bio

0 notes

hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 5 years

Text

Marvel Universe LIVE: Age of Heroes Thoughts

youtube

I just got back from seeing the Marvel Universe LIVE: Age of Heroes stage show at London’s O2 Arena and thought I’d share my thoughts on it.

The first thing I have to acknowledge is that I am absolutely not the target audience for this thing even a little bit.

The target audience is at absolute minimum 5 and at a huge push maybe 12 years old, with 8-10 probably being the sweet spot.

It’s essentially for kids who’ve seen the MCU, the 2010s cartoons, played the most child friendly video games, picked up the sticker books and so forth. If there were any winks to the comics or deep cuts me and my friend (who’ve both been around the block many times when it comes to comics) either didn’t catch them or they might’ve been unintentional.

But what exactly is this?

Simply put it is a stage show that runs under 2 hours (including an intermission) in which a group of heroes engage in stunts and acrobatics in a bare bones story wherein they tangle with Nebula, the Ravagers (including Yondu) and most chiefly Loki across some famous Marvel locations for control of the mystical item, the Wand of Watoomb (which debuted in ASM Annual #2!).

The heroes in question are:

· Doctor Strange

· Star Lord

· Gamora

· Rocket Racoon

· Drax the Destroyer

· Groot

· Spider-Man

· Captain America

· Iron Man

· Thor

· Bruce Banner/the Hulk

· Black Widow

· Wasp (Hope? Janet? It is unclear)

· Black Panther

· And a surprise guest appearance from Iron Fist

There are also some other more minor characters of note too:

· The Chitauri who act as Loki’s soldiers

· Green Goblin

· Rhino

· Lizard

· Electro

· And Black Cat

Sans the Chitauri the latter villains only appear briefly in a battle just there to introduce Spidey and the Avengers (sans Iron Fist, Hulk and Doctor Strange) on stage.

The scenario is Green Goblin is committing a crime in NYC that Spider-Man shows up to stop but is then attacked by Black Cat and soon the other Spidey villains. Ultimately outnumbered and out gunned that’s when the Avengers show up to help.

From there Doctor Strange shows up to inform them that Nebula got her hands on the wand and it’s teleporting her somewhere on Earth (this was all shown earlier in the show during the introduction to the Guardians and Ravagers). With Banner’s help they narrow the locations down to K’un-Lun and Antarctica.

As the Guardians head to Knowhere to get one of the Collector’s items that will be able to take them to the wand, the Avengers split into two groups and head to both locations.

The K’un-Lun team consists of Thor, Iron Man, Wasp and Doctor Strange and the Antarctic team consists of Spidey, Cap, Black Widow and Black Panther.

They plan to bring in Bruce/Hulk if the situation gets really dire, but little do they know Loki has invade Avengers Tower in New York and captured Bruce, casting a spell on him that prevents him from getting angry and thus transforming.

Part 1 concludes with the K’un-Lun team fighting Loki who uses his magic to bring a statue of a dragon (who is clearly meant to be Shou-Lao the Undying) to live. The dragon in turn animates a group of stone soldiers to fight the Avengers who’s abilities are ineffective against them. That’s when Iron Fist appears to help out. Deducing that beating the dragon will enable them to beat the soldiers, Iron Fist ends it and the soldiers are defeated soon after. Unfortunately Loki still captures the Avengers.

In Part 2 the Guardians manage to beat the Ravagers (who are also after Rocket’s bounty) and find what they need to get to Earth.

Meanwhile the second Avengers team have found themselves in the Savage Land and the natives are not pleased to see them. Nebula is teleported there but Spider-Man webs the wand out of her (and everyone else’s) reach thus prompting a battle to reach it in time. The good guys win and use the wand’s power to take them to the other Avengers, unaware they are captured in Loki’s throne room on Asgard.

Loki soon captures everyone but thanks to Rocket’s especially dangerous big gun most of the heroes are freed. The big exception is Bruce. This is a problem because only he can penetrate the force field protecting the wand and avert disaster. Unfortunately his own prison cell won’t open.

The heroes then resolve to use a device Iron Man talked about way back in their introductory battle. In short through the power of combined positive thoughts Iron Man’s device can unleash a powerful burst of energy. The heroes (and the audience) send their positive thoughts and succeed in releasing Banner and unleashing the Hulk who saves the day.

Good guys win. Bad guys lose. The crowd claps and cheers as the actors pose and bow. Hulk and Groot squabble.

Based upon everything above you might be thinking this show is rather...well lame.

However it is in fact really, really fun!

As is so often the case with stage shows you have to actually see them (and really in person) to appreciate them, reading a summary or even a script doesn’t do them justice.

As basic and simple as the plot and characters are (we never see the heroes out of costume for instance) it is all service of the point of the show.

Cool stunts, acrobatics, fight choreography and set pieces with some of your favourite super heroes.

On that front the show is a rousing success and the story mostly works towards that end. You want deep thoughtful Marvel storytelling that’s the movies and the comics. You want just pure superhero fun, this is it.

I guess you could argue the writing could be better because it gives little in the way of stuff for the adults inevitably dragged to this by their kids like many Pixar films succeed in doing.

And yes that would have made this stage show better. Better...but not good. After all where is it written that a stage show made specifically to entertain children and just children is bad merely because it doesn’t seek to do more than that, let alone when it totally succeeds?

The stunt work, acrobatics and effects mind you are not Cirque du Soleil or anything. But they are great for what they are. Almost everything in the fight scenes works for instance, stand outs for me being the Spidey fighting his villains (especially Felicia), Black Cat vs. Black Widow (has that ever even happened in canon?), Black Panther vs. the Rhino, Cap fighting whilst on a motorcycle (I felt the kicks!), Spidey’s own motorcycle stunts (the only time Spidey on a bike has ever been cool), Gamora vs. Nebula and everything with Iron Fist.

The only nitpick I have regarding the fights is that occasionally one character might be off to the side tossing their hands around and stamping for no reason because it isn’t their turn to get involved in the action yet. This happened with Electro actually, I don’t know why. Maybe they felt if they had him actually attack when the heroes were otherwise occupied the villains would just win.

Again though it’s a nitpick. As is the fact that when they introduce us to the Savage Land they reused stock background footage from the ‘Walking with Dinosaurs’ show that played at the O2 Arena earlier this year. To let you appreciate just how much of a nitpick this is, I’m pretty sure I was the only audience member to notice this and that’s purely because by coincidence I saw that very show way back in January.

One final nitpick which is really just me is that the gesticulations the actors make and larger than necessary body movements kind of ruined my emersion a little bit, but that’s probably a necessity for this show.

None of the stage performers were really talking, their dialogue had all been pre-recorded by professional voice actors (Cree Summers and Fred Tatasciore being the more obvious ones I caught) and if their costumes revealed their mouths they just lip-synched. As such those over the top gestures are probably an important part of the performance of the show to bring the characters to life considering there isn’t a single person acting in the role. Plus you need some way of communicating emotions (however simplistic) to the audience through distance (the O2 Arena is huge) and costumes.

Since I know so little about stage productions in general and I’m clearly not the real target demographic for this show (nor do I have children of my own so I can’t even really envision their mindset) I’m just going to talk about the stuff I liked and disliked.

To be honest the only thing I honestly disliked were the Guardians. The Guardians films are wonderful but the unintended consequence of their success is that every iteration of the Guardians thereafter (be it video games or sticker books) based themselves upon the movies. It’s not just that that gets repetitive since there isn’t as much material to draw from but it also has the unfortunate effect of making the Guardians kind of caricatures of themselves. The Guardians movies to be blunt do place the 5 main Guardians within clear cut archetypes and then builds upon that. In other media though they really are just reduced to those archetypes.

Star Lord be the cocky leader who can at times be less smooth than he’d like.

Gamora is the serious warrior woman who rolls her eyes at the antics of her team mates and has a rivalry with her sister.

Drax is also a serious warrior but more direct and there is the gag that he takes things totally literally.

Rocket is the snarky and short tempered one.

Groot is the heavy who prefers to be a gentle giant and is Rocket’s BFF.

Because they have been like that in EVERYTHING sans the MCU it’s like watching an old cartoon from the 80s or something where you know exactly what every character is going to do and how they are going to do it because everything is so stock.

In this production that’s not really that big of a problem since everyone is so simplistic and the spectacle is really the entire point. But for me personally I did just get a little bored with their scenes whereas with the Avengers I was at least curious how they were going to do Thor, Cap, Black Panther, etc. Even if their take was what was most likely and little different to most other media to feature these characters in current pop culture, there was just more there for me.

Seeing Banner used as the tech guy but also secret weapon hasn’t been done to death or the only direction you could realistically have expected for the character to have gone in this. And that’s owed to the Hulk having a long and rich history in the comics and other media from which to draw from. The Guardians technically have that, but they were so minor before the film, the simplistic takes based on the film became the default and I knew that within five seconds. Hence their scenes felt like going through the motions whenever they were talking.

Everything else in the show though I really enjoyed. I’m not going to call out the show for doing Green Goblin, Lizard or Black Cat wrong because the nature of the show simply didn’t demand it. the project called for some recognizable and colourful Spider-Man villains that could be practically realized on stage and fight the Avengers. Venom comes with baggage and is kind of too similar to Spider-Man is spectacle is all you are going for and Doc Ock or Scorpion would’ve been way too expensive. So who else are you going to have lead the villains besides the Goblin, who’s abilities allow for aerial stunts and the like? Felicia I grant you could’ve been switched out for the Shocker or someone, maybe they felt they should have at least one other female villain somewhere in the show besides Nebula.

I didn’t care though. Seeing Felicia at all in other media is generally a treat for me and seeing her realized in live action for the first time ever (in a comic book accurate outfit no less) just put a grin on my face as did seeing her duel with Black Widow.

In fact the entire Spider-Villain brawl was the highlight of the show for me and I didn’t even know it was going to be in the thing. As each villain showed up me and my friend were squealing under our breaths. If only they’d had one more villain though we could’ve gotten ourselves a Sinister Six.

How about Spider-Man himself? He was mostly done well too. Now he was obviously influenced by the USM cartoon version of Spider-Man so he sounded like Drake Belle...but a way more tolerable not really annoying Drake Belle. There was also only one moment in the show he was made to look the buffoon. Technically there was another when he was figuring out how to ride the motorcycle but that was an excuse for some impressive stunt work so it’s forgivable.

Speaking of stunt work...they straight up had Spider-Man swinging around the stage at various points, coming close to the audience and thwipping at times! It was spectacular and sensational. He even had an aerial tussle with the Goblin on his glider. That officially makes this more successful than Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark in that regard. They seemed to save Spider-Man swinging around for big moments of the show too, like they knew that was going to be the most impressive thing about it.

They also mercifully didn’t make Spider-Man sellout to the Avengers or Iron Man in any way. Iron Man isn’t treated as his Dad and he and Spider-Man barely talk to one another. Equally whilst Spider-Man is an Avenger in this and is rescued by them, it’s exactly once and he is shown to hold his own as an equal with any of the team. In fact he’s arguably the MVP of the Savage Land battle when he gets the wand.

He also has the best line of the show and one of the best I’ve ever heard from Spider-Man in general. I’m paraphrasing but it goes like this when he’s addressing Nebula (IIRC) after removing the wand from her:

“With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility. And you don’t seem like the responsible type.”

I question how 55 years of Spider-Man comics elapsed with the character never saying that before this stage show!

Besides Spider-Man the character I enjoyed the most in this was Iron Fist.

I’m not a huge Iron Fist fan, I actually find him kind of pointless whenever he’s not teamed up with Luke Cage. But the mere fact that he showed up at all, that the producers cared enough to use him when he hasn’t been in a movie and kids would only know him from the USM cartoon showed there was a respect underlying the production of this show.

More poignantly these less than 30 minutes of stage time Iron Fist got in this did him better than the entire 13 agonizing hours of his Netflix show and to be honest even his much improved second season. The bare minimum anyone wanted out of this character was him to wear the suit, light up his fist and kick pull off some cool martial arts moves.

Netflix instead gave us boardroom politics for practically a whole season whilst this stage show nailed it in 5 seconds. The action choreography was especially great with him in fact and whilst his costume was unique to anything I’ve seen in the comics it captured the gist of his comic book outfits. In fact I’d go so far as to say that this might be the best Iron Fiat outfit ever!

Hulk and Groot were well realized through actors using stilts and I’m actually surprised they made Hulk the show stopper. The whole show was building towards his transformation. Maybe they just realized if he was always there they’d win too easily. I prefer to think the producers just liked Hulk that much.

Over here in the UK, obviously the MCU is big. But for most of the last 50 odd years Spider-Man and Hulk were far and away the most popular Marvel characters. Maybe that’s why they got the best moments in the show?

Iron Man was also used quite well. They respected that because he’s the most famous/popular MCU star not called Spider-Man they had to give him one big moment, but he didn’t steal the show or save the day or get more attention (outside of that moment) than anyone else the way it was too often in the MCU.

His big moment came from when the showmakers apparently either really liked the Happiness Gun from Maximum Carnage or really liked the Spirit Bomb from Dragon Ball Z because Tony’s super positive thoughts device was essentially the same concept.

4 notes · View notes

traincat · 6 years

Note

While talking about mcu spider-man I said that I didn’t like how they infantilized him and named a few other changes I disliked (I wasn’t bashing him just saying I was dissatisfied), she said, “but that’s how he was in the comics.” I didn’t want to come off like a jerk by correcting her and it wasn’t that important so I just moved on lol. Do you talk about comics irl and, if so, how do you generally respond to people who have firm opinions about comics they haven’t read without being shitty.

I’ve had the Homecoming discussion a little irl. It’s a very different dynamic talking about it one on one, in a lot of ways more uncomfortable than talking about it online, even if the conversation is civil on both sides. Usually when I’m talking about comics with people irl they’re people who also know me online, too, so we’re generally aware of each other’s opinions in that regard.

Here’s the thing: it’s very hard to convince someone who has firm opinions about something they haven’t read if they’re not receptive to the idea that they might be wrong, which can, you know, be generally hard for us as humans. Short of tying your friend to a chair and showing her a slideshow of all your favorite Peter Parker moments (not recommended, legally), it can be very difficult. It sounds like you want to get your point across as politely and non-confrontationally as possible; is it possible for you to recommend or loan her some comics you particularly like, or that you think are a good example of 616 Peter’s personality? I personally recommend Kraven’s Last Hunt: it’s atmospheric and intense, the Peter voice is great, and it’s a very self-contained story. The Death of Jean DeWolff is also good – it’s a murder mystery, and if your friend likes Daredevil, he plays an important part in it, so that could be an extra hook. If your friend is open to reading some comics, then afterwards you can sit down and be like “I like x and y about Peter in the comics, and I felt it was lacking from the MCU,” etc, and then your friend might have a better idea of what you’re talking about. Alternatively, if your friend doesn’t want to read comics, if you can politely but firmly say, “But I have read the comics, and I disagree with that statement,” that’s an option too.

I’ve said this before, but is very, very easy to feel like you know all about Spider-Man comics before you read them. This is true of a lot of comics, but especially Spider-Man. I mean, we’re inundated with his image. A lot of people generally feel like they know him without reading the comics, because he’s Spider-Man! He’s a cultural icon! Yadda yadda Uncle Ben, yadda yadda he’s young, yadda yadda jokes. Your friend has repeatedly been told this is what Peter’s like, and, besides the fact that you’re her friend and she should value your input and opinion, she has little reason to believe otherwise, because like I mentioned in a different post, there are a lot of people out there – popular people, whose opinions are widely circulated – who speak about Spider-Man with a lot of authority while simultaneously making it clear to anybody who has read Spider-Man that they either don’t know what they’re talking about or are being willfully ignorant of the facts for whatever reason. It’s why it’s very important to me personally that I cite comics by issue number and that I provide as much context as I can, usually in the form of panels. I don’t know your friend, but I know the trend of infantilizing Spider-Man in fandom, and in her defense it is very widespread, very concrete, and very easy to fall into. Ten years ago it wasn’t nearly as bad and I still fell into it before I started reading Spider-Man. (I’m not saying you have to read everything, or even anything, to talk about a character in a fannish space, but if you’re going to label yourself an expert on the comics specifically and present yourself as an authority, you should like, probably know that he was married for decades, or that there is a cloth version of the black suit, or when Venom debuted, just to name some examples I’ve seen.)

I’m going to give two examples of how people ignore context and how that leads to the infantilization of Peter due to a genuine lack of familiarity, using two different sets of panels I’ve seen used in actual posts promoting the idea that this is what Peter is really like in the comics. They might be useful if you try and talk to your friend about it again; I’ve tried to break down the way information gets twisted around, and how we can avoid it. More under the cut, because it got long.

1) Ignoring context:

Amazing Spider-Man v3 (2014) #2. So in this scene, which takes place shortly after Peter has gotten his body back from Doc Ock’s bodysnatching extravaganza in Superior Spider-Man, he shows up at the Avengers tower with cookies, saying he brought some for everyone. The implication then, if you look at these panels on their lonesome, which is how I recently saw them presented in a tweet I may or may not have quotetweeted with the truth, is that he baked cookies for the Avengers. The tweet attached to these panels was about how the MCU’s version of Peter is clearly just like the comics, because he does stuff like this. What a nice boy. (I don’t remember anyone baking anything in Homecoming, sidenote.)

Let’s tackle the first half of that problem, if you actually read the issue, which is that he did not bake the cookies.

Anna Maria Marconi, who was deceived by Doc Ock into thinking she was in a relationship with the real Peter Parker, baked the cookies. She thinks better when she’s cooking. (As for the fact that Peter ended up bringing the cookies – aside from the fact that I don’t think Slott in the best Spider-Man writer in the world, to say the least, this is a man who was a high school teacher, and a well-liked one. He knows enough about bringing some for the whole class.)

Now, let’s tackle the second part, which is that almost immediately after Peter shows up with the cookies Anna Maria made, he finds out that Captain America kept (government secret) information pertaining to one of his closest friends from him. So he hits him in the face.

Which is pretty standard operating procedure for Mr. Machismo Issues. The tweet I saw, which had a not insignificant amount of retweets and likes, did not give context. It did not say that Anna Maria baked the cookies, and not Peter. It did not mention that in the same scene, Peter punches Captain America in the face over information that, honestly, Steve was not at liberty to discuss with him, being that it involved classified government information, and that Peter felt entitled to because it involved someone Peter loves dearly. It didn’t even give an issue number so that people who were intrigued by the content, however irresponsibly I would suggest it was presented, could go and look up the issue for their own enjoyment. It posted a series of panels out of context and said, “and that’s why the MCU’s version of Peter is just like the one in the comics.” And that’s a problem.

“You know you’re not wearing the armor right now, right?” vs “I’m nothing without this suit.” (Amazing Spider-Man #522) If you prefer one character over the other, that’s your prerogative, and I mean that sincerely. But MCU Spider-Man and 616 Spider-Man are very different characters. It’s understandable that people who want content for one might not enjoy content built around the other, and that goes in both directions.

By denying context, it is very easy to build the narrative that you want. It’s something I’m very aware of when I post panels and meta. And maybe the person who posted that tweet only had those panels – maybe someone gave that to them, without context, or they simply saw it posted elsewhere on its own, and they were drawing conclusions based on the evidence they were given. But that in itself is a problem, too: when people are denied context, they form it however they can.

2) Jumping to conclusions:

Amazing Spider-Man v2 #52. Oh boy, this scene. This scene is easy to misinterpret, because unlike the example I gave above, it needs a lot more context than just two other pages. I saw a general Spider-Man blog post this once, which would not have been my call, but hey, everyone gets to post what they want, and that’s why this website looks like it does. (badumpsh) Understandably, because Peter is portrayed as uncomfortable by this sexy stewardess’ advances, and because the common perception of Spider-Man is as a young teenager, someone replied, “Smart boy! He’s only 16.” That person was commenting with the best of intentions, based around the knowledge they possessed at the time, and complicated by the fact that this period of Amazing Spider-Man uses lower case letters, a lettering trait commonly used in the Ultimate universe, where Peter in fact is 15. So if you’re not familiar with the comic, the scene becomes that this woman is acting predatory towards an underaged boy. This is why I personally would not have posted it by itself, because it is very easy to misread the situation.

What’s actually going on here is that Peter, who is in his mid-to-late 20s, who has been married to Mary Jane for years, who had a child with her (that child died), is uncomfortable with this woman’s advances for two reasons: one, she is being paid to make those advances. Peter is at this time in canon working for a mob boss and being paid quite handsomely to defend him from a radioactive zombie hulk monster, and doing so under the logic that he would defend the man anyway so he might as well get paid for it. (He would later use the money for charitable causes.) The mob boss is flying Peter out on his private plane, and he is essentially pimping this woman out to him as a bonus perk. It’s understandable why Peter would turn her down firmly. The second reason is that, after a long separation, he has only just gotten back together with Mary Jane, and he’s trying to behave as best as he can because he wants to stay together with Mary Jane. The joke is predicated on the reader’s knowledge of that, along with their understanding that in comics Peter Parker is, how shall we say, an avid appreciator of the female form.

(Spectacular Spider-Man #162)

(Amazing Spider-Man #606)

(Amazing Spider-Man #357)

(Spider-Man Unlimited #21)

(Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #5)

(Amazing Spider-Man #519)

(Peter Parker v2 #19)

Yes, that’s a tasteful full length nude poster of his wife he’s got there in his room. But the point is, if you don’t read comics, you have no way of knowing this. You only know what people who are widely recirculated say about Spider-Man, and many of the widely circulated opinions are from people who don’t read comics. And that’s frustrating to me, and I don’t know what to do about it other than talk about it, and talk about the comics, and make the issue numbers and information as accessible to people as I can, because I love this character, and I love how weird and complicated and individual and angry and loving he is, and I want to see him represented more. Because the infantilization of Spider-Man didn’t start with the MCU. Fandom is more visible than it’s ever been, and fandom created this characterization first. I saw it years before Marvel Studios acquired the rights back. The MCU only capitalized on what they saw people claiming Spider-Man should be all along. But it’s not who Peter is in the comics when he is written his best, which is responsible, mature, incredibly complicated, frequently serious, and extremely individual.

I hope you can have a good conversation with your friend about it, anon.

#peter parker #*replies #long post/#traincat talks comics #traincat talks homecoming #(barely but if anyone blacklists it etc)

74 notes · View notes

wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 6 years

Text

Ready Player One review

People who say “The book is always better than the movie!” tend to be foolish people who view literature as an inherently flawless medium incapable of doing wrong. To say that, you need to ignore literature that is objectively better than the source material to the point even the authors prefer it, such as Fight Club, Jaws, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, or films that greatly improved the work they’re adapting by trimming the fat, such as V for Vendetta and (oh boy I’m probably gonna get shit for this) The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Today’s film is one such film in the latter category, directed by a man behind one of the films mentioned in the former category, a film no one except me thought would be as good as it is: Ready Player One.

The book is easily one of the most contentious novels I’ve ever seen, a truly “love it or hate it” affair. I liked the novel; I read it when I was going through a really rough time back in 2012 or so, and a lot of its themes resonated with me. It’s a cheesy, charming book that unfortunately has a few really cringey bits of writing in it and unfortunately due to its medium spends a lot of time explaining references you wouldn’t see otherwise. I’d put the book on the same level as Eragon; it’s cheesy and has some dumb writing here and there, but overall it’s enjoyable. But even I realized a film could help trim a lot of the fat of this novel and polish it into something grand, and when I heard Spielberg was at the helm I slept a lot easier, figuring that would be the case.

And it was. This movie is a lot better than the book in most regards. But let’s look at the plot first:

In the year 2045, in a world where things seem bleak and joyless, people turn to the virtual reality world of the OASIS, where they can be anyone or anything they want. Its creator, a man named Halliday, created a contest for all the people of the OASIS to take part in after he died, in which the goal was to find the ultimate Easter Egg. Whoever found the three keys and then the Easter Egg would become rich, powerful, and most importantly they would own the OASIS. Wade Watts, known in the OASIS as Parzival, is an average guy who eventually stumbles across the answer of how to get the first key. But he’s not the only person gunning after the prize; the corporation IOI and its douchey head honcho Nolan Sorrento are after total control so they can spam ads and basically make the place a microtransaction nightmare. Can Wade, with the help of his best pal Aech, his love interest Art3mis, and his buddies Daito and Sho manage to stop IOI or is this end of line for the users?

WARNING: THERE’S GONNA BE SPOILERS BELOW.

So I’m gonna go over some of the things I didn’t like in the adaptation first, which honestly mostly amount to nitpicks. The diminished importance of Rush is a bit sad, though it’s kind of understandable since all of the challenges were streamlined and simplified for the movie. That doesn’t suck as much to me as the complete cutting of the Ladyhawke segment, as this book is what introduced me to that movie and I was hoping to see some reference to it. Changing up Aech the way they did kind of diminishes the impact of her reveal, and speaking of which, a lot of characters and backstory are glossed over or ignored, most egregiously Ogden Morrow. The book went into a bit more detail into Morrow, co-creator of the OASIS, and Halliday’s relationship, but in the film Morrow is seemingly shunted aside for much of the film. I don’t think any of this really ruins the film per se, but it certainly makes it a different beast from the book.

Now, time to sing the praises of this film: the visuals are stunning. The OASIS is a major focus of the movie, as it should be, and we get to see so many creative visuals and ideas take place, as well as insane amounts of crossover characters. You’d need to freeze frame every single crowd shot to catch them all; just watching it as I did I saw Duke Nukem, Jason Voorhees, the Battletoads, Hello Kitty, Harley Quinn, the Joker, Batman, and more among the crowds. It’s a lot like Wreck-It Ralph in that regard. Frankly, I kind of wish the entire film was just in the OASIS, because all of it is just so fascinating and fun and visually appealing… special props need to go to the extended trip into The Shining, which was recreated with eerie accuracy up until the parts where things go off the rails. I think this movie may be Spielberg’s greatest achievement visually speaking.

The parts of the film that take place in the real world aren’t nearly as good, but I don’t think they were necessarily bad either. They definitely had their good moments, and they certainly helped progress the plot forward as well as being important to the film’s overall message of “Don’t ignore reality in favor of escapism, because reality is where what’s most important really is.” And a good message that is, especially in today’s day and age. Still, some of the acting in the real world can be wonky, mostly whenever Wade is having romantic moments with Samantha AKA Art3mis. They do get better as the film progresses, but their romance arc in this movie is easily a weak point with how rushed and awkward it is. Guess Ernest Cline’s co-writing credit is really shining through there.

Our main characters themselves are all fairly well done, in OASIS and outside of it, though again, Wade and Samantha’s relationship in reality is a bit awkwardly written, and it’s not much better in the OASIS though there’s some more cool visuals to help you stomach things, but overall those two are enjoyable protagonists. Aech is still as cool as ever, though I am a bit disappointed they changed her character so much it made the impact of learning she’s a black lesbian (the latter fact is there but glossed over) a lot less impactful, as instead of her avatar being a white dude, it’s a hulking cyborg ogre. Still, I can’t deny Aech is still as cool as ever. Daito and Sho are also cool and have their roles expanded a bit from the book. Better yet, Daito does not get killed, so no awkward seppuku references that will make you cringe!

The villains are pretty cool too. First up is the OASIS insider I-R0k, played by T.J. Miller in his first act of penance for The Emoji Movie. It’s so fucking funny seeing this hulking, menacing death lord with skulls and shit all over him talk in the most nerdy voice imaginable. Still, he manages to shockingly be a menacing and capable threat, unlike his lame book counterpart. Then w e have the new villainess, F’Nale Zandor, a new character created for the film who serves as big bad Nolan Sorrento’s right-hand woman, acting out his evil schemes in the real world. She’s pretty cool and badass, and plays her role well enough; she’s sort of like a low-tier Bond henchman. Then we have Nolan himself, and while he is a stereotypical 80s corporate villain – a fact that even he lampshades – it’s hard not to appreciate a villain whose online avatar looks like Senator Armstrong and who calls forth Mechagodzilla as his ride in the final battle.

Speaking of the final battle, it is absolutely epic, but there has been a bit of contention due to the inclusion of the Iron Giant, and how it somehow goes against the non-violent themes of his titular movie. Well, you can rest easy in knowing that it’s just a giant mecha being piloted by Aech, and mostly what it’s doing is protecting everyone else from Mechagodzilla. The Iron Giant vs. Mechagodzilla is the greatest matchup I never knew I wanted.

Spielberg managed to do exactly what I expected him to do: he distilled everything that was good about the book, filtered out what didn’t work, and made a fun movie out of it. I can’t really justify totally calling this a style over substance film like I could with Batman v Superman or Miss Peregrine’s, because there actually is enough substance here to be serviceable and it has a very good message about the dangers of escapism and how allowing corporations to take away the neutrality of things is bad, but it’s definitely a movie you’re gonna wanna see for all the visuals more than anything. It’s a lot like Doctor Strange in that regard.

This is a great movie. Yes, great. If you love some really fucking cool visuals and can handle tons of cheese, this is the film for you. Honestly, it’s weird, but I’d really recommend this to everyone who disliked the book; you may find in a lot of ways that this is the book done RIGHT. As for people who love the book, this may be very much a love or hate affair; me, I loved it. I honestly can’t wait to watch it again and see what other secrets and cameos I pick up on, and just to bask in the glorious visuals of the OASIS. Leave it to Spielberg to polish something like Ernest Cline’s writing and produce a diamond, or at least a gemstone of significant value. It’s not a perfect film at all, but it IS a fun, enjoyable, and exciting one… kinda like a lot of the 80s films that inspired it.

#Review #movie review #Ready Player One #RPO #Steven Spielberg #Ernest Cline #VR #Virtual reality #OASIS #80s #sci-fi #action #adventure

117 notes · View notes

solivar · 6 years

Text

WIP: Matryoshka

A slice of life in Hong Kong.

Written for my dearest @exmachinus ‘ natal day. I’m afraid it’s going to have to be a fic in two parts, my fic-daughter, because my brain is running out of coherent sentences.

Hanzo Shimada was a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, and, frankly, is was driving Jesse McCree out of his goddamned mind.

For a significant number of years Jesse had cherished a rather fixed idea of who and what Hanzo Shimada was: the sort of man who, at the behest of his clan’s elders, would murder his own brother, then turn around and abandon the whole lot of them to their fate when Blackwatch came calling to end their criminal empire, scampering out ahead of a whole can of asswhup, only to turn up years later as one of the world’s best and most sought after and highly paid assassins, with corporate robber barons, corrupt military officials, and the heads of at least two fairly nasty and dysfunctional states on his confirmed resumé. A coldly self-interested bastard, in short, who valued nothing more highly than the sanctity of his own admittedly very pretty skin and the resources necessary to maintain it in the fashion to which it had become accustomed during his brief stint as kumicho of the Shimada-gumi. That idea had calcified over the years and settled into the bedrock of his preconceived notions with nothing to alter or dislodge it -- particularly not Genji Shimada, the aforementioned murdered brother plucked more dead than alive out of Hanamura and reconstructed as a moderately psychotic cyborg killing machine with knives for ankles and a seething hatred of his brother matched only by his seething hatred of himself, and certainly not the years he spent on the run after the fall of the ‘Watches, trying to avoid the sort of attention that would shorten his own lifespan rather significantly.

At some point in there, though, Genji found religion. Or he found himself. Or he found religion and himself and, upon doing so, decided that he didn’t really want the brother who had wronged him so profoundly dead any longer. Jesse could respect that in a man. Revenge was the sort of vice that lacked any meaningful step-down program and learning that his dearest friend, his brother in all but blood, had decided to forgo it for his own emotional and spiritual good was entirely understandable. Less entirely understandable? When he found himself looking at a combination contractual/emotional blackmail agreement under which he found himself relocating to Hong Kong to act as the bodyguard for said stone-cold snake/coldblooded assassin brother.

The least comprehensible part of all?

The moment he watched Hanzo Shimada, startlingly hot ice-cold rat-bastard, hurrying across the lobby of the ritzy arcology complex in which they lived to help one of his little old lady neighbors with her shopping bags, a thing he seemed to do on the regular. Regularly enough that she greeted him by name -- not his real name, of course, but Kira Ishinomori, the alias he used to all his neighbors and to Jesse himself -- and patted his arm and called him a good boy and gave his hulking giant of an American boyfriend the stink-eye when he came over to help. Hanzo/Kira’s neighbors were more or less evenly split among those who thought that Jesse/Jesse was the best possible thing that could happen to their shy and withdrawn neighbor who clearly wasn’t actually a serial killer despite his weird habit of disappearing at random in the middle of the night and those who wanted him to walk off a balcony in the dark and fall thirty stories to his death because they had cherished some hope of setting said neighbor up with one or more of their grandchildren. Mrs. Takaguchi-Simmons was one of the latter and regarded him with baleful disfavor even as he helped hump approximately six thousand pounds of groceries up five flights of stairs because the lifts were acting up again.

Hanzo/Kira’s neighbors would, each and every one, flatly refuse to believe that he had ever been a gangster-lord, a brother-murdering kinslayer, or was currently a professional assassin, even if they were shown incontrovertible evidence to the contrary -- which, as a matter of fact, they saw at least semi-regularly in the form of elaborate ink because the man didn’t always wear button-down sleeves. Hanzo/Kira was the sort who, when he knew a neighbor or a neighbor’s child was sick, would turn up on the doorstep with a pot of warm okayu and another pot of tea and would sit with the invalid while they ate and do the dishes afterwards. Hanzo/Kira always remembered birthdays and anniversaries -- Jesse knew because Toshokan-in’s calendar was full of reminders -- and he always bought or made at least a card and usually acquired some small but appropriate gift, as well. Hanzo/Kira was respectful of and helpful to his elderly neighbors with the reflexive deference of someone raised from the cradle to honor his elders, even the immensely crotchety Old Man Zheng, who had been the leading proponent of the serial killer explanation for his erratic comings and goings and who had lost quite a bit of money in the arcology betting pool when Jesse showed up to disprove it. Hanzo/Kira could occasionally be found sitting on the balcony smiling wistfully over the antics of the neighborhood children and slipping them candy and small bits of spending money when their parents weren’t looking. Hanzo/Kira interrogated him with immense casualness about his likes and dislikes, the things he preferred and those he merely endured, somehow sussed out his birthday from that information and baked him a cake, bought him a box of his favorite cigars and a fifty year old bottle of bourbon, and watched a John Ford movie marathon with him as they snuggled down together on the kotatsu and got happily shitfaced on forty-thousand dollar hooch.

Jesse was having significant quantities of trouble believing it himself and he knew every bit of it was true. Had trouble since the moment they’d met, when Hanzo/Kira had swooped out of nowhere to literally step on the heads of obnoxious punks causing him grief and seriously testing his desire to avoid attention from local law enforcement. Had trouble since that first morning/afternoon when Hanzo/Kira had floated the obvious explanation for his sudden advent with the word lovers and then took to cultivating the appearance with enthusiasm and verve. Had trouble because nowadays he was waking up every morning with his arms and head and heart all full of him and, oh, was he ever fucked.

Flickers of the sort of cold he’d expected from the start showed through every now and again, but they were few and far between. The most obvious and most persistent was the spare bedroom he’d turned into a walk-in storage and manufacture closet for his weapons, protected from accidental access by its own security system, to which he’d only been permitted entry once, and he had come out with a cold shiver lodged in the base of his spine that had refused to thaw all day. Hanzo/Kira had not, to his knowledge, accepted any side contracts since taking him in, ostensibly to protect him from his numerous enemies both real and fictional. Jesse was legitimately unsure of what he’d do or say if he did, since at least some of the proceeds from that particular profession were fueling his current lifestyle, which involved eating delicious food prepared by a man who really knew how to cook, drinking the best class of booze he had enjoyed in many a long year, indulging his favorite old hobby (photography) and his favorite new hobby (lounging in the sun smoking and playing endless games of Mah Jong with two salty old men), updating Joel Morricone’s blog on a significantly more regular basis, and sleeping safe and warm in the arms of a man who could probably kill him with his toes alone.

(“How much of this comes from…” He’d begun to ask one day only to come to a halt when one of those flickers of cold happened -- Kira’s warm amber-brown eyes icing over and his face going utterly still and he knew he was looking on the last thing at least a few people in the world had ever seen.

“My day job?” Hanzo Shimada had asked, and the silky-cold smoothness of it had sent a chill rolling down his back. “Less than you might think. If it bothers you --”

“Oh no. No. I was just --” He reached over the breakfast table and caught his hand. “A li’l curious, is all.”

“Ah.” A little smile twitched at the corner of his mouth and a certain impish gleam came into his eyes and the cold was gone just like that. “To be honest, before I left Japan I extracted my entire trust fund and moved it into an anonymous offshore account. Genji’s, as well. Once matters settled enough to allow it, I laundered it through a number of different operations, and placed most of it in a highly diversified investment portfolio. I have been living off the proceeds ever since.” He picked up and nibbled at an apricot. “Honestly, the first goal of any Yakuza worth the name is extracting as much profit as possible from any enterprise in which he involves himself. You have no idea how close I am to being a CPA.”

“So, uh,” Jesse had asked, “why the killin’ people?”

“Some people deserve to die,” Had replied Hanzo Shimada and Jesse fell a little bit more in love than he’d been before.)

And, yes, he was in love. Deeply, fucking stupidly in love, with his best friend’s big brother, with whom he was sleeping nightly, chastely, platonically. And it was killing him. Killing him dead. It was not only that he was hotter than the photosphere of the sun, all warm golden eyes and silver-threaded black hair and regal aquiline features you’d find in paintings of Heian court noblemen and a body kept in shape through regular exercise that did not partake of the hellborn abomination known as jogging. It was not only that he seemed perpetually bathed in a gentle, intoxicating blend of cedar-cinnamon-sandalwood-spice that invaded the senses and worked its way into his dreams and likely was the sort of thing that would make men far straighter than himself seriously question their sexuality. It was absolutely not only the cooking.

It was a blend of all the things he’d show himself to be since he’d come into Jesse’s life, or Jesse had come into his, and Jesse was absolutely, one hundred percent certain that Hanzo or Kira or Hanzo and Kira recognized absolutely none of them, because the man could, transparently, only barely stand to live in his own skin.

He had come upon the knowledge, randomly and unexpectedly, in the dead of night, when he was woken from a deep and dreamless sleep by the desperate, pained whimpers of an animal with its leg caught in a trap. Or, at least that’s what he thought it was, as his mind swam up from the depths, and then crashed into reality, which was a cold spot at his side that Hanzo usually occupied and sounds that were half-words and half-not, emanating from where he lay curled around himself at the edge of the bed.

“Kira?” Jesse had asked, thoughts fuzzy and muddled with sleep and then, when some of what the man whispering, over and over like a panic mantra, made its way through, “Hanzo?”

He hadn’t responded, except to curl up tighter and sob aloud, words in Japanese he wished he didn’t know but did, from experiences similar. It had taken him awhile to bring him back down, with soft words and gentle touches, and in the morning he had still been quiet and withdrawn. Kira had spent the next few days making a good attempt at being the Best Human Ever, with not a single glimpse of Hanzo peeking through, not matter how alone they were. Jesse had spent them mulling over the knowledge that, even though Genji was alive and had granted his forgiveness freely, Genji’s brother didn’t think he deserved it and still dreamt of why. Spent even more thinking of Kira and of Hanzo and whether or not Hanzo realized they weren’t two different people, not a role and a real person, but one whole being, because nobody, no matter how dedicated they were to verisimilitude, actually bothered to make friends with other people’s kids unless he really enjoyed it, or made his best girl friend a medicinal rub to make her nasty asshole granddaddy less unbearable, or behaved like a basically decent human as completely and reflexively as he did without actually being one. Wondered if there were anything he could do to make him see it, or believe it.

#WIP Matryoshka

36 notes · View notes

marshlightningrass · 6 years

Text

FALLOUT → MUFFY

TAGGING → Buffy Bubbles (@buffybubbles) & Marsh Lightningrass

TIMELINE → Friday, November 3, 2017

SETTING → 1128 Wizard Way

SUMMARY → Gwen drops off a little present for Buffy and Marsh.

Marsh was relieved to have a night off from Pizza Planet; all the younger kids who hung out there were probably still apeshit from whatever drama they'd caused on Halloween night, and he'd much rather chill than have to overhear all the bullshit serving pizzas all night long. He had no idea where the fuck Kitten was and he was happy to keep it that way, and with Hattie off with her boyfriend or something, that left the house to him and Buffy. He didn't have free food for her like he would have if he'd worked today, but he did have his excellent company, and hopefully that was more than good enough. Plopping down on the couch beside her, he pointed to an unmarked DVD on the table, asking, "What's this? You got a surprise movie for me or something?"

Buffy looked up from her phone as soon as Marsh sat down and shrugged at his question about the mysterious dvd that she'd gotten in the mail. "I don't know actually. But someone delivered it in the mail for me today and I didn't want to watch it myself in case it was something scary. Wanna see what this is with me first and then binge something stupid on Netflix? I can make us some edibles after this is over of you want?" She offered, picking up the DVD to stick it in the player

Marsh quirked an eyebrow. Who even still watched DVDs these days? It seemed a little weird, but he was definitely intrigued by it. "You better make lots of edibles 'cause if this turns out to be some kind of 'The Ring' shit we're gonna die in seven days anyway," he teased, leaning back on the couch and spreading his arms out across the back of it, kicking his feet up to put on the table while he waited for Buffy to put the movie in. "Should we take bets on what it's gonna be or just hit play?"

Buffy rolled her eyes at Marsh and kicked him softly before getting up and putting the dvd in. "Don't jinx us, jerk! But it's probably not a Ring tape, this dvd looks petty new." She remarked, sticking the dvd in and then picking the remote up before sitting back down on the couch longways so that she could put her feet up in Marsh's lap. "I'm not letting you guess anything after that ring comment, so lets just watch it already." Buffy laughed, turning the video on.

Marsh shrugged, pointing out, "They make new Ring movies all the time -- or they could, at least. I'm pretty sure they just made a new Saw and there was no way that shit needed a sequel, they could do anything." Marsh rolled his eyes fondly at her as she decided to use his lap as a foot pillow; he didn't mind being pinned to the couch like that, it wasn't was though he had anywhere better to be than hanging out with one of his favorite people. Now all that was left was to squint at the TV as he waited for the video to actually show something... although he was sure some of the color drained from his face as it started playing and he recognized the start of the Shiggles interview he'd agreed to do with Gwen. He snuck a glance towards Buffy, worried about what her reaction might be. It wasn't a secret; it was on YouTube and all, but he doubted she was a big fan of Lui and Gwen's show.

Buffy was trying to think up a response to Marsh's comment about the saw remake when she was suddenly distracted by the screen. Even though Marsh was the only one on the screen, she knew exactly who's voice it was interviewing him and it was not a voice she'd been expecting in the slightest. Buffy wasn't really one for having people that she actively disliked very much, she considered such negativity to be way too toxic but Gwen Shell was a MAJOR exception to that and she was sure Marsh knew that very well. "Oh. Since when are you friends with Gwen enough to do an interview with her?" She asked, in a monotone that gave away absolutely nothing about her emotions as she continued to stare at the screen almost passively as Gwen's voice giggled and cooed and the camera moved in a way that clearly meant that Gwen had moved to sit on Marsh's lap.

Marsh shrugged, pointing out, "I've known her forever, we just started running in different crowds in high school." He was sure he'd mentioned that to Buffy before, although it had probably been more of a complaint than a comment at that point in time; being in Walt at the same time and in the same kind of bodies hadn't exactly gone the way he'd always hoped it would. Still... Gwen wasn't as terrible as she'd made herself seem, he saw glimpses of the girl he'd always liked all the time now that he wasn't too stubborn to look for them. He just doubted Buffy would want to hear that, though. "I figured she'd leave me alone if I just agreed to do her stupid show," he added, trying to keep his voice level and act chill about the whole thing. "It's no big deal, there's really nothing interesting on here, we can just turn it off." Marsh tried to lift Buffy's feet off of his lap so he could shut the thing down as a horrible thought crossed his mind -- what if this wasn't just the YouTube edit? He knew exactly what came after that part but if it was on this DVD, he was screwed. He just didn't know how to get the DVD stopped without making Buffy really, really suspicious, so he prayed that she wouldn't put up a fight and would just shut it down now.

Buffy shrugged, only vaguely remembering Marsh's complaints about the other girl. And continued to watch the video with absolutely no expression on her face, even as it got kind of uncomfy to watch with video!Marsh clearly turned on by the girl in his lap while talking about their other roommate Kitten. Even though it wasn't technically that bad, just hearing Gwen derisively refer to the shy band geek as Pussy and Marsh not even reacting to it, irritated Buffy to no end and made her want to actually reach out to the girl who's only crime had been not wanting to get married at 18. "Actually, I'm super interested, Marshmallow. Or wait, do you prefer Dewdrop?" She asked, pinning Marsh down hard with just the strength of her legs.

Marsh grimaced to hear the nickname rolling off of Buffy's tongue like that; he already didn't like it, but it felt even more off coming from somebody who wasn't Gwen. Like it was their private thing -- not that he cared, because since when did he need private things with Gwen Shell? Except apparently rooms... which he really hoped that Buffy wasn't about to realize with her very own eyes. "Actually, I fucking hate that nickname," he said offhandedly, narrowing his eyes at her when she pinned him to the couch. "Damn, have you always been this strong or does Gwen hate make you go Hulk mode? This thing's been on YouTube since we filmed it, you were never interested before, it's not suddenly more interesting now," he lied.

Buffy flicked her eyes over at Marsh at his response about the nickname and then returned her gaze to the screen, not even bothering to reply to his question about how strong she was. If the video really wasn't more interesting than the video that was apparently online, then it made no sense why someone would purposely deliver the tape to her cottage and Marsh would have no reason to want to turn it off the way he did. "Shut up already. Can't you see I'm trying to watch something here? Don't be rude."

Marsh was filled with dread as he waited to see if the tape kept going after the interview or not... but with every second the DVD creeped forward, he felt more and more sure that Buffy was about to get a real eyeful of something she did not need to see. As nonchalant as he'd acted about the whole thing, he didn't really want anyone to see it, besides maybe him and Gwen. It felt like a private thing between the two of them, and he wasn't prepared for it to turn into any kind of deal. "I'm not being rude, this was dropped off against my will, I don't need the world seeing it," he grumbled, not sure what to do. He didn't want to physically force Buffy to get off of him, but... Shit. Even if he had, it would have been too late anyway, and he cringed as the screen before him started to play the beginning of his and Gwen's hookup. "Seen enough now?" he asked feebly, wishing she'd grab the remote and shut it off already.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "I'm not the whole world, Marsh. Why's it such a big deal?" She asked, almost too late when it became intensely clear that it wasn't just a recording of Gwen interviewing Marsh. Someone, more than likely Gwen, had sent her an actual sex tape of her best friend and her mortal enemy. Completely ignoring Marsh's question, Buffy tightened her hold on Marsh while keeping her gaze locked onto the screen. "You know, I never took you for such an easy lay, Marshmallow."

Marsh groaned as Buffy tightened her grip on him; it wasn't a big deal, not really, and they were all pretty open about their sexual experiences with each other; it was just what friends did. But he'd hid this one from her because he knew she hated Gwen, and maybe he'd hidden it from everyone for other reasons he couldn't quite explain. "I didn't make it easy for her," he snapped back instantly. He'd been kind of an asshole to Gwen for months before he'd caved, honestly; but he didn't talk about that with Buffy, either. Shrugging, he said, "It happened one time, it's no big deal, right?"

Buffy crossed her arms and glared pointedly at the screen. "Really? You sure could've fooled me. I'm pretty sure I just saw her get your shirt off with verrry little difficulty." Buffy hated how slut shamey all her words were coming out, but she was still trying to figure out how to properly express how upset she was about what they were watching. "She also fucked my boyfriend one time and that was a pretty big deal to me too. And you KNOW that, Marsh. Why did you do this and not even bother to be honest about it?" Buffy's voice began to crack on the end of her sentence and despite her best attempts at not displaying too much emotion over the situation, tears began to well up in her eyes as well.

Marsh chewed on the inside of his cheek; he didn't know how to explain it to Buffy. How could he explain something that he didn't even understand himself? "That was a long time ago, Buff," he said feebly, but he doubted that changed anything. He was pretty sure Gwen would still do the same kind of thing now; he couldn't make excuses for her actions because what she'd done to his friend sucked. But it was Lui's fault, wasn't it? Lui was the one who owed Buffy something, not Gwen, but somehow he didn't think that would go over well, either. He opened his mouth and shut it... once, twice, three times, unsure what to say. "I'm sorry," Marsh said finally, hoping that that would be enough. "No excuses, no bullshit, just... I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking about how you'd feel."

Buffy finally turned her attention fully from the screen to glare daggers at Marsh. "I know it was, but what about this video, Marsh? She sent this today. She likes hurting people and you clearly don't give a shit." Buffy yelled, her statement almost hilariously punctuated by a particular loud sound from Marsh on the tv. "But you know what, Marsh. It's fine. I completely accept your apology because that's the kind of loving amd forgiving person I am." Buffy sniffed once and released Marsh from her grip as she rubbed hard at her eyes. "But maybe this is a sign that our friendship has reached it's conclusion. It's not good for my energy to hang out with people who don't care about my feelings and you and your new bestie Gwen just did me the courtesy of showing me how much you don't. Thank you for letting me know."

Marsh 's jaw dropped at Buffy's statement. She didn't even want to be friends with him? Because he'd hooked up with Gwen one time? Because he had some weird, lingering attachment to her from when he was a kid that he didn't know how to get out of his system? It felt like an overreaction to him, but then again, Marsh didn't let much get under his skin... but he'd let Gwen get under it, hadn't he? How could he expect Buffy not to do the same? "Buffy..." he protested feebly, but he wasn't sure there was anything he could say right now to make her feel better. She just needed time to cool off. "I don't want to not be your friend anymore," he told her. "And I'm not going anywhere, but if you need a break or whatever, I guess that's... cool." The word rolled awkwardly off his tongue, but he didn't know what else he could do right now as she let go and rubbed her eyes. "I care about you a lot, I'm sorry I screwed that up."

Buffy opened her mouth to respond to Marsh's apology not entirely sure if she was going to accept his offer for just a break in their friendship or to deny it, when the front door of the cottage opened and Kitten walked in, clearly fresh off her shift at Pizza Planet. "Hey Kitten! How was work today?" Buffy called out, getting up from the couch to speak to the other girl in the cottage rather than respond to Marsh any further.

Marsh gaped at Buffy as she got up off the couch to greet Kitten of all things. That was a pretty blatantly obvious sign their conversation was over; none of them ever talked to Kitten, she was like the silent roommate that didn't exist. Sighing, Marsh got up from the couch, took the stupid DVD out, and put it into his bag, not sure what to do with it, as he headed for the front door rather than his room. It was pretty obvious Buffy didn't want him around, so he'd just... wander Walt until something felt right or until he was sure the coast was clear to go home.

#buffybubbles #para #para:fallout #para:buffy #buffy

1 note · View note

sunshinechay · 5 years

Note

Marvel for the fandom meme!

the first character i ever fell in love with:

Steve Rogers. I’m still in love with him to this day

a character that i used to love/like, but now do not:

Hmmm, I’m really not sure because I like just about every character to some degree, but I suppose a character that my opinion has cooled on in the past little while is probably Natasha. Like I still like her and I don’t hate her by any stretch of the imagination. I think it’s just one of those things where my general dislike of ScarJo is bleeding into Nat a little bit. I think once Endgame comes out and I do my planned marathon of all 22 marvel movies (yes I am going to buy what I’m sure will be the ridiculously overpriced boxset of all the films) I’ll grow to love her again, but for now it’s Nat.

a ship that i used to love/like, but now do not:

Steve and Sharon for sure. I liked the idea of them when Winter Soldier came out, because I thought that if Marvel won’t give us canon romantic stucky than Steve and Sharon would be a good fit for each other. That changed very much when Civil War came out and I wanted to bang my head against the wall at how badly they handled that storyline.

my ultimate favorite character™:

Steve Rogers or maybe Bucky Barnes. For female characters I’d go with either Carol Danvers or Okoye.

prettiest character:

It’s a tie between Okoye and Nakia.

my most hated character:

Thanos probably. He’s that guy that took one philosophy class and now thinks he knows more than someone who has PhD in philosphy.

Second more hated is Alexander Pierce, because damn is he doesn’t remind me of some real life politicians.

my OTP:

*chants* STUCKY! STUCKY! STUCKY!

my NOTP:

BrucexNat. Again another that I don’t hate (I like the idea of them) but i honestly can’t think of any that I truly dislike, only ones I don’t really ship. So it’s them by default because they were at best, never treated right by the man who decided to they should be together and at worse, a blatant attempt to be sexist towards Natasha due to the comparison of her infertility to Bruce being the Hulk. This pairing to me was just not done very well and while I like the aestetic look of Mark Ruffalo and Scarlett Johansson together, their story was just done too poorly for me to like it.

Another one, that I hesitate to put on but I will (mostly because I’ve never seen it on my dash but I’ve heard rumours that it does get shipped) is Bucky and Rumlow.

favorite episode:

I’ll go with favourite movie for this one lol and that would be a tie between Winter Soldier and Black Panther. They are both political dramas in addition to being superhero movies and both pull both aspects off beautifully.

saddest death:

SPOILERS FOR ENDGAME.....

Tony Stark

favorite season:

Daredevil season 1, it was just the perfect storm of good writing, directing, acting, cinematography, etc. It hasn’t been topped yet in my opinion and while I’m hoping the Falcon/Winter Soldier show will do it, I’m still going to with this for now.

least favorite season:

probably Iron Fist season 1. Controversial opinion but I love Finn Jones as Danny Rand. Was it was missed opportunity to cast an Asian male lead, yes, but I still love Finn and I’m not sorry. It’s main problem for me was that there was just too much I didn’t care about and Danny, Colleen and Ward weren’t enough to hold my attention for long. So much so that I still haven’t watched s2 and have no immediate plans to do so.

character that everyone else in the fandom loves, but i hate:

Again, not someone I hate, but Loki. I remember I got into the fandom around the time Thor and the first Cap movie came out and like the fandom went absolutely bonkers for Loki and it only got worse when Avengers came out. I love Tom Hiddleston and I think he’s adorable af, but I’ve always preferred Thor over Loki and I still have war flashbacks to when the entire fandom was so far up Loki’s ass it was hard to be someone who wasn’t a huge fan of him. Like I like him a lot more now that THAT part of the fandom has quieted down, but yeah, I would have to go with Loki.

my ‘you’re piece of trash, but you’re still a fave’ fave:

I guess Tony would qualify for this. There is a large portion of the fandom that hates him and like I suppose I get it, but I still like Tony. He’s not perfect, but he tries really hate and he is someone who struggles with his identity consistently and it’s always interesting to see how it changes and what he does and I just love Tony so much.

my ‘beautiful cinnamon roll who deserves better than this’ fave:

JAMES BUCHANAN BARNES!!! and no one can convince me otherwise. He’s had a rough go and like I just want him and Steve to retire to Wakanda and raise sheep for the rest of their lives.

my ‘this ship is wrong, nasty, and makes me want to cleanse my soul, but i still love it’ ship:

Hmmm, I’m honestly drawing a blank. I can’t think of any really sorry :(

my ‘they’re kind of cute, and i lowkey ship them, but i’m not too invested’ ship:

Umm the first one that popped into my head was Thor and Sif, because as a fan of norse mythology, I’ve always had a soft spot, but considering Sif hasn’t been around since The Dark World I don’t think it’s ever actually going to happen.

The other one I can think of is Clint and Laura. Like I feel bad that I wasn’t almost didn’t really care when his family disappeared because I wasn’t invested in them. Like I felt bad because he had obviously lost people he cared about, but like as characters themselves, we know next to nothing about them so I’m not really invested in the relationship at all, but I do think they are adorable and I hope they are featured in the Hawkeye tv show.

#anne-shirley-blythe #marvel #thank you!#my opinions #right or wrong there they are #i do ask memes now ask memes are cool #sometimes i scream into the void

0 notes

jessdrew · 7 years

Text

is that ÉLODIE YUNG? no, that’s JESSICA DREW also known by some as SPIDER-WOMAN but the world thinks she is just a PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR. if i’m not mistaken SHE is PHYSICALLY TWENTY-NINE and she was AGAINST the hero ban. ( jane / she/her / twenty / nzt )

hi everyone!! so this is jess

while her backstory is the same as her comic backstory (well, sort of), i’mma break it down real quick (bc even if you’ve read her comics and stuff, she’s had like three different backstories with all the retconning marvel have done about her lol) —— this is mostly based on the original origins (why someone thought combining a dna splicing laser with a womb was a good idea is beyond me) but the lines between the origins are blurry at best so there may be some crossover

like jess herself says, she “went to hail hydra high school and nick fury university” —— my poor babe has been shuttled around all these terrible shadowy agencies her whole life lol

ok so her parents are jonathan and merriem drew

they thought a lab with the high evolutionary at wundagore mountain was a great place to raise their lil girl, esp when they found uranium to get $$$, so that’s where jess grew up

or would have been if she didn’t contract uranium poisoning from the constant radiation

her dad was super into spiders and injected her w irradiated experimental spider serum made up of the dna of several uncommon spider species to try save her

the serum required incubation so wyndham (high evolutionary aka her daddio’s bestie) put her in a genetic accelerator

whilst in this accelerator, she aged at a decelerated rate, which probably nobody would have noticed if she was only in there for the amount of time she was meant to be —— as it was, her mother died and her dad went to america and left her there with wyndham and his creatures, who left her in there for literal decades, at the end of which, she emerged aged only seventeen

(this is why she’s not really sure how old she is; going off her birthdate, she’s Quite An Old Lady, but that’s physically untrue, and even counting how many years it’s been since she emerged from her incubation (which would be difficult even if it was helpful, bc hydra weren’t big on their calendars in the dorms) doesn’t really help because the combination of her decades of decelerated aging + her spider serum have sort of fucked with the regularity of her aging process. she’s making a stab at being probably the physical equivalent to twenty-nine; she assumes that there are some scientists who could tell her (bruce banner or reed richards are fairly decent possibilities) but she’s very aware of the dangers that scientists and intelligence agencies can do with something as revealing as your genetic make-up, and she’d prefer to avoid providing any more of that than they already have information on, thanks)

she felt ostracised by some of the other creations in wundagore and ended up running off to find civilisation, which ended badly and brought her into the arms of hydra

(dun dun dunnnnnn)

through a mixture of manipulation, messing with her mind/memory and brainwashing, hydra recruited her and then set about crafting her into a perfect weapon (including getting taskmaster to train her, which means she’s ace at hand to hand combat but it was also rigorous and awful and just Terrible so seriously, fuck otto vermis)

they also gave her a fake boyfriend who died to convince her to kill nick fury so, you know, they sort of set her up from the get go to have trust issues and a pattern of Bad Relationships

anyway she found out hydra was wrong when she fought nick fury (after taking down all of his men and him going damn) and she didn’t kill him, but she also didn’t join him

she went to go yell at vermis who convinced her she was evolved from a spider. i wish i was making this shit up. she had a crisis of identity (understandably) but eventually was convinced of the truth (that she’s, you know, human, at least originally), dyed her hair black so vermis wouldn’t recognise her, changed up her costume, swapped out the name arachne for spider-woman and also discovered her pheromone powers in more detail which are just. they’re terrible. cause her a lot of grief. people are either repulsed by her or attracted to her and she has no idea why and very little control. nowadays, she mostly wears a pheromone suppressing perfume though she’s been trying to work on control (spoiler alert: it’s going better than her love life, but not by much)

then a lot of stuff happened

she fought morgan le fay, made a friend for once, dated her landlord, broke up with her landlord, thought she died and asked her friend to erase all traces of her from living memory but it’s all right, the spell was faulty and her displaced soul got back into her body which was Good (also somewhere in here she and madame hydra were convinced that hydra was actually her mother, and while that isn’t true — a machination of a villain — madame hydra still acts like it’s true a lot, which sort of makes sense in that hydra is a big part of jess’ history and viper considers herself a personification of hydra, but even if it kinda makes sense, it’s still a bad time and jess is not a fan)

it meant she lost her powers from the ordeal though, and she went about going back to her private investigator gig with her first friend lindsay and hung out in madripoor for two years

her powers came back but then charlotte witter stole them and it was a situation but she’d calmed down and was going around being a PI and having chill for once in her life

her powers came back again but they were wildly unstable and then a hydra agent named connely attacked her and told her to rejoin s.h.i.e.l.d. as a double agent for hydra and they’d sort out her powers; she then went and told fury, who told her to do it and that he’d feed her fake info to fuck w hydra

what actually happened was that when she went to the hydra cell to get her powers sussed, skrulls kidnapped her and queen veranke took over her body and it was just a whole terrible thing and very pivotal for jess bc when she finally came back to earth, a lot of people associated her face with an evil invasion which was just.... great

then she became a sword agent and also a new avenger and then a primary avenger for ages and was still a shield agent though avenger took precedence and then this superhero ban came about

given that she was a p.i. anyway, she just went back to that... and if she sometimes let her punches be a little too hard when she was taking someone down (“i’m a hands-on investigator, sir”) then nobody needs to know that

when the big invasion happened, well, she has a thing about invasions (read: she dislikes them) so of course she suited back up again. she didn’t expect thanks—she’s not known as an optimist—but it reminded her that she’s the sort of type-a thrillseeker who absolutely believes in fighting for things that matter, fighting for a choice——like she told the avengers once, “he didn’t choose to become the hulk. but he gets to choose who the hulk becomes” —— basically agency is very important to jess (understandable, given how much of her history revolves around being messed around in the head and being used as a weapon) and was a main reason why she joined back up

so technically she’s a p.i. but she’s superheroing in secret and constantly rolling her eyes and snarking

she’s 5′10″ of badass motorcycle jackets and quick reflexes, and she likes bacon, punching, motorcycles and taking down bad guys, not necessarily in that order

her powers include pheromones, bioelectric blasts, gliding (which is sort of like flying if you’re high enough, but not enough that she’d turn down a boost from carol or tony or someone), sticking to walls and then a bunch of other effects like being immune to radiation and toxins and stuff + superhuman strength, agility, durability etc. etc. also she’s a rad fighter and trained in a lot of different fighting styles bc of taskmaster, is a skilled spy and also speaks eight languages + she’s an empath which seems to be a development/offshoot from pheromone skills but she hasn’t developed it much yet (at least consciously)

she also never gives up. like even when she should. this is the woman who, when the hulk picks up one of the hammers of the worthy, still went toe-to-toe with him in a battle that was impossible for her to win. (though honestly, a lack of preservation instinct seems like a necessity for avengers’ heroics) —— also speaking of the hulk, her pheromones can sometimes work out, like when it comes to controlling the hulk, but generally they just make life a lot harder for her so. a LOT of pheromone suppressing perfume. if anyone has a science-y character who wants to help her make that or has ideas for training/testing pheromones, pls shout out

THIS IS SO LONG I’M SORRY if anyone made it to here, you deserve a cookie (you’re all too far away for me to actually send cookies rip but i will make a starter for you if you want that instead lol) and pls message me if you want to thread or plot or anything!!

#starcintro #[ HI sorry i took a nap after class and fell asleep through until past dinner —— getting onto this and threads i'm so sorry abut the delay ]#about #( jacked up mirrors are still just mirrors. )#experimentation cw #death cw #manipulation cw

3 notes · View notes

writmedium · 7 years

Text

Cat Reads Comics - Week of 15 Feb. 2017

#mighty thor #invincible iron man #doctor strange #spider-man #patsy walker aka hellcat #ultimates2 #star-lord #black panther world of wakanda #us avengers #gamora #lumberjanes #sex criminals

1 note · View note

traincat · 6 years

Note

So I read what you said about the Gwen/ Norman twins and the Johnny/Lyja junk, but what are some of your favorite and least favorite storylines in marvel comics?

You know, looking at them listed next to each other, it occurs to me that Sins Past and the Lyja retcon are like polar opposites in terms of stories I feel critical about, in that I don’t think Sins Past should be in continuity for plot reasons but do reread it occasionally because I find the characters (who are present in the story) enjoyable and also does it matter when canon itself seems ambivalent about keeping it in strict continuity vs the Lyja retcon where I’m actually totally into the The Alicia Johnny Married Was a Skrull All Along reveal, it’s just that I want to grab everyone involved by the shoulders and shake them while yelling “PLEASE MAKE THE CHARACTERS REACT TO THINGS IN A WAY THAT MAKES SENSE” and also it just keeps happening. They’re also comics that were presented to me before I read them myself very differently; I had only ever seen the Lyja plot framed as a genuine romantic story, which I maintain is not what ended up being written, meanwhile if you open any list of Worst Spider-Man Comics there’s like a 90% chance Sins Past is going to be on it. (I have my thoughts on Sins Past here and my thoughts on Lyja here, if anyone’s curious.)

I feel like there aren’t really that many Spider-Man stories I honestly dislike, because as long as Peter’s in character and there’s a lot of interaction with his supporting cast and he stops some street crime, I’m generally pretty happy to just sit there and binge-read comics. This unfortunately does mean I am not really enjoying current Spider-Man comics but that’s what rereading the 80s is for. A big thing with comics I dislike is whether I feel like the characterization is accurate and whether I feel like the narrative is being true to the story – ie, I didn’t like Superior Spider-Man’s premise from the start, but I could have been sold on it if it had been handled differently, and depending on the strength of the writing I feel like I could have even been made to feel sympathetic towards Otto in moments. Not in the whole story, mind, given that it is about a villain maliciously bodysnatching a hero and impersonating him entirely for his own gain and that’s not something that should be framed sympathetically. But part of being a good writer is in being able to intentionally elicit emotional reactions from readers and I believe that Slott can write a good story. But between the narrative flip-flopping all over the place and the violent misogyny towards female characters, both old and new, it’s a big pass for me, and my dislike of it is only furthered by the lack of emotional repercussions for the characters, specifically for Peter, and also by the fact that Otto keeps repeating the same schtick and refuses to go away while the writing pats him on the back for his incredibly heroic deeds, like oh, slamming a possessed eight-year-old child into a wall.

I’m really not enjoying current Spider-Man comics.

It’s pretty much covered by the Lyja plotline, but I don’t like Tom DeFalco’s Fantastic Four run in general, not just with that one plotline. I know it’s iconic, but my feelings on Byrne’s Fantastic Four run are mixed at the best and negative at the worst, all wrapped up in my resentment that he left before Fantastic Four #300 so we got the JohnnyAlicia wedding because what else were they supposed to do. I do strongly feel that the Malice plotline could have been handled differently than it was. I want to know what was up with Dark Reign: Zodiac essentially having its titular villain gay bash Johnny when Johnny is not, one tweet from Marjorie Liu withstanding, canonically interesting in men (yet). I have to say, I didn’t like Spider-Verse very much and I’m not really looking forward to Spider-Geddon, which looks like it’s going to be much in the same vein, though Christos Gage gave us Johnny Storm naked in Peter’s bed so I feel some sort of deep allegiance. In general I’ve found post-Superior Spider-Man stories to be pretty weak and lazily written.

Comic storylines I do like! This is a way easier category, I love to love comics. I much prefer it to the alternative. These are by no means every comic storyline I’ve ever loved, and I do want to go and read some more X-Men because I love them too, but what I’m mostly doing these days is rereading Spider-Man and Fantastic Four, so – I have some Spider-Man recs here (these were specifically for grittier or romantic Spider-Man comics, but fortunately those two things sum up my favorite Spider-Man stories pretty neatly). I really like the first Morlun story, I have to admit, having just said I really didn’t like Spider-Verse. I especially love the entire stretch of Spider-Man starting with the dual reveal that Mary Jane’s always known Peter’s identity and the reveal of her own hidden past, up through their engagement and wedding, into Kraven’s Last Hunt, and the stretch from The Child Within to Harry Osborn’s death. I maintain that Spectacular Spider-Man #200 may be the best issue ever written. I like Inferno a lot, especially, on the Spider-Man side, the Betty and Flash moments, and Marvel Knights Spider-Man #1-12. For Fantastic Four, I have some Johnny-centric recs here. I really love the Galactus trilogy (Fantastic Four #48-50), but also just the entire Lee/Kirby run in general. In no particular order: Marvel Knights 4, Hickman’s run, Robinson’s run, McDuffie’s run, Straczynski’s run (especially Ben and Johnny’s fight with the Hulk (FF #533-535) and the aftermath of Johnny being beaten into a coma in Civil War), Rising Storm from Waid’s run (Fantastic Four #519-524), Burn! (Human Torch (2003) #1-6) – I love so many comics. Event-wise, I really like both Secret Invasion and Dark Reign.

#comic recs #traincat talks comics #long post/#*replies

12 notes · View notes