#The team of time travellers technically aren’t heroes yet in the timeline | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

princess-of-the-corner · 3 years

Text

The Crossover Timelines 2: Electric Boogaloo

So as with anything, we have Alternate Timelines!

To be fair, a chunk of these Timelines are Canon to their own series. I will be discussing two types of Alternate Timelines. The ‘Bad End Timelines’, and the 'Powerswap Timeline’.

First, the Bad End Timelines.

As you could guess, this is basically Timelines where the Heroes…. well.

Sometimes they fail completely. Sometimes they go crazy and become villains. Sometimes, they are still 'Heroes’, but lose themselves and aren’t quite 'Heroic’.

There are several 'Bad End Timelines’. Not every series gets them, but there’s at least one. Usually this is somewhat Canon through 'characters Time Travel to the Bad Timeline but fix it so it doesn’t happen’.

I’ll spare you the generic 'this is when they fail’ Timeline, as you can always assume there’s a Timeline where someone fails or gets killed or whatever. I want to talk more on the…. more interesting Bad Ends.

Miraculous Ladybug: Princess Justice and Chat Blanc

Though only the main two are mentioned, all of Team Miraculous goes darkside. I am unsure if they collectively snap, or if they’re all Akumatized and Hawkmoth lost control. Either way, they’re feral as hell.

Danny Phantom: Dan.

Oh hey! This is Canon! Ish. I did rewrite this episode slightly. Summary: Danny’s friends and family die in an explosion, and Vlad has custody. To deal with his Ghost Half’s 'Obsessional Breakdown’, they try to take out the Ghost Half, intending it to be temporary. Phantom overpowers them, steals Vlad’s Ghost Half, the halves fuse, and kill their remaining Human halves before going on a destructive rampage.

Ben 10: Ben 10,000

Another somewhat Canon but I rewrote it one! Ben does not handle trauma well, and slowly loses his support system. He was already not doing well but by 20, he loses his wife and fully goes into a breakdown spiral becoming more and more direct, paranoid, obsessive, etc. for the next decade. This is one of the 'better’ Bad End Timelines, as Ben is still technically a Hero. Just one who handles situations my taking over things, even out of his jurisdiction, forcing other Heroes into retirement, and curbstomping villains in a murder-y way.

The Secret Saturdays: There is no Zak, only Kur.

One fun thing about reincarnation is unlocking those previous memories. But the danger is if the old life takes over the new one. And that’s what happens. Kur’s memory is unlocked, and takes over Zak, becoming the Kind of Cryptids and taking over with his own armies.

Samurai Jack: The entire goddamn series.

Literally though. The whole plot of the series is that Jack is tossed into a Timeline where Aku won. The Crossover takes place in the Timeline created once Jack made his way back and defeated Aku.

Code Lyoko: XANA Warriors

All of the Lyoko Warriors become infected/brainwashed by XANA

Ultimate Bad End:

Everyone fails, all Bad Ends happen at once.

Now that we’re done with the Bad End Timelines, let’s talk about the Powerswap Timeline!

A lot of these shows have ‘Powerswap or Roleswap’ Timelines. Either in Canon, with a ‘what if’ scenario or Magic making everyone’s abilities shuffle, or just the Fandom decides ‘Hey! What if.....”

So I decided that a handful of Powerswap AUs happen all in the same Timeline. For reasons.

Again, not all of them get one (or at least I haven’t thought of one!), but we’re going over what I have so far.

Miraculous Ladybug: Lady Luck

While I could have just made this Lady Noire and Mr. Bug...... Lady Luck is more fun and changes the dynamic a lot more. Also I’m more invested in it lmao.

Anyway, LL is a Timeline where Chloé is given the Ladybug Miraculous instead of Marinette. While Chat, Hawkmoth, Mayura and Bunnyx are unchanged, Chloé makes different choices in the rest of the Miraculous that are handed out.

Danny Phantom: Phantom Phamily

During Jack and Maddie’s initial attempt to turn on the Ghost Portal to show Danny and Jazz, they’re a bit more successful. Sort of.

The Portal goes a bit fucky before turning on, blasting all four Fentons and creating four Halfas at once. The whole family has to get used to weird powers and biology.

MLP: In Another World

When Nightmare Moon returns, and Twilight tries to stand up to her, the Unicorn is kidnapped. Spike, trying desperately to save his big sister, accidentally puts together a Team of a bunch of kids his own age to go on a dangerous quest to recover the Elements of Harmony.

Spike is the Element of Magic. Applebloom the Element of Loyalty. Sweetie Belle the Element of Honesty. Scootaloo the Element of Kindness. Pipsqueak the Element of Generosity. And Diamond Tiara as Element of Laughter.

Ben 10: Gwen 10

Oh this was mildly Canon! A Timeline where Gwen finds the Omnitrix first, and it attaches itself to her. She gets to be a Shapeshifting Alien Hero. Meanwhile, Ben ends up a badass Witch.

Lilo and Stitch: Lilo and Angel

Stitch and Angel swap roles. For whatever reason, Angel is out when Jumba is arrested, and Stitch is in the pods with the rest of the Experiments. Angel is captured too, and either injured or given something to neutralize her voice. She escapes and ends up in Hawai’i, then adopted by Lilo and Nani just like Stitch did in Canon. Stuck there with her voice unable to work, she eventually gets the full Found Family treatment.

Later, during the ‘Series’, we get ‘Experiment 626′ activated. Unsure how this version of Stitch will fit in yet but I’ll come back to it.

#The Crossover Masterpost

20 notes · View notes

egelantier · 3 years

Text

Tian Guan Ci Fu

where is it and what is it

it’s a chinese webnovel by mxtx, the same author who did untamed; it exists as a webnovel, finished and kindly translated here, the manhwa, the donghua (animated adaptation) happening right now, and there’s a live action adaptation in plans, directed by the same guy who did untamed. the donghua is gorgeous, the adaptation i’m unsure about but prepared to be hopeful, the manhwa seems to be very pretty. but all the adaptations only cover the very beginning of the novel for now, so i went ahead and read the novel, and i have no regrets. it helps that the translation is very good - not without awkward translatorese, but it has consistent and engaging flow and style, and it’s also pretty good at conveying mxtx’s humor without awkwardness. it reads pretty well.

what’s it about?

the world is split into two parts: mortals and various ghosts and demons and entities share the land, while ‘heaven officials’, aka gods, live in the heavenly kingdom in the sky. pretty much anybody can become a god if they do something really heroic or memorable and/or cultivate (meditation, training, virtuous behavior) really hard. when above, the gods rule their domains and fulfill their believers’ wishes; they work sort of like pratchettian gods, dependent on their followers’ beliefs and getting influenced by them. heavens are strictly hierarchical, with their own economy and pecking order, and the gods aren’t particularly sinless or benevolent; mostly it’s a question of scale.

our hero, xie lian, is a prince of a prosperous kingdom who’s been on a fast track to ascension for most of his very short life; he’s talented, he’s virtuous, he’s kind, he’s strong, and his only peculiar flaw is (somehow naive, but well-meaning) obsession with equality and value of human lives and so on. he becomes a god, unexpectedly, at seventeen, after slaying one especially dangerous god, and rises in heaven at the peak of his faith, influence and happiness.

…and then he finds out about drought and incipient trouble in his own kingdom, and, being a young and righteous god too close to his mortality, eschews heavens and returns to save everybody. it, to put it lightly, does not go well. at all. in fact, it goes catastrophically wrong, and, having lost everything, xie lian ascends again, only to get into a fight with the heavenly emperor, and get banished again, this time for good. he roams the mortal lands for next eight hundred of very lonely, luckless and hard years, technically immortal but not invincible, with his powers and his luck stripped away, and leans to make do, eking out a living as a scrap collector. his temples are desecrated, his name is forgotten, his kingdom is long gone, and - well. so it goes.

so it goes! until one day, to everybody’s great surprise, he ascends once again: a humble, gentle, immune to embarrassment, unflappable man, an embarrassment to heavens, a 'laughingstock of three realms’ who just wants to be left well enough alone. he’s Tired.

instead of rest, he gets sent to investigate a dangerous ghost stealing brides who pass through its mountain, and there, during the course of the interrogation, has his first (he thinks) meeting with a terrifying, old-powerful and vengeful ghost king named hua cheng, who likes to terrorize heavens from time to time. but said ghost king seems to be very benevolent and very interested in helping xie lian, and xie lian is pretty instantly smitten… with knowing what’s the cause of such interest.

…and meanwhile, in the beginning, there'was an unlucky boy, born under the worst stars, whom xie lian saved from falling once, while still mortal, and promptly lost track of. a lot of things happened to this boy, who wanted to be the most devoted worshipper to xie lian the god of the sword and the flower. as one does, you know.

that’s the beginning! from there on: investigations, heavenly secrets, old friends and enemies and acquaintances, thematic parallels, old tragedies, more pining than you can shake a stick at, grand acts of love.

is it good?

it’s very, very good. it’s the first fantasy cnovel i read (aside from the hilarious one about a guy traveling back in his own timeline and becoming a sugar baby to a mafia boss, which was in a very different league), so i don’t know which things are baseline and which things are unique, but it had a very solid foundation: ambitious multilevel, multi-timeline plot coming together in the end both events- and emotions-wise, beautifully iddy main relationship, maybe multifaceted characters who change and grow and clash together in fun ways, a clear and heartfelt understanding of its own core themes.

it’s also, unexpectedly, very funny, in this visual, slapsticky, begs-to-be-adapted way - i found myself laughing out loud over it a lot of times, and it possesses this gift of swerve between understated but earnest emotions and all-out jokes that i associate with… a bit of prattchett and a bit of gintama, honestly. take it as you will.

(oh my god the mecha. i will laugh over this one until i die.)

it also made me cry several times; granted, it’s not like it’s this time, but those were very heartfelt tears.

and the main duo?

first let me say that xie lian was lifted out, wholesale, out of my deepest character preferences. he fell really, really far, and did some bad things, and some very horrible things were done to him, and by the time we meet him he went through everything and achieved this effortless kind of traumatized, humble, accepting, wryly self-deprecating, utterly competent chill that makes a character incredibly appealing to me. he’s kind, and he’s sweet, and he’s gotten any possible embarrassment at least a couple of centuries ago, and he kinda made peace with himself and kinda didn’t. i love him.

and, thankfully for me, hua cheng, the ghost king, loves him a whole damn lot, a ridiculous amount, an epic, over-the-lifetimes, life-shattering amount, and he’s a terrifying presence to everybody else and a shy, protective, sweet dork to xie lian, and every time they’re together on page my entire heart is just. it’s AMAZING. he’s a great combination of playing the obsessive protective yandere stalker-lover trope straight and putting it on its head, by making hua cheng not just revere but respect xie lian, in all his good and bad decisions.

they are just so - good for each other, holy shit. they get each other so well. they’re the best ever power team. i love them.

(the rest of canon is various character reenacting “really? in front of my salad?” meme at them. it’s hysterical, and it’s the best. everybody teams up to tell xie lian that his boyfriend is Problematic way, way before xie lian clues into the fact that he does have a boyfriend, and he’s having none of it. i love it.)

and the themes?

okay, so. roughly half of this novel is ridiculous iddy pining, and a fourth of it is various tropes (off the top of my head: soulbond, sex pollen, body switch, de-age, various shades of identity porn… crossdressing…) played very shamelessly. but it also really benefits from having an overarching set of ethical questions, and while it deals with them a bit shounen-style, it still deals with them, and it makes the whole text fresh, and sweet, and bold.

is it possible to save everybody? should you try to save everybody? if you lack the powers to back your convictions, does it make you complicit? when is it possible to stop the cycle of suffering, what can you do if you want to but can’t? if you tried and people you failed turned on you, whose fault it is, where does the blame stop?

Detailed spoilers begin from here, and i would REALLY advise to stay unspoiled, because the domino reveals are very fun

i loved the various ways the novel sets all those pieces up and then overturns them and then returns to them. xie lian wanted to save everybody and it was arrogant naivete of an untried, untested, privileged young man who never had a real challenge before; his presence made things escalate quicker, and yet everybody around him pretended it was his attempt to make things better that ruined everything, and not a combination of factors outside of his control. and yet he accepts the blame, because it dovetails with his shame at not having enough powers to back his intent up; and yet his triumph over bai wuxian is that he doesn’t, after all, renege on his initial drive to help people.

my most favorite part of this novel is that its turning point, the lynchpin of the whole novel, the moment that keeps xie lian’s soul and safety intact, is not his personal purity and drive; it’s not even hua cheng’s devotion and sacrificial love. it’s just a moment of little, grudging, human kindness from a little, petty, rude man whom the history will sweep away soon. the bamboo hat in the rain. the rest of the plot keeps twisting and turning and coming back to itself, but this? this was unquestionably, beautifully clear, and i loved it. it’s never about the gods, it’s all down to - fallen human is human, ascended human is human, and human is not some state, virtuous or sinful, you get stuck with - it’s a multitude of choices, and there’s never a final one.

and incoherent spoilery screaming for people who read it already

oh my god i had SO MUCH FUN. i’ve been flailing on meme for days, because somebody just finished reading there too, and i’m still bursting with ALL THE FEELS. ruoye origins oh my god! that hat! jin wu’s backstory and ultimate end! e-ming’s praise kink! pei ming’s little shippery 'hoho’! hua cheng’s horribly handwritten stick and poke tattoo of xie lian’s name! the lanteeeeeeeeeeeeerns. feng xin and mu qing on the bridge, making up with each other and with xie lian! hua cheng trying to explain to xie lian that his habit of using himself as bait and pincushion at any given moment is deeply emotionally upsetting to him, and succeeding! banyue’s learning from xie lian to be a truly horrible cook! the entire deal with shi qingxuan and he xuan and the wind fan in the end. THE CAVE. THE GIANT MECHA. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa and aaaaaaaaaaaaa and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa and i am beset, beset by feelings. come scream with me.

#tgcf #tian guan ci fu #heaven official's blessing #xie lian #hua cheng #cdramas #cnovels #mxtx

146 notes · View notes

silyabeeodess · 3 years

Note

Have you written anything for Time Squad based on their Retro placements?

It's a little difficult since Retro ended before the second Time Squad update. I'm not sure how I would account for those lost missions, as all I can find are the descriptions for them. I can make some headcanons using the OG game and Part 1 update: Just please take these with a grain of salt. I also won't really be able to cover Otto or Buck since they weren't introduced in-full, so this post is definitely focused on Larry.

· In the mission “Bring Me the Head of Larry 3000,” we learn that Larry was blown up in the Battle of Tech Square. He isn’t thought of fondly by the other characters, with no one feeling any remorse over having to use his circuits to remake the time machine and Numbuh Five calling him “crazy,” so I doubt he was around long enough for anyone to have any kind of attachment to him. More likely, he was there for Dexter’s research participants since it’s too much of a coincidence for a time cop to be at the exact point they reappeared on the timeline.

· His, Buck’s, and Otto’s goal would’ve been to return the research participants to the past as soon as they arrived in the future to limit damages. While they’d likely have it in their records that these individuals would play a massive role in the war effort, they’d think the latters’ jump forward into time—their disappearance—is what would’ve partly contributed to the state we find the world in with Fuse’s nearly complete takeover. They wouldn’t take into account what knowledge the research participants would take back, instead worrying over what would happen if they were killed in the future and never able to fulfill their roles.

· Unfortunately for the Time Squad trio, the Battle of Tech Square was rough on them. They were split up, resulting in Larry being on his own to try to carry out the mission. Emphasis on try. He managed to reach some of the heroes to alert them on the situation and the importance of finding the research participants, like Numbuh Five. However, even those who had a minute to spare to listen to him during the fighting thought that Dexter—who had been preparing for the research participant’s arrival since they were first lost through time—had a better plan than this strange robot. When Larry tried to do the job himself, that’s when he was blown apart.

· Following the game’s events, with the research participants returning to the past and bringing the blueprints for nanos with them, no further involvement from the Time Squad (organization) was needed. There was some worry over the existing wormholes and paradoxes, but not enough to directly involve themselves with those individuals again so long as the events of history continued to play out as they should. (Although they are on a bit of a watch list since they’re time-travelers themselves. It's worth noting too that the Time Squad Organization isn't fully trustworthy, given their willingness to lock people away who refuse to agree with their methods, as shown in the episode "Repeat Offender.")

· Here’s where I bring in Retro and things get iffy. Larry’s head was a vital piece to rebuilding the time machine in the future, so if Larry is saved during the Battle of Tech Square as the Part 2 Update mission “Back to the Future (Part 1 of 3)” would’ve had us do, this would’ve caused some problems with the timeline. We also have the matter of individuals appearing in two places at once in the timeline, like the player reappearing during the Battle of Tech Square unless they saved Larry before their own, initial arrival in the future—which, as mentioned when covering Professor Paradox, could cause a rupture to the timestream. Given the missions that follow, it seems that devs also shared this mindset, but since I can’t read the missions in-full to know exactly where they were going with it building up to Fusion Larry’s appearance, I’m extremely reluctant to cover them.

· However, sticking with just the first update, we find something very interesting. In Retro’s mission, “First Contact,” Larry doesn’t seem to know who we are, referring to the player as “one of the locals.” This is despite the fact that these characters should have met already given images of Larry’s head installed to the time machine in the future show his eyes lit-up, functioning, and that he is very unhappy with the situation. What I derive from this is that, while this is our second time meeting Larry, it’s his first time meeting us—meaning he came to the pastprior to his mission in the future. This is further backed up since Larry didn’t even know about the invasion itself, stating in the mission “Time Run Amok” that according to his records, “Earth wasn’t conquered by an alien planet until 56,897 AD” and that the fusion monsters “aren’t meant to exist at all.”

· It’s hard to say how reliable Larry’s records are, given that in “Time to Groove,” he thinks that Benjamin Franklin lives in Genius Grove. He’s getting his historical knowledge mixed up. Obviously, the fusion monsters exist and nothing outside of changing Planet Fusion’s route across the galaxy or making sure Fuse never came to be in the first place is likely to alter that. Earth isn’t technically “conquered” yet, and won’t be so long as the war is won, so he might be looking at things from the perspective of someone from the future and downplaying the events of the invasion. We see this evidenced too in how he thinks the player can stop the invasion within a day before realizing that the fusion monsters can respawn in no-time. Again, this would show that this Larry is playing catch up to the one we meet in the future.

· This interaction may have even been the reason for Larry’s appearance in Tech Square to begin with. With the player and him having already met, they could’ve been on his mind enough to research their involvement in the war once the robot regrouped with his team. Noting their importance, of course the Time Squad would try to save them and the others involved in the time-travel experiment, bringing everything full-circle.

· In these missions, Larry says that the team was investigating an anomaly in time. Whether he’s referring to the time-travel experiment or what would’ve been the events of the second update is hard to say, but his time pod was likely thrown off course in either case.

· Despite the destroyed pod we found in the Darklands, Otto and Buck are likely perfectly fine. Buck might not have many brains, but he is a tough fighter and they landed close enough to the base in Hunter’s Crest to reach safety.

#fusionfall #headcanons #ask #video games #crunchyvad #fusionfall retro

3 notes · View notes

mylokabrennauniverse · 3 years

Text

And after so long some things in Endgame still seem absurd to me. Today I found a good note on Internet about...

10 Things That Make No Sense About Avengers: Endgame:

Why Didn't Captain America Lead The Survivors?

Following Thanos' devastating snap that left the universe decimated, Earth's governments were in upheaval and struggling to maintain order, yet when the film jumps ahead five years later, Steve Rogers is leading a support group instead of the Avengers or the rest of the surviving population.

Not ti imply that the work he was doing wasn't important or that Black Widow was a poor leader for the Avengers, but Captain America could have given the survivors of his country the figurehead needed to rally from the disaster.

How Did Lang's Quantum Tunnel Still Work?

Scott Lang was lost in the Quantum Realm in Ant-Man And The Wasp where he remained for five years until the Quantum Tunnel in his van was activated by a curious rodent that happened to walk over the on-switch.

This incredibly convenient rat managed to turn on a device in a van that had been packed full of equipment and moved without anyone touching the button. Then there had to be an active power source left running after five years, as the old van likely wouldn't have had a remaining charge, and the tunnel was shown later in the film to require the van's juice.

How Does The Time Machine Work?

Lang's return from the Quantum Realm revealed the time difference in the miniature universe that would prove to be an essential part of the Avengers plan to save the day, though the actual "specifics" of the time machine aren't clear.

Even the Back to the Future's DeLorean was explained by the Flux Capacitor, yet Endgame basically threw the problem of how at Tony Stark/Iron Man and left it at that. A briefly glimpsed Möbius strip and the Quantum Tunnel are really the only acknowledged components of the time machine, leaving a bit too much to the imagination.

7 (My favorite one)

How Did They Remove The Aether?

Part of the Avengers time-traveling plans to bring back the snapped victims of Thanos included gathering the Infinity Stones from various places across the timestream before they were destroyed, which obviously included The Aether/Reality Stone.

Thor and Rocket Raccoon traveled back to Asgard during the events of Thor: The Dark World with a device to extract The Aether from Jane Foster. However, even Odin confessed to being unable to remove it without killing her in The Dark World, yet the Avengers were able to contradictorily draw it out with a fancy syringe.

How Did Thanos Use The Time Machine?

The final climactic battle of Avengers: Endgame featured Thanos and his army from the year 2014 after they replaced the modern-day Nebula with the still loyal 2014 version and she activated the time machine.

Except, the strict limitations of the "time heist" meant there was a limited amount of Pym Particles available, meaning enough for one round trip for each Avenger. When 2014 Nebula returned to the present-day she used up her final does of Pym Particles, so how was Thanos' ship in the past able to travel through the Quantum Tunnel at all?

Nebula's Time Paradox

Time-traveling characters are bound to deal with the threat of potential paradoxes, and Avengers: Endgame featured a few that have a lot of fans still talking which include the problematic death of 2014 Nebula.While the film spends some time explaining how timelines can split and create alternate realities, the fact remains that the present-day Nebula killed the past Nebula of 2014 while also bringing 2014 Gamora to the present-day. Did Nebula create a paradox because she killed her past self? Or is the alternate 2014 timeline without Nebula or Thanos now the best MCU reality?

Why Didn't Captain Marvel Use The Nano-Gauntlet?

Following the team's creation and use of the Nano-Gauntlet to bring back the snapped population of the universe, they are forced to play a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with Thanos' army for possession of the Gauntlet.

Captain Marvel, considered by many to be the most powerful Avenger, takes hold of the Gauntlet and tries to run it through an army, but with so much power at her disposal, why didn't she try to use it? Both Hulk and Thanos survived its use, so she could have potentially prevented Iron Man's sacrifice by using the Gauntlet instead, despite Doctor Strange's prophetic visions.

Where Were They Planning On Taking The Nano-Gauntlet?

The Avengers knew they would have to take the Infinity Stones back to their respective places in time in order to maintain the safety of the timeline (which they technically failed at doing), so when Thanos arrived unexpectedly they tried to get the Nano-Gauntlet to the Quantum Tunnel.

But what was their goal after getting the Nano-Gauntlet to the Tunnel, especially considering there shouldn't have been any Pym Particles left to travel through time? And if they did, Captain Marvel certainly didn't know where to take the stones back in time to close their respective loops, either.

Thanos' Power Levels

When the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy first encountered Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, he had already gathered a few of the infinity Stones which exponentially increased his power levels.

However, his battles with both teams of Avengers as he gathered more stones still carried weight and felt like there was a struggle happening. Yet when Thanos from 2014 attacked the team without the stones, he seemed to not only hold his own against but almost fared better than his future Infinity Gauntlet-powered self, which seemed somewhat unbalanced.

Captain America's Time Paradox

Nebula wasn't the only character to create her own paradox, though fans are still debating the unique time paradox created by Steve Rogers when he traveled back in time to return the Infinity Stones and stayed in the past to live his life with Agent Peggy Carter.

His decision to grow old in the past made fans question how a hero like Captain America was able to sit by and ignore his knowledge of future events. There is also the matter of his iconic shield that he hands on to Sam Wilson/Falcon, which was destroyed by Thanos. Did Cap steal it from the past, get it from an alternate timeline, or none of the above?

So...what do you think about it?

#loki #endgame #no sense

34 notes · View notes

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaoldretired · 4 years

Text

some p!g-drv3 theories (spoilers obvi)

First of all I think people demonize the pg versions wayyy too much because its a good way to be le sexy in like fanfictions. And i get it, villains are hot or whatever. and also hs is a horny age to be. But even the edgiest and horniest of teens aren’t like. that sexual/monstrous. its kind of insane the portrayals people are placing

maybe this could also be like me being older bc when i was early hs i was like yea its fair to place these super mature portrayals on a 18-22 year old they are like adults but young and now im that age and im like woah there pardner. might be an age/maturity thing.

also like its normal for people to relate to and portray characters their same age in a similar fashion, but when adults write more sexual content about the dg kids i get hella fucking sus

idk where i was going with that first comment i guess its like a preface and in the end i think its important when characters especially teenage characters are morally grey not because they’re mature and dark/brooding but because they are still young and learning. fuck im older than like most of them, but im still young and learning. its good to be in turmoil and confused, especially the drv3 cast. they are more confused than anything.

which i think is a reason why people would join dr because if you are completely loss and in turmoil, it is appealing to be given a purpose in life and amazing talents/abilities. despite the morals of danganronpa, it is a simple reality to be told who you are and what to do

OK ONTO HEADCANONS (not doing all bc i dont have thoughts about all)

first of all i understand changing stories but i think, deep down, you can’t change fundamental personalities/values. so while the backstories might be different i think, in the end, a baseline is always the same

SHUICHI being a Bad Boy is like canon obviously but i dont think he’s as manipulative as people make him out to be. i think he falls in the more the bully role that like. mae borowski or tf2′s scout filled before they grew up. rough background, bad anger issues, lots of emotional turmoil, and the only way he knows how to deal with shit is by committing crimes and beating the shit out of people. and, similar to those characters, drv3 represents an older, more emotionally sober yet equally confused version of himself. the urges are still there as foreshadowed in the dialogue. i think he struggles with guilt, mostly survivors, but there is still a lasting impact of guilt of what he did in his past, even if he can’t remember.

KOKICHI is a child. a piece of shit motherfucker child but a child. I really do think he’s like one of the youngest people in the cast. he reminds me a lot of when my brother doesn’t take his adhd medicine and takes jokes way too far and does mean and cruel things because he thinks its funny and that its just a fun joke, but is hurting people. he desperately wants approval, which is why his leader role is so interesting because in the dr narrative he has the approval he craves and so he is satisfied. still, he does try to impress characters like rantaro and values his opinions a lot, even developing a brotherly relationship in the time they knew each other. this being said, its established kokichi was bullied before, but i dont think he’s like. the wimp people make him out to be. i think he’s more of like the class clown who desperately uses humor to make people like him, and ends up resorting to be the butt of most of his jokes. you don’t just develop a good sense of humor out of a brainwash, and that’s not something you can program in. i think that was a remnant of before, and he’s so good at bullying people and coming up with roasts - i just think that in p!g the roasts were about him.

KAEDE is baby but her p!g personality seriously reminds me of any ~quirky/edgy~ girl in a teen coming of age story who tries to be edgy and cool and act like she doesn’t care but deep down, she really does. if she didn’t have an empathetic personality, she wouldn’t want to end the game. i also think she has that self-identifying QuIrKy personality because its like she lives in her own narrative, practically announcing this story is about her and she is the protagonist. i know i used to self narrate like that and distinguish how i was different when i was like. 15-16. she has a tumblr.

I really like the theory where KAITO is a make-a-wish kid who was better when he was younger but relapses later in teens. he never used his wish before, so he decides to use it now to be on danganronpa and become the hero he always wanted to be. i also think he might have joined as a way to raise awareness about adolescent healthcare. definitely the type who puts on a “heroic” character to make everyone else feel better about the fact he is literally dying of a terminal illness, and keeps that act up till the end.

i think KOREKIYO is still a serial killer. i think honestly a reason why he mightve auditioned for danganronpa is because he is a serial killer. maybe his sister found out and he felt so much shame that’s why he auditioned. he probably mentioned why in his interview because duh, tell them im a serial killer and then only reason im coming clean is my sister found out and im ashamed, that is like a guarantee to get on the show. i LOVE the theory that his sister is still alive, however, and has to watch her brother go insane because they wrote her into the story as the villain. because technically, she brought on this guilt, and is the reason why he auditioned - as a way to cause despair, twist it around so she’s the one to blame for his insanity. also, because its pretty accepted DR members become celebrities, kork’s sister is totally bombarded with paparazzi and is demonized in the media. she might end up writing a tell-all memoir about kork’s actual childhood and personality. quiet kid, thoughtful, interested in anthropology, she never thought he’d hurt a fly. watching her brother go insane probably destroyed her.

I also think, timeline wise, kork is probably one of the oldest members along with rantaro. tbh i think kork actually graduated hs and went on a gap year doing the whole “hitchhike around the world to discover myself thing” which is where he began killing people. he was getting ready to go to college when his sister found out about what he did. this is when he decided to go on danganronpa instead of university. this would help explain why he knows so much about other cultures/travel/been so many places with so many memories/killed/is knowledgable on a level most other students are not. this would place him at like, 20-21, where everyone else is like 15-18.

ok so there’s two p!g RANTARO, p!g before 53 and p!p!g before 52. i’d like to establish now i think rantaro is the oldest of the characters, seeing as though he was already pretty old to begin with in 52, it takes time between television seasons, and he was in another game. so im placing him like 21-23, similar to yasuhiro in d1 being so much older than everyone else. i do think, in all iterations, rantaro was pretty much raising his sisters, though i don’t think he had twelve like the story (i think that’s an exaggeration, his sisters mean a lot to him, lets make him have a TON and then lose them all and feel GUILTY) rantaro joined the first game, partially to get money for his family and hopefully establish them as celebrities and let them have a comfy lifestyle, even if he doesn’t live...and also to finally ahve some sort of experience without his siblings tagging along. if he’s been raising his sisters all his life, he’s never had like something that’s JUST his. that’s his adventure. 52 is his ULTIMATE adventure. ahaha. mostly for money, kind of dreading it, still a tiny bit excited

ok p!g rantaro between 52 and 53 probably came back broken. he did the signings and appearances, but mostly wanted to spend time with his family and make sure they were set up. i think he knew the whole like few months between seasons he had to go on another show, but he did’t tell his sisters. his family found out when they saw a billboard with his face plastered on it hyping up the return of a fan favorite. yikes!

ok i get it a lot of people hate HIMIKO but i think she’s not nearly as similar as other “useless” characters in other games. its like, pretty clear she’s depressed, and the only thing she’s holding onto with dear life is magic. lack of hygiene, lack of personal care, constantly tired, social interaction exhausts - she has depression, but she’s not an UWU depressed character. so people find her depressive traits (which are some of the most realistic portrayals of mental health in the series) SUPER annoygin. she joined dr because she was completely lost and needed some sort of direction in her life, even if she’ll die for it. the thing is, even with direction, her mental state didn’t change because she wasn’t getting legitimate help. it’s like that one SNL skit that’s like. same sad you from before but in a new place. i also think she knows the magic is not real, because how could she not. i think she’s so adamant that it IS real, less as a way to convince others, and more of a way to convince herself. it’s like really super cruel that team danganronpa took a girl who is desperate for meaning and gave her literally a meaningless, fake talent.

i also kin himiko and find her a comfort character because i feel seen by her, replacing her useless talent of magic with mine of like shitty film making and comedy. i am seen.

related i don’t think she’s nearly as ugly as everyone says she is, i think she’s probably just depressed and takes absolutely no care of her hygiene and sleep and looks like sick and greasy all the time. same queen.

honest to god i think RYOMA’s backstory, tennis and all, is like 100% real and he’s the only one who keeps all of his memories except for the fact this is a tv show. i think he rolled up, a hot fucking mess, and the danganronpa team were like damn. we cannot improve upon this.

#ryoma hoshi #himiko yumeno #rantaro amami #korekiyo shinguji #kaito momota #kaede akamatsu #shuichi saihara #kokichi ouma #drv3 #killing harmony #pg dr #pre!game danganronpa #danganronpa #theories #danganronpa spoilers

25 notes · View notes

violetwolfraven · 4 years

Text

Legacy Heroes

After Nora and Joe showing up, Barry hadn’t really thought anything stranger could happen.

Long story short... he was wrong.

“Let me out,” the girl said sweetly, not seeming at all bothered by the fact that she was behind the glass of a meta containment cell.

The girl in question had been dubbed ‘Treble,’ despite her insistence that she already had a codename, but couldn’t tell it because she was from the future and it could jeopardize her past.

Treble had brown hair, dyed with streaks of purple, tan skin, and green eyes. She was maybe Nora and Joe’s age, and her nonchalance reminded Barry of someone. He just couldn’t remember who.

“She’s radiating tachyons,” Cisco mumbled to him, “Definitely a time traveler; must have followed your kids here.”

“Duh,” Treble said with a roll of her eyes, “Of course I did.”

Barry and Cisco both tried to hide their shock at the fact that she had even heard them. Then she pointed to her ears.

“Sensitive to sounds? That’s literally my whole thing.”

Cisco snorted, “Yeah, and leveling buildings with those sound frequencies.”

That was an exaggeration. The girl had whistled at a hotdog cart and sent it flying against a building, but she hadn’t caused lasting damage to anything except the hotdog cart.

She rolled her eyes, “That was just to get your attention. Truthfully, I was hoping for the Twin Tornado Terrors, but—“

“You mean the Tornado Twins,” Barry clarified, “My kids, who you conveniently borrowed the time sphere to follow here, but definitely aren’t an enemy to?”

Treble huffed in frustration, “You think I’m an enemy? You’re the one who sent me here! Well, technically it was your wife, but she sent me to bring those two home so they don’t mess up the past anymore than they already have!”

“You keep talking about the twins,” Cisco noted, “But you don’t actually say their names.”

“Fine,” Treble said, “Joe and Nora West-Allen. You’re Cisco Ramon and the Flash is Barry Allen, married to Iris West-Allen. Are you going to let me out, now?”

“You could have gotten that information as an enemy,” Barry said untrustingly, “I’m going to need more information than that. How’d you meet them?”

She sighed, “Fine, if it’s so important to you. Not too long from now, Team Flash and Team Arrow kind of merge into one with a bunch of other heroes to form the... the Super Friends. Fast forward a few decades, everybody’s got kids and all those kids grew up together. We’re basically cousins. Of course, some heroes never joined up or split over time, so some dating between the younger generation does happen, but...” Treble’s face reddened, “I’m getting off topic here. The point is, we call ourselves Legacies. Ask Joe or Nora and they’ll confirm it.”

Now that Barry was paying attention, the story made sense. Treble had a nervous tick belonging to Ray and a faraway look in her eye that reminded Barry of Caitlyn when she was concentrating. Her mostly calm mask was Sara’s and her relaxed-but-powerful stance was a mix of Rene’s and Kara’s. The more he looked, the more he saw his friends’ body language. Now that he thought about it, it was a thing Nora and Joe shared with her; as if they’d been raised together by a large group of heroes who’d have to pass the young kids off frequently leaving one person babysitting so the others could go on missions...

Joe and Nora were on a trip with Iris to meet Wally. Barry was hearing a vague hunch, and that wasn’t enough reason to call them back.

He shrugged, “Look, just tell us who your parents are and maybe we’ll believe your story.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because my parents aren’t together yet at this point in the timeline, and I kind of like existing.”

Cisco held up a glass from when they’d given her water earlier, “Well, we’ll know who you are soon enough.”

Treble’s face darkened, “You don’t want to do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because my parents have a very specific arc of enemies-to-friends-to-lovers and they’re only in the friends stage right now!”

“Don’t worry, kid,” Cisco said, “Finding out about you will probably just bring them closer together.”

Barry and Cisco were about to walk away when the brunette responded.

“Well, let me narrow down the search a little.”

The containment cell was set up to combat the frequencies they’d heard from Treble before.

It was not set up to contain a full sonic scream.

That definitely narrowed the search on Treble’s parents. It narrowed it to two known metas.

“I warned you,” Treble said simply as she took the glass from Cisco, “I’ll just go find those two speedy idiots now if you don’t mind.”

With one sharp note, she shattered the glass and ground the pieces into the floor with her shoe.

...

“So, Siren or Canary?” Cisco asked as they ran the DNA test, “My bet is on Laurel with that attitude, but she does kind of have Dinah’s coloring.”

Caitlyn shrugged, “Well, could be either depending on who they end up with. It’s a toss of the dice; this girl looks neutral enough that she could be either of theirs, or neither.”

Treble had cut herself when she broke the glass. She’d probably thought the blood sample was too small and too ground into the floor, but Barry had scraped some off for Caitlyn to run a paternity test on.

The test beeped and Caitlyn looked confused at the results.

“Wait, no. That can’t be right.”

“What can’t be right?” Barry asked.

“The test didn’t just come back with a match from the database of known metas and heroes,” Caitlyn said, strangely serious, “It came back with two.”

“Well, which was it, and who do they end up with?” Cisco asked impatiently.

Caitlyn shook her head, “No. You don’t understand. This girl isn’t just a match for Laurel Lance or Dinah Drake. Genetically... she’s a match for both of them.”

...

Dinah didn’t believe it, and she was staring at a computer screen that clearly linked her DNA and Laurel’s to the meta from the future Barry had captured.

Barry had gone to get a Laurel from Earth 2. Dinah wasn’t sure she wanted to face her.

“How is this possible?” She asked finally, “Two women can’t have a child.”

“Barry called Kara,” Caitlyn said, “It’s not possible for humans yet. But her people have a kind of tech that can create a baby from a sample of DNA as small as a strand of hair. It doesn’t matter what the parents’ genders are.”

“And this girl definitely acted like Laurel,” Cisco pointed out, “But her cry sounded like yours.”

Dinah stared at the security image of the kid. She had Dinah’s hair and Laurel’s facial structure. Dinah had to admit... she did look like the perfect combination of Siren and Canary.

“How sure are you?”

“Very sure,” Caitlyn said, “The match for both of you was 99.98%. If she somehow faked her DNA, she did a very good job.”

“What’s her name?”

Cisco shrugged, “We have no idea. She wouldn’t tell us anything. We called her Treble before, but... now I’m thinking we need to come up with something more avian for her.”

“What’s this I hear about a kid from the future who claims to be my—“ Laurel stopped as she rounded the corner, “Dinah.”

“I was going to wait to tell her,” Barry said, somewhat defensively as he came around the corner, “But she was very persuasive.”

“So apparently we have a kid,” Dinah said simply.”

“Naturally,” Laurel responded, “Barry said it was alien tech.”

“Yup.”

“You both are being surprisingly cool about this,” Cisco said.

“I come from a parallel universe where you were one of the most feared men on the planet,” Laurel pointed out, “Babies made with by two women via alien technology is not that far fetched.”

“First of all, ouch,” Cisco said, “Second, we wanted to wait until we had both of you here to try to find her, so any ideas how to do that?”

Laurel shrugged, “If she’s my daughter, you might be able to track her cry. Felicity did that once.”

“But then we won’t be able to find her until she uses it,” Caitlyn objected.

Dinah shrugged, “Well, I kind of doubt she’s going to hurt anyone, being our kid.”

“You never know,” Laurel muttered, “I wasn’t exactly an angel child when I was young.”

...

The brown-haired girl guessed she wasn’t that surprised when two birds landed behind her.

What would become the Justice League was too good not to.

“Hey, little girl,” the Siren said, “We heard you’ve been causing a lot of trouble.”

The girl didn’t respond.

“You got a name?” the Canary asked.

“Violet Canary.”

“How about your real name?” the Siren pressed.

Violet Canary finally turned around to face her mothers, “Quinn Olivia Drake.”

“You’re here to get Nora and Joe,” Dinah said.

“That’s right.”

“So,” Laurel said after a few seconds of awkward silence, “Which of us is ‘Mom’ and which is ‘Mama?’”

Quinn shrugged, “I don’t know. You both died before I was born.”

“What?” Dinah asked.

“What happened to not being able to tell anything about the future?” Laurel added.

“It’s different,” Quinn muttered, “I never knew you, but I spent my whole life missing you. I understand why Nora and Joe did what they did. I wish I could do it, too. But I know that I can’t make you survive the Crisis without possibly making something worse happen in response.”

“What could be the harm in spending a few days here?” Laurel asked, surprising both Quinn and Dinah, “If you never got to know us in your time?”

Quinn smiled sadly, “More than you think.”

“Whether you knew us or not, you’re our daughter,” Dinah said, “We want to know you.”

“I can teach you some tricks with your cry,” Laurel volunteered.

Quinn knew it would lead to more harm than good. She knew she could disrupt the very timeline she had come here to preserve.

But the chance to spend time with the mothers she never knew? To possibly prevent them from ever dying in the first place?

“Just for a couple days.”

#arrow #legacy heroes au #dinahsiren #daughter #dinah drake #dinah laurel lance #laurel lance #black canary #black siren #quinn olivia drake #violet canary

43 notes · View notes

bookdragonlibrary · 5 years

Text

Soft cuddles

After this episode, I wanted some fluff and cuteness so I finished the fanfiction I started this weekend. I wanted to write headcanons and of course, the story slipped from my hand and became a whole fanfiction... Tell me what you thought about it, first time I wrote something this long in English (and in Spanish). The story take place between episode 17 and 18.

Most of their dates, Bart and Ed spend it in the Youth Center. They could always use a little time between two trainings or conselling sessions and thanks to the zetatube, Bart could always run to the Watchtower - or to the new Outsiders Tower now - for an emergency or just run to the end of the world. No big deal with superspeed. He is the only speedster to be on time whatever the situation. Something his grandm- Iris complains to Barry, that he could take his grandson as a model about it. He was even late at their wedding!

He’s rambling again. So they spend most of their free time at the Center. The place where they bonded and became close friends and then boyfriends. At first, Bart started to talk to Ed because he could not afford being close to Nathaniel. Not because he killed his grandpa while being controlled by the Reach in his timeline - he always knew the guy wasn’t at fault. No, the real reason is he wasn’t his Nathaniel anymore, the one he knew, the one who took care of him after he broke free of the slave camp. Maybe as a payback for killing his grandfather, the only Foundator Leaguer remined on Earth in his time (Batman and the others never came back to Earth but he ignores if it was because of the trial result or the Reach). Bart never dared to ask him, he was grateful anyway.

Well, he never really talked to Ed before. Just met him in Taos after their liberation from the Reach ship and briefly on the World War when the fourth of them liberated them from Mongul and the Reach with Arsenal’s help. Maybe he was in the Watchtower too? The day Wally--

He brushed the thought away. Need to think about something crash.

In his time only English and interlac were allowed. The first one since it was the second language of a lot of people around the world and the second one to trade slaves and Earth’s ressources with other alien species. When he came back to the past, he was amazed by all the languages. He quickly took all Dick’s- he means Nightwing’s expressions. He loves how he plays with English. He was so proud their flawless leader was amazed by his slang. Well it wasn’t technically his, more the expressions of his time. But Nightwing was the second one to pick them after Jaime and the Team quickly follows. Of course the first foreign language he learnt was Spanish, thanks to his best friend. Milagro was kind enough to lend him children books so he could improve his skills. He’s totally crash at reading and understand spoken Spanish. Not so much with the pronounciation, especially rolling his tongue witht la doble erre y la jota. Most of the time, Jaime’s sister laugh at his attempts to reproduce her sounds, but mostly his facial expressions while he’s trying to. If he isn’t shy to try his Spanish with the Reyes, no way he would do the same with Ed... He wants to impress him, not sound ridiculous. So he only uses words withing R sounds involved.

His love for languages isn’t enough. Something even crasher.

Eduardo. His confidence when his was a act. His relaxed personality when his is only energy. His eyes, sweet whenever they look at him. His deep voice full of love. And his hair... Since he met him again in the Center, he dreams of touching them. He retained himself, knowing it was rude to touche people, especially their head, without their consent. He knew that the hard way. When they finally started dating, he asked him if he can, blushing. Ed just smiled and lowered his head without a word. Bart ran his fingers in his curls and they were so soft he melt. So was Ed with the massage.

Ed’s smile. The little smirk he does before a snarky comment or a prank. Ed loves prank his mentees. Especially the new ones. To make them laugh. To make them forget their trauma for a moment. To show them meta powers could be fun and positive. To show them it’s possible to heal, to accept them, to embrace them and be happy.

That’s why Ed signed up in the first place. That and also try to get closer to his papá, to help him, to compensate for all those months he acted like a brat. Eduardo Senior had to move from Argentina to USA to work on the Zetatube. He would have better opportunities and better materials. His mother just died, so maybe he wanted to distract his mind too. So Ed moved with his grandparents while his father sent them money to live. But that wasn’t enough. So he ran away. So he ran to him. He didn’t want to loose him too. What if an experience turns bad? What if he arrives too late and never sees him again? As bad scenarios run in his mind, he isn’t ready for the worst one. His father isn’t going to die, Ed will before him. Because he can’t see how he could survive all this pain. It’s too much. But never enough to kill him.

And then everything stops. He’s free again. He’s thrilled the heroes bring him to Taos. It’s there his papá works! But the scenario in his mind is too optimistic. His papá doesn’t seem to be happy to see him. Why? He was the whole reason he comes here, He almost died just to see him again.

But that is all in the past. Now he embraced his powers, he embraces his papá without argument or anger. He embraces Bart too. In a different way. But there is still one thing about him he doesn’t embrace yet. He’s not sure how to call it. How to call himself. He doesn’t know yet. So they aren’t an out couple yet like Leslie and Andy are. Still not at ease with coming out, not when he still doesn’t know what to respond to people. Why just says “i”m in love” isn’t sufficiant for them? Why he has to find a label for it? Obviously he knows he isn’t straight. But he’s still unsure between gay and bi. He forgot about the word pan since Bart was so confused about why he was talking about liking bread and Ed didn’t even know where to start to explain him the word comes from a completely different language (Was it from ancient greek or latin by the way?) and the difference with bi since he doesn’t know it himself. He tried to see if he sees girls beautiful or attractive or something but he can’t. He’s just thinking about Bart and nobody else. No one else matters to him. Not in this way. Because Bart is so special, so unique. Not because he’s a time traveler. Not because he’s a hero. Not because of his powers. But because of him. Or a mix of all this. For his innocence about normal, common things. For the sparkles and questions in his emerald eyes while he discovers the world like a child. For the maturity and even the wisedom coming from time to time. For his wide smile because he cried so much tears maybe he doesn’t have anymore, because he knows the powerful meaning of a smile over simple things. For the contradiction like he’s two worlds melting into one. Bart was his hero. Not because he save him from the Reach ship or save the whole world from their invasion at the cost of his cousin, but because he showed him you could go through hell and still make it, still find the happiness you thought was gone forever. If Bart could do it while coming from an apocalyptic world and still remember the simple power of a smile, Ed could do too.

Whenever the two of them have free time, they relax and cuddle in Ed’s room in the Center. Ed isn’t much of a hugger, but he loves Bart’s ones. He’s much more a kisser. They lay in the bed, watch movies, listien to music and God Bart has a lot to learn about it. Or they just cuddle on the bed, most of the time Bart in Ed’s arms, in silence, after bad or stressful missions. And the last one was a big moded mission. For both of them this time. Because Ed thought Bart was hurt or even dead on that crash, which wasn’t crash at all. Watching the Outsiders’ mission on the Internet was a good idea. Or so he thought. The Team did inspire the teenagers on the Center. Wendy considered to take off the collar! She even wanted to go back on training to control better her powers. But it still doesn’t feel enough for him. There are a lot of things he should do for them so they can go back to their family for those who still have one. But one thing he wasn’t prepare for was the stress to watch his novio be beaten up by bad guys, watch him nearly die, unable to do anything, just clench his fists as he’s watching the screen, trying to hide his stress to his mentees. But of course the girls noticed. Wendy just put her hand on his. Andy gave him a reassuring smile and gently tapped his arm to show him Bart and the others finally emerged from the ship. Leslie still acted the indifferent play but at Thanksgiving, she did give him a knowing smile when he went on the car with Bart. He knows Andy is bisexual, maybe he could talk to her about it whenever he’s ready but it feels weird, he supposed to be the concellor here.

Now his novio is in his arms, safe and sound, silent and still. Something is definitely out. Bart can’t stay still. Unless he’s moded. He healed thanks to Bart, his little bright sun chasing away his sad thoughts, and he wants to give him the same. Give him love, attention, a special place by his side. So he holds him closer in his arms, tight as he likes, petting his hair, kissing his face, soft and slow kisses wherever he can, to remind him that.

Bart rolls on his belly, looking him above his shoulder, questions in his big eyes.

“Bart, something’s wrong?”

“You... you can do it if you want to...”

Ed needs a moment to understand. Bart often catches him off guard, but never this way.

“Qué? No. No, Tito. Lo siento, I didn’t mean to... Why do you think I would...“

Bart has now his face hidding in the pillow. Ed could barely see his eye through his hair. “A girl who did it because her boyfriend won’t be interested in her otherwise...” he explains.

“Is that a romcom or something?” Bart nods shyly, still doesn’t want to meet his eyes. “First it’s dumb. And more important, I would never blackmail you. Mi Tito, te amo. We have all the time we want for this. We can wait to be both ready, okay?”

Bart nods again, now hiding his face in his boyfriend’s chest while he pets his hair.

“Why did you think I’m gonna leave you?”

“Doi, because I’m annoying...”

“I don’t find you annoying, but... uh... lindo...”

“What? What does that mean?”

Ed blushes, as he often does when Bart is near him. His novio is too innocent and pure for Ed’s good. “I find you cute” he manages to say.

“Really? Even when I’m too fast for this world?”

“Yeah, even when you can’t slow down. I’m also here for that part, right? Did I... did I ever do something that made you felt I found you annoying?”

“No. But what if you loose your patience one day?”

“That’s not gonna happen. I have more patience than you have energy, mi tonto”, he replies as he kisses his forehead.

“Te amo, Edi”, he whispers, without butchering it too much since he doesn’t have to roll his tongue.

Ed knows if he asks him the moon, Bart will find a way to bring it to him.

Ed kisses him again and traces his jaw to his neck, holding him close, his both hands of his waist so his novio would not be afraid of the attention. Bart relaxes, even starts to vibrate like a little purring kitten. And Ed lets him, he just lets him find his pace and his speed. Ed just lets him be himself, without complaining or mocking his weird body. He just adaptes. When he stops Ed cups his face, preventing him for vibrating again, and kisses him deeply. He’s still not used to his novio being so adorable, so beautiful, so affectionate it almost catch him off guard whenever he smiles.

When they start dating few months ago, Ed was too embarassed to give Bart pet names, so cheesy... God he hates the expression in English. Apodo makes more sense than being comparated to una mascota... Well he does like call him bebe and tease him when he complains about it by remind him he is technically not born yet. But he wanted to give Bart a special name, one with a meaning just for them. So he came with Bartito, Tito for short. Bart loves it and Ed can’t stop himself for thinking no one could understand Tito as a love name. Bart wanted to do the same but Edito sounds a little bit too English-like and Dito, while being close to Tito, what Bart loves, reminds Ed another word too embarassing. So Barts went with Edi instead. He even suggested, if Ed still didn’t like the nickname, to call him Teddy, but Edi was just fine. Ed did win him a big teddy bear for Thanksgiving though, knowing Bart loves plushies. He was so proud and happy with his prize almost as big as him in his arms he had to walk the entire time and take the zetatube to go back home. And they could both have cotton candy as Ed was the one ordering it and Bart already had his hands full with the plushie. Maybe it was too much for amigos, but at that moment, Ed didn’t care, just wished to make his novio happy.

“Te amo también, idiota.”

Ed kisses his temple, his forehead, his nose and finally, his lips.

He cannot stop himself about thinking what happened in Bart’s past, what could have happened. The time traveler sometimes talks about what happened back then, but never what happened to him. So Ed can only imagine and without something to hold back his houghts, his imagination goes deep, maybe too far compared to reality, or so he hopes. Despite how much he fears what he could learn, he never asked. He will wait until Bart is ready, if he will ever be one day. Ed still hopes Bart never heard, saw or felt something like this because Bart is oblivious and doesn’t understand subtex sometimes, like when he flirted with him and Bart didn’t notice or like last week when Bart suggested him to come for a sleepover to Neflix and chill and litteraly means that as he asked him which films he wanted to watch, if he prefered English or Spanish subtitles or even the Spanish version with English subtitles for him. Or even when girls or this Mexican boy who arrived last week flirt with him and Bart just thought they are nice and friendly. Ed isn’t jealous, he knows people have to be really patient to make Bart understand they are flirting since he took him months. He just watches the scene from distance, just in case Bart needs him, because if he’s oblivious to flirting, he is also to sexual tensions... Ed knows if he can’t be there, Leslie will watch him, kind of protective with the innocent oblivious teens or maybe it was just gay support?

However, this summer, when the Team and he went to the beach where Mount Justice used to be (the only place where Jaime can swim freely whithout risking to reveal his secret identity with Scarab on his back), Bart wore a swim short and a T-shirt, to protect his skin from the sun he said. He does have a red hair skin, like his discrete freckles and his auburn hair with tinge of red reveals, which is really weak to the sunlight and it was (would have been?) pretty grey and clouded in his past, so his body was never used to a bright day. But Ed still fears what he will discover when Bart will be shirtless in front of him. When his fingers run on his back, he feels some patterns, some paths underneath. And when his does find them, he just holds his novio closer. Maybe Bart is oblivious to people being nice but knows they could be cruel instead, because he’s more used to one than the other.

What he does know, though, is they will be just fine. Despite their powers. Despite him not knowing who he is yet. Despite Bart being a hero. Despite the whole Outsiders thing. Despite the meta trafficking and his fear Bart would be kidnapped again. Despite all of that, he knows they will be fine if they just give time to things as the past proved it.

------

Clearly longer than I thought it would be... Maybe a little out of characterisation and a lot of HC for Ed since we don’t know so much about him yet.

I think it’s funny I think about Ed not being the jealous type with his hugger boyfriend before the episode drop xD

#young justice #bart allen #eduardo dorado jr #goldenflash #doradoflash #fanfiction #my writing

42 notes · View notes

battlersexual · 4 years

Text

Board Game Showcase #3: Sentinels of the Multiverse

Introduction:

I mentioned in my introduction post for this series that my love of board games only really blossomed when I joined my college’s board game club. This game in particular was actually one of the major reasons why.

Sentinels of the Multiverse is a game about superheroes, but it’s not like any of the multitude of superhero-based board games on the market. Most of those just license actual Marvel or DC superheroes and put them on some other game, like Monopoly or a generic deckbuilder skeleton. Sentinels is something very different: It’s a totally original superhero game, (admittedly very much based on the Marvel-DC characters in a lot of ways) and it’s incredibly fun. Let’s talk about it!

Story:

I’m going to give you the broad strokes here, because trying to tell you the full story of Sentinels would be kind of like trying to summarize the plot of Magic: The Gathering in a single text post. Even with that, this will probably be the longest story segment I write.

In an alternate universe, instead of the Marvel and DC we’re familiar with, the comics publisher that came out on top was Sentinel Comics. Within the world of Sentinel Comics, the stories followed a similar trajectory to ours: the Golden Age where superheroes fought ordinary criminals and nazis, the Silver age with its wacky space shenanigans and superscience nonsense, the more restrained Bronze age where comics started to tackle more serious issues, a brief Dark age where everything was gritty and EXTREEEEEME, and the Modern age, where writers tried to take the best of everything that came before and just tell good stories (perhaps with mixed results, but I’m not a comic critic, so I’ll leave it at that.) The actual card game can best be described as a licensed game set in the Modern age of Sentinel Comics, which just so happens to have fallen through a time portal to our universe.

Overall, the story follows the Freedom Five, an Avengers-esque superhero team working together against all manner of villains, from the moustache-twirling to the downright terrifying. The villains in the game are all structured like crisis crossovers, with a team of supers going up against them. Each expansion to the game introduced part of the ongoing struggle as the comics progressed, culminating in the OblivAeon crisis and the end of the multiverse as we know it.

Obviously there’s more to it, but I want to move on and talk about individual characters later.

Mechanics and more under the cut.

Mechanics:

Sentinels is, technically speaking, a card game instead of a board game. That said, it still falls into the nebulous category of “Tabletop game” and most board game fans consider them board games anyway.

The game is technically 3-5 players, but can easily support 1 and 2 player games by having each player control multiple characters. Each player will pick a hero from the box, along with their deck. For example...

(Legacy is in some ways the most basic hero, so I’ll be using him as an example often.)

Each hero has a character card that gives them an HP value and a base power (In this case, Galvanize). This means the hero always has something they can do no matter which cards they get. Each hero has a unique deck of cards that focuses on their particular niche, Legacy’s being buffing the team and tanking damage.

Heroes generally work on their own, but often excel by teaming up with other heroes and complementing their own powers. Each turn, a player does three things: Play, Power, Draw, in that order. Play a card from their hand, use a power (either their innate power or one listed on an ongoing card) and draw a card. You can skip both play and power to draw two cards instead. If a hero is reduced to 0 HP, they’re not out of the fight yet: the flip side of their card has “Incapacitated abilities” that help the other team members.

(I couldn’t find a good image of Legacy’s incap side, this is from one of the other characters, Fanatic).

Sentinels is a cooperative game: the heroes work together to defeat a villain.

Each villain has their own deck, which acts as a rudimentary AI. Before the heroes get their turn, they flip over the top card of the villain deck and do whatever the card says. Villain cards are often extremely powerful, and can seriously screw over the heroes’ efforts.

In addition to heroes and villains, each game of Sentinels has an Environment. This is a third type of deck that works similarly to the villain deck, but tends to be neutral: I.E. it helps or hurts both the heroes and the villain. The environments range from the city of Megalopolis to the far-off planet Dok’Thorath to the town of Silver Gulch in the year 1883 to a far-future post-apocalyptic earth, each with unique mechanics. The turn order goes villain, heroes, environment before repeating until either the villain or all the heroes are defeated.

Flavor:

An AMAZING amount. You might have noticed that Legacy’s cards have quotes on the bottom referencing a comic he was in. Every card in the game has this, and it’s a joy to piece it all together and figure out what happened in the extensive storyline of Sentinel Comics. The game itself also presents an exciting puzzle where you try to figure out how to get past the villain’s defenses before they kill you. Each hero feels unique and interesting, and once you find your favorite, you’re all set. (Mine is Chrono-Ranger, the time-traveling cowboy).

I do have another particular favorite in terms of flavor, but I... don’t want to mention him. (Too late.) He might show up, and that’s not going to be good for anyone (Hey!) so let’s just move on.

Expansions:

The base game includes ten heroes, four villains, and four environments. This is a pretty good number, but honestly a lot of the most fun heroes arrived in the expansions. I find every new deck to be fun and interesting, so I can blanket-recommend all the expansions, but there’s a lot of them, both big boxes and mini-expansions consisting of a single deck (Like me!), so I’m not going to talk about them individually like before (WHAT?), so let’s just move on to-

No no no no NO! What kind of cop-out is that? You’re just going to tell people that expansions exist and then not explain anything? You make me SICK.

Oh no.

Oh YEAH! That’s right, I’m here to take over this showcase, so why don’t you just sit down in that corner and watch a REAL pro do his job?

Get off my post, Guise.

Not gonna happen! Take this! And this! And some a THESE!

...There we go. Hello, reader! Yep, I’m talking to you, the one reading this now. My name’s Guise, and I’m the best hero in the whole game!

Ha, I love that picture. ANYWAY, since that idiot couldn’t be bothered to cover the expansions properly, I’ll be doing that for him, just for all of you! Aren’t I the greatest? Well, let’s hop to it!

Ahhh, good old Rook City. Nice place, if you like giant mutant rats and government corruption. Which I do, because that stuff is totally X-TREEEEEEEEME!!!

Rook City was originally its own expansion, but the developers released a box that combined it with the next expansion, Infernal Relics! What nice people. Rook City includes two heroes who are almost as X-TREEEEEEEEME!!! as me, as well as two environments and four, count ‘em, FOUR dastardly villains!

Infernal Relics has plenty of spooooooky magic at play, and features another four villains, two environments, and two heroes, one of which is my good friend the Argent Adept! Here, look at this picture of us!

Ha ha, good times.

They did it again! Shattered Timelines and Wrath of the Cosmos, all in one box. How can you turn that down? If you like time travel and space adventures, these are gonna be your jam, with a total of four heroes, eight villains, and four environments, two of which are IN SPACE! Everything’s better in SPACE! Here’s a picture of me, IIIIIIINNNNNNNN SPAAAAAAAAAAAACE!

Oh, and the Shattered Timelines expansion is where that cowboy that the dumb nerd who started this post likes comes from. You know, if you cared. Which you don’t, because you’re cool! Like me! I can tell.

Vengeance added five new heroes, and introduced the TOTALLY AWESOME team villain variant, where instead of fighting one strong villain, you fight a team of weaker villains! This one can get pretty crazy. The set includes the VENGEFUL FIVE, who you can see on the box, and their decks come with all sorts of bit villains and lackeys to torment the heroes! I took a picture with my nemesis, Argentium!

Whooo, that was one tough customer! Luckily, I got him to chill out. Get it? Chill out? Because I froze him, ha ha! I’m hilarious. And awesome!

And then they did more team villains! Villains of the Multiverse has ten new villains for the team mode, four environments, and NO HEROES AT ALL! Well, lucky thing you can still use the ones from the other expansions, hey? I took a picture with a villain to commemorate this one too, but I can’t seem to find it...

Oh, there it is!

And the last major expansion is... OblivAeon! (Dun dun DUUUUUUUUN!) This one adds five heroes (formerly villains! Oooh, exciting!), five environments, and OBLIVAEON himself, with a new game mode centered around fighting him! Not to mention, you get to see ME take center stage as the big hero that saves the multiverse!

(Uh, not really, it was mostly Luminary who-)

Hey, quiet! Don’t go badmouthing me in front of my adoring fans!

Anyway, I’d love to show you my cool new form in this expansion, but that might be a liiiiitle spoiler-y, so I’ll just say I look like THIS, but WAY sexier!

Well, those are all the big expansions, but we’re not done yet! There’s a bunch of mini-expansions, little individual decks you can buy to add one hero, villain, or environment to the game. I’d cover them all, but there’s really only one you need...

That’s right, ME! Hell, you don’t even need the other big expansions when I’m so much better! Not only do you get my awesome character card, you get all the cards I’ve shown you from my deck, as well as the best card ever! No, really, that’s what it’s called!

I mean, come on! You don’t even need the base game! Just buy me, and you’ll have the best part of Sentinels of the Multiverse, all for the low low price of- hey, get off me! Ow! Stop that! HEY!

All right, that’s ENOUGH. Get OUT of my house.

...Whew, he’s finally gone. All right, let’s get on with things.

Replayability:

Sentinels is pretty darn replayable. You’re almost never going to get the same experience, even if you pick the exact same heroes, environment, and villain. If you have all the expansions, you not only get over 60 heroes and 45 villains, but you can get Variants, which replace all the hero cards (and some villains!) with new versions of the characters that have different powers. I’ve never played a game of Sentinels and felt like I’d seen it before. In addition, you can play it alone, so if you can’t have friends over regularly it’s still a good purchase.

Criticisms:

It runs into a similar problem to Cosmic Encounter where the game is SO spread out over so many expansions that the full experience ends up being an expensive and space-consuming prospect. It’s also a very fiddly game, with tons of counters and cards, so it can be a chore to play some of the more complicated characters. Both of these problems have solutions, however.

Availability:

Sentinels is still being sold, as far as I’m aware. It’s also totally available as a mod on Tabletop Sim, although this doesn’t fix the problem with fiddly counters and running out of space for cards, and in fact makes it worse. But there’s another option.

Sentinels of the Multiverse: The Video Game is an official online version of the card game. It includes every expansion as dlc, heavily marked down from its price as a physical item, and takes care of all the tedious bookkeeping for you. It also lets you earn the variant cards by doing challenges in-game, which is super fun, although you don’t HAVE to to unlock them that way. There are weekly challenge games that pit a certain team against a specific villain and environment, which often act as a cool little puzzle, (and you get to hear my amazing voice!) Shut up, Guise. I very occasionally stream games of SotM on my twitch channel, so if there’s enough interest I can show off more of the game. In general, I recommend the video game even if you already own the board game: it’s really well-done and fun to play.

Creators:

This is kind of a special segment. I normally don’t talk about the creators of these games, because they’re usually irrelevant to the final product. However, artist Adam Rebottaro and writer Christopher Badell are incredibly active in the community around their own game, and they have a podcast where they talk about the lore of the game and answer viewer questions about the characters and universe.

It’s a ton of fun, they’re really engaging and you can feel their creativity and love for comics radiating from their voices whenever they talk. They’re super funny, too.

(And if you want more of ME- ah, what am I saying, of course you do! - you can tune in to this episode right here, where I make a special guest appearance to talk about myself!)

Get OUT, Guise!

Ugh, what a pain. Anyway...

Conclusion:

I know superhero stuff is kind of over-saturated right now, but even if you’re sick of superheroes - give Sentinels a try. It’s a celebration of comics more than superheroes in particular, and despite taking a lot of cues from existing superheroes, everything about Sentinels is fresh and fun. It’s one of my favorite co-op games ever, and its story is so well-told that I genuinely feel like I need to go read the comics, which I remind you don’t exist. Sentinels of the Multiverse is brilliant and just plain FUN.

Seriously, go play it, and make sure to use all my cards!

Didn’t I tell you to get out of my house?

#Board Game Showcase #board games #Sentinels of the Multiverse #SotM #oh hey #I can write things down here too!#I think I'll stick around here a while #this blue website looks like fun #guise out!

4 notes · View notes

snugglyporos · 6 years

Text

Okay so anyone who knows me knows I have a deep love of sentai. Big fan of the concept, not so much actually watching it. I have a deep love of creative things, and to me the idea of sentai is sorta like my original love of the green lantern mythos. Basically, my love of sentai comes from the idea that nothing is off limits. Want a team to fight space ninjas? Done. Want them to fight demons from hell? Done. Want them to fight leftovers from the dinosaur period bent on world destruction via super science? done. There’s literally no limit on creativity. Which I like. The execution often doesn’t live up to it, mostly because I think the idea of it all being live action is super limiting towards what you can easily portray.

Which is why I’ve sorta fallen in love with the power rangers comics. Because they’re a bit gritty and all, but at the same time, they actually explore lots of cool concepts and ideas, and then take them to a logical conclusion, and actively use the fact that they’re comics to depict some really dark and unique ideas.

Example, at the moment you’ve got a dark timeline version of the White Ranger traveling through the multiverse killing and taking the powers of other teams so he can ostensibly conquer the multiverse.

Now anyone that knows me knows that I love the multiverse concept. It’s a great way to introduce lots of ideas without having to explain why you’re doing so in light of one specific universe. But I think one giant flaw is that a lot of creators don’t take this idea to it’s logical conclusion.

See, you often get the ‘what if’ stories, specifically ‘what if this character was actually evil’ or ‘what if this person died/didn’t die’ or what have you. And that’s sorta generic. And the problem is that so rarely do writers take things to their logical conclusion.

Example, say you have evil guy x taking over his own reality, and then deciding, you know what, I’m going to take over other people’s reality. So he starts poking around in other universes to take them over. Now, the thing about a multiverse is, you don’t just get the good universes. You get the bad ones. You get the ones where the big bad won in the end and took over the universe. And maybe they are aware of the multiverse too. And maybe, just maybe, some of them might be somewhat annoyed that some other big bad is trying to conquer it.

Because big bads don’t like to share. So yeah, evil guy x is taking over universes that aren’t under the control of these other big bad’s, but that doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t given time and success. And as these big bad’s know, good doesn’t always win.

So then you get all these evil forces who conquered their own universes deciding they need to deal with evil guy x because he’s getting to uppity and trying to conquer every reality. That threatens them. None of these guys are doing anything but being selfish, mind. but that’s the point, because all of them don’t want anyone else to conquer what they already conquered.

Usually, the story goes that all the scattered and defeated good guys come together and unite to defeat the big bad because as it turns out, picking fights with multiple universes is a bad idea. But that’s expected and sorta boring. Give me a bunch of universe conquers deciding to come together and technically save the multiverse because none of them want to risk what they themselves have.

Basically you have a bunch of universe conquerers fighting off a multiverse conqueror because kindly fuck off this reality is mine thank you. So they save the multiverse at the cost of them having their own universes to rule over.

And because it’s the multiverse, there are so many possible ways this can happen. You deal with a bunch of strong personalities coming together to ostensibly do good though they all hate good. You get the evil emperor fighting alongside the sorcerer king and the undead revnant and the savage conquerer and all the other villain tropes.

Essentially, it’s a multiverse evil D&D campaign.

But that’s why the multiverse is such a cool concept, and I wish it was used more to explore more things. After all, the multiverse travels time and space; maybe you have different versions of the same character teaming up. Usually this is the ‘not yet a hero’ teaming up with the older version of themselves that is ‘the big hero.’ But what if you had the villain who is still a minor villain teaming up with the older more powerful version of themselves, and because they’re both villains, they spend all their time bickering because they focused on both being the big bad? this being despite the fact that technically, they both are. Again, so many possibilities with the multiverse.

#ooc

5 notes · View notes

samdukewieland · 4 years

Text

Stuck Inside Media Diary Week 7

I realized that I didn’t include my watching of the Parks And Rec special thing that was on. By no means was it perfect, though I imagine that it was the best case scenario for something like that (in terms of being an original story, as opposed to a table/script read that the Community cast put together that’s coming out...ur, at some point). Is it necessary as a piece of media? It raised a lot of money for Feeding America and did its best in trying to shine some optimism in really unsettling times. Kinda nice.

Sunday, May 3

Filmworker, Zierra 2017 [as of now this is available on Netflix]

Interesting take on a documentary about, but not about Stanley Kubrick. It would be unusual for any Kubrick dude to not know or have some kind of inkling that he was a complicated figure (an asshole), especially when it came to making movies, so the point of the movie isn’t really to inform that aspect of of it (though it probably confirmed suspicions, should you have any). It’s more a case example of how toxic relationships like these work and how dangerous it is to deify people, especially your own heroes. Of course, should any of us be given the opportunity to work or be near someone we look up to, how’re do we know what our breaking point is for them before we reach it (unfortunately for Leon Vitali, it wasn’t until Kubrick passed away that he could see just how far deep he was). This is also a pretty good example of how companies and corporations will treat you like garbage just to advance their credibility and how sometimes it feels like a documentary’ll show you that but not really do anything change that (as far as I know).

Mad Men, [season 4 premier] “Public Relations”, “Christmas Comes But Once A Year”, “The Good News”, “The Rejected”

So I definitely haven’t watched Season 4 as a more grown person than I was back in high school when this first aired. So I’ve known Don’s life is a nightmare, but never really processed why or thought about why; I was not the most keen observer (probably because I was thinking about not turning in homework). Now with all that said, jeeeeeeez Don’s life is a super depressing nightmare oooof. Now Season 4 feels like it needs some more runway to catch up with itself and its momentum it revved up to at the end of season 3, so the first couple of weeks feel a little wobbly (though wobbly Mad Men is leagues better than some other dramas at their best). However, the Don and Lane friendship does gets established in this slew of episodes, two men who couldn’t be more different, but can’t help but be bonded by a miserable moment in time.

Three Busy Debras, “Barbra”

Holy shit this episode is so genius. So many shades of Stangers With Candy in this one.

Rick And Morty, “Never Ricking Morty”

Believe me, I don’t want you to know that I watched this either.

The Last Dance, Parts 5 & 6

These were probably my favorite parts of the doc so far, probably because its the most enjoyable stuff you can watch (hold for destroying any chance Charles Barkley had at winning a championship). Jordan as a brand, both figuratively and literally-the concept of celebrity through a Michael Jordan lens; I could lap that up for hours. It makes me mad that there’s only two hours left (now), because there’s clearly so much more that could be covered, but will leave unturned (more on this next week).

Monty Python: Almost The Truth (Lawyers Cut), “The Not-So-Interesting Beginnings”

Good example of the subjects not getting in the way of the subject matter. Probably the thing that leaves to be desired is seeing the remaining members (this was made in 2009, so Chapman was the only deceased member at the time) together and interacting with one another. You get a little bit of Michael Palin and Terry Jones together, but not in an interviewed capacity, which faintly scratches that itch. If I had to guess, I’d say that they all don’t love being together without Palin there as a buffer, just based on what I know about Monty Python. Lotta strong and brilliantly smart personalities with no real acknowledgement on who’s the best, because they all think they’re the best (maybe not Palin or Jones). Also, this is a surprisingly self-aware interview with Idle, which really shattered any preconceived notions I have for him-might have to do some self-evaluation.

Monday, May 4

Escape From New York, Carpenter 1981 [as of now this is available on Prime]

I’ve definitely lied to people about having seen all of Escape From New York before. Why? Because it made me appear better than I actually was. It and Die Hard With A Vengeance (another great New York movie, though for the record, I’ve still never seen all of it) seemed to be two movies that I kept catching just enough glimpses of throughout the years without having actually seeing all of it. For instance, I had no idea that Harry Dean Stanton was in Escape From New York, which instantly elevates movies for guys like me from being “pretty good li’l B movie” to “this is actually advanced and high art” (this isn’t always the case on the HDS matrix, but it is consistent, see Repo Man).

Mad Men, “The Chrysanthemum And The Sword”, “Waldorf Stories”

Real fool me once with your racism shame on you you, Roger Sterling. Fool me twice, shame on me (re: “The Chrysanthemum And The Sword”). “Waldorf Stories” is really the first episode put in gear this season, maybe it’s because we’re getting Ken Cosgrove back (hell yeh) or maybe it just feels that way because “The Suitcase” is next and I know it; it’s an incredible build-up, what with hindsight and all that.

Tuesday, May 5

Mel Brooks: Unwrapped, Yentob 2018 [as of now this is available on HBO]

Listen, this isn’t very good. I think some of it has to do with Brooks, who kind of gets in the way of it all, which is a very hard thing to admit. It’s got some moments, when it actually tells you something about Mel Brooks, but for the most part its just a British guy not taking command of his own documentary and subject and that’s just like barely interesting. Mel Brooks is still a king, though.

Mad Men, “The Suitcase”

This is regarded as the best episode of Mad Men and one of the best episodes of television in the 2010s. I don’t know how it stands up by itself, like I don’t know if it resonates well with someone who’s never watched Mad Men outside of the vacuum. Usually going into one of these episodes that almost transcends its own show I tend to be weary, be it brand new (like when I watched “Pine Barrens” for the first time when I watched The Sopranos) or on a re-watch like this. I trick myself into thinking “well I bet its not that good” because you’re told to the contrarian take is the most interesting take, but I didn’t with this one. I remember the first time I watched it and I don’t think I’ve gone back and watched it in years, so I had forgotten almost all of the context around the episode, except for the argument. This episode is really special, hands down. Don’t love the ghost, but pobody’s nerfect. This podcast talks about it way better than I ever could, listen to that instead of reading this (I just want yer clicks, suckers!)

Wednesday, May 6

Heartburn, Nichols 1986 [as of now this is available on Prime]

I say this as someone who doesn’t travel in Mike Nichols circles (though this is the fourth movie of his that I’ve watched during all this, so maybe I do and I just don’t know it), but why isn’t this trotted out more as one of his best movies? My Nora Ephron bias might be showing a lot here, someone I didn’t really appreciate until I watched Everything Is Copy about a year ago (it’s an HBO doc-meaning it’s available on that platform if you want nice documentary to watch sometime), but this movie’s great! And it has two of the most famous movie stars to ever live as the two lead roles and Jeff Daniels as a bit player. And yet its legacy only feels relevant to those who seek out Mike Nichols or Nora Ephron movies, which feels odd, considering one half of that creative team is best known for The Graduate and the other for When Harry Met Sally (or Sleepless In Seattle or You’ve Got Mail).

Thursday, May 7

Kingdom Of Heaven (Director’s Cut), Scott 2005

I’ll be honest, I wanted to watch Return Of The King, but that just wasn’t an option. This movie’s technically good, like more Ridley Scott movies are than they aren’t, but really lacks any kind of new message besides “Religion’s pretty fucked up how it made people do that, huh?” Which to a lot of people is super appealing, but when you make a movie that only exists because of Lord Of The Rings’ success, you’d hope for something more (though isn’t this always the case with these kinds of movies?) Like make the movie about David Thewlis or Jeremy Irons. Obviously the battle/fight sequences are really cool to watch and look at, and that’s not an at all terrible critique to give it either. It’s fine that there’s dumb-guy Lord Of The Rings (which is semi-controversial considering a lot of the book nerds already consider Lord Of The Rings [movie] is dumb-guy Lord Of The Rings).

Mad Men, “The Summer Man”

Ah yes, the Don journals and goes swimming episode. It’s good considering it has to follow up “The Suitcase.” I can’t think of any from this particular episode, but (and I think it checks out, cultural timeline wise too) this is the season where it almost feels like the writers/directors figures out that their show was ripe for meme-dom and .gifs-sometimes when that happens it goes real south for the sake of quality, but luckily not Mad Men.

Friday, May 8

Jiro Dreams Of Sushi, Gelb 2011 [as of now this is available on Netflix]

I bet David Fincher loves this movie. I’m not a huge sushi lover (it’s fine, but way too expensive) so I guess I’ve figured that’d be a huge barrier for me to jump over to enjoy this doc. This thing’s got a weird, but great energy to it, where it feels like four twenty-minute segments sewn together; right when you think “well this should’ve just been a quick package on Frontline” it adds another wrinkle. Would probably be constructed more differently now, considering how food docs/series’ work now, but its strengths lie in its simplicity.

Top Chef, Season 17 episode 8

Great Restaurant Wars this season. Very compelling stuff and almost athletic. Andy Greenwald said it best.

Mad Men, “The Beautiful Girls”, “Hands And Knees”, “Chinese Wall”

“Beautiful Girls” is another entry into the best Mad Men episodes (though like “The Suitcase” I don’t think it would necessarily resonate out of context). Iconic closing shot and a great Sally Draper episode, who I’ve feared I might’ve been overrating for the last couple of years. Nah, Sally Draper is underrated even. Big spiral moves for Don as well in here, though hopefully he can course correct after tasting Sally’s rum-cooked French Toast (it won’t!)

Saturday, May 9

Basic Instinct, Verhoeven 1992

I can’t imagine what it must feel like to be completely neutral about this movie; your life must be so care-free, so calming, so unconcerned with trying to figure out how exactly to start calling your close friends either “cowboy” or “hoss” as if you’ve been doing it your whole life. Also, listen, I get it about that one shot and it being the thing people kept talking about and the thing most associated with this movie, but nothing and no one prepared me for seeing Gus in a cowboy hat in that bar/club before the Nick/Roxie chase. That and all the ice-pick stabbings. And the opening crime scene. And a whole lot of other stuff that takes place in this movie.

Mad Men, “Blowing Smoke”, “Tomorrowland” [season 4 finale], “A Little Kiss Part 1 & 2″ [season 5 premier]

The letter! Disneyland! Marriage again! A lot of things happen in these four episodes that are the end and beginning of seasons. But when I realized that I was going to get “Zou Bisou Bisou” in this block of episodes, it was game over. I’ve had it stuck in my head every day for a prolonged amount of time since Saturday and the only thing that makes it not terrible is knowing how pissed off Don was that it happened to him. Don’t marry a 25-year-old. Season 4′s a weird one for Betty as the show tried to navigate how to keep her involved with the show even though she and Don aren’t married anymore and it’s not....great. Probably because they keep making her “true” emotional foil children (specifically Glen and to a greater level Sally, but the tribulations that come between a mother and almost teenage daughter shouldn’t be the same as a mother and some weird kid down the block who just happens to be the son of the show’s creator).

0 notes

theemichelleb · 5 years

Text

Avengers: Endgame - Movie Review

I actually saw this movie opening weekend and decided to give everyone a chance to watch before publishing because I know just how important this film was for my generation and those Marvel fans before us. I definitely do not want to ruin anything for anyone so if you have not seen the movie yet DO NOT READ THIS and don’t watch the trailer for the new Spiderman Movie. It will truly ruin your day, LOL.

That was your warning….

Now, for those of you that are not HUGE Marvel fans, if you’re wondering… Yes, I did sit through the 3 hours and 2 minutes of awesomeness known as Avengers: Endgame. Would I do it again? ABSOLUTELY! The movie was awesome and everything I imagined it would be. It didn’t even feel like I was sitting there for 3 hours.

I think it was only right for the writers to end the story line with Tony Stark the same way they started this decade of awesomeness with him, and he deserved that spotlight. We have waited 10 years for the powerhouse that was Thanos to come and conquer or be conquered, I had no idea Infinity War and Endgame would play out they way they did, but I think it was genius. I love movies that don’t have the fairy tale happy ending and leave us with scars because that’s how real life is; it hurts, makes us cry, and makes us question how we’re going to move forward after this. I mean, I didn’t cry or anything, and I definitely can’t wait for whatever Marvel has next in our heroes respective story lines, but life isn’t perfect and I admire movies that show these worlds in a more realistic light.

Leaving out of Infinity War, I knew Gamora was gone… although they’ve found a way to bring her back to close out the Guardians franchise without a missing piece. I also knew Thanos had to die and our beloved heroes would need to be brought back to life… there was too much money and too many franchises riding on their main characters being brought back from the dead; especially T-Challa because the black community was going to have a riot if our beloved Black Panther was knocked out of the MCU after ONE self titled film of cinematic genius.

But here is where I have to acknowledge Stan Lee’s amazingness and how I almost dropped a tear to see he actually got to end the game with Endgame… truly iconic and he will be missed.

So! Avenger’s: Endgame… where to start? It’s definitely clear to say if you did not follow the entire franchise with all of the individual story lines that tie into the Avenger’s, you’re going to be lost at some parts during the movie. We took trips back to the first Guardians of the Galaxy, the first Avenger’s movie, Doctor Strange, Thor: The Dark World, Avenger’s: Infinity War, and I know I’m missing a few others but those were the big ones for me that were traveled back to. But honestly, just watch all of the movies to get the entire experience and learn who each character is, there are 22 movies included in the Avenger’s MCU, although I don’t really count the Incredible Hulk (2008)… Bruce Banner/The Hulk isn’t even portrayed by Mark Ruffalo in that movie and I personally don’t think it has anything to do with the series other than it’s an origin story for The Hulk; but, watch at your own discretion and choose if you agree on your own.

Now, don’t be confused. I completely 100% believe that the movies are corny and cheesy, some more than others, but that’s the beauty of taking your childhood comic book characters and making them real; just take a look at the Transformer’s dynasty… Optimus Prime is about as corny as it gets but we still love him on film! Let me not get off topic, though. My least favorite films from the Avenger’s universe are the first two Thor movies (although Ragnorak was absolutely amazing and saved Thor’s story line in my eyes), Iron Man 3 was okay I could have done without it, Spiderman: Homecoming, and Ant-Man… I know those last two may make some people unhappy, but you can definitely share your views in the comments below! I’d love a good conversation on this. My faves, however, consisted of Black Panther, all 3 of the Captain America Movies, Guardians of the Galaxy 1, Thor: Ragnorak, and all of the Avenger’s movies. All the rest were good for what was needed to move the story along, including those that I didn’t care for much.

Only thing I don’t care for are how the movies end with plot holes that are later “filled” in future movies, I think that’s Marvel’s attempt to cover their tracks, but those holes could be left purposely to leave space for flexibility in upcoming movies. There were a couple holes in the plot for Endgame that I’m just not convinced of, however.

If Thanos’ past self is killed, shouldn’t the affects of Infinity War be erased? If he’s dead before he can snap his fingers the first time, technically he never erased half of the universe’s population, which then means Endgame didn’t occur and we should be sent back 5 years prior as though nothing ever happened. I could believe that only those heroes that participated in fixing the timeline would remember what actually happened.

If Gamora died in Infinity War, but her past self was brought forward when Thanos came to the future in Endgame, technically Thanos could not have killed her to get the Death Stone in Infinity War, which also means he never erased half of the universe’s population. I guess they could spin this as since she’s still alive it doesn’t make a difference… still a plot hole to me.

Where did Loki go? He got hold of the tesseract when the team went back to 2012 to get it and the staff, but of course things did not go as planned and he disappeared. I just want to know when we are going to discuss how that throws off the time line, because if he disappears he technically never winds up in jail in Asgard.

I’m sure there’s some round about way to explain all of these, but I’m just letting it be known that it doesn’t completely make sense. Time travel is a complicated nonexistent thing to understand as is, so I won’t sit too much on what was off about it because there was so much more that was right about it.

I was talking to somebody about the movie and appreciated just how amazing the women were in this film, yet again, displaying just how D.O.P.E. we are in real life and the way we always come through in the clutch. Okoye, Shuri, Valkyrie, Wanda/Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel, Pepper Potts, and our beloved Black Widow, may she rest in peace, kill the game in the movie and aren’t just side kicks. This goes back to my excitement about Black Panther… I don’t care what anybody says or who chooses to believe that movie wasn’t a big deal, it was a HUGE deal to me and the emphasis of D.O.P.E. black women was truly out of this world. They seriously carried that trend through the end of the Avenger’s story.

In particular, let’s highlight Black Widow and her sacrifice to save the world. There truly was no question about who would have to die between her and Hawkeye, unfortunately. They were quite the pair but he had something tangible to gain from saving the world, his family; she, on the other hand, was able to save all of her friends and give his family back to him by sacrificing herself. She had waited and obsessed over how to save the world for FIVE years and this was it; Hawkeye went through the world killing bad guys to remedy the curse that was Thanos. I think it was a beautiful second chance for him. He not only got his family back but his best friend gave her life so he could find his way again and become the hero she knew he was.

This is why I’m so hooked on how D.O.P.E. we are as women!

Captain America also got a loving ending to his story and I appreciate how the baton was passed to Sam Wilson, a glorious black man. Could this be foreshadowing to a branch off for Captain America movies?? I tell you one thing, these crazies in the world today better not start ANY NONSENSE about there being a black Captain America the way they did about Idris Elba being the black James Bond…. and that’s that on that.

For my dear Iron Man… Tony Stark you have truly achieved the level of acknowledgment and heroism that you chased after with your escape from captivity in 2009 and we appreciate you for your sacrifice and getting that 1 in 14,000,605 chance to beat Thanos right! Tony Stark’s path has taken many turns that I didn’t expect it to take following him through the years, but I’m glad he reached the goal he was fighting for in the movie primarily; to save his family. The procession shown at his funeral to close out the movie was so beautifully laid out the only thing that could have made it better was if Stan Lee had made a cameo. I think it was genius how the pan through all of the characters at the funeral was a parallel of the comic book opening for all of the Marvel movies. I think the best part about how Tony is honored is that Pepper was by his side in the fight against Thanos and he had daughter that I’m most certain is going to follow in his footsteps in both brains and courage. His legacy will definitely live on into new movies and through the characters that we got back.

There are truly so many other things that can be said about the movie. Overall, it was the best ending for this struggle to survive than I could have imagined. It truly made the last 10 years worth while, and I appreciate the growth of Marvel over the years in their execution of all of these movies. They sought out to tell an amazing story and ended up with an epic playing field that has provided a ridiculous amount of growth and development for the company. The casting has definitely been A-1, the plots are intriguing, the scripts have gotten more believable, and execution was always pretty on point but have gotten even more intense and engaging for the audience.

The movie is a must see. If you haven’t gotten into Superhero movies, it’s okay but if you want to give something new a chance now’s the time. You can watch the entire story be told from beginning to end and there are so many ways to find the order to watch all 22 movies so the story flows and you’re not lost.

Happy Binge Watching!

0 notes