#Where Am I Issue 214 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sugadaily · 3 years

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On tvN’s You Quiz on the Block, SUGA told stories from before his debut. The period of his life when he struggled with how to live off his music. SUGA and BTS have kept going and going for eight years, and now he’s on their grounds, where he can do anything he wants musically. What began with that long journey is the story of SUGA holding his head up higher and staring at the future, reaching for it.

How are you feeling after your shoulder surgery? You’re doing physical therapy in parallel with work. SUGA: I’m all right. I’m keeping up with the physical therapy, too. I had surgery last year because I wanted to be able to go back to work sooner. I have nothing else to do except music.

You said that there’s nothing for you to do other than music in the “BE-hind Story” interview on YouTube, too. SUGA: It’s true. I tried gaming, but I have no talent for it. The people I play with online get so frustrated if I do. I mean, I’m working hard and got some recognition in my life, and yet people bash me so hard in games. (laughs)

I wonder if there’s a game you can do better in than you do in your career. You’re currently at your sixth week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 [with “Butter, at the time of this interview]. (laughs) How are you feeling these days? SUGA: When we were at number one for two weeks straight, I was like, Wow, this is so amazing! But after the fifth or sixth week, we really started to talk about it between ourselves: I really can’t believe this. Anyway, I feel like I have a responsibility. And I think I’ll end up thinking much, much more when we get ready for the next promotion. Even if I just try to enjoy this situation, it hasn’t sunk in. We can’t leave the country, plus there’s lots of issues in the world right now that are much more important than how well we perform on the charts.

As you say, it’s a tough situation, all over the world. How do you feel about releasing “Permission to Dance,” with its positive message, at this point in time? SUGA: It seems like everyone around the world is really tired of this situation dragging out. I wanted to convey a message that tells people to keep hanging on to hope until the very end. Whereas we released the album BE in this situation, seemingly without any certainty, I believe things will slowly get better now. I don’t know if we can go back to the way things were before, but I’m still working with the hope that we can return to a situation that resembles what we had before.

Aren’t you tired of the pandemic being in this prolonged state? SUGA: I look at it as, when you lose one thing, you gain another. I ended up being able to see my family more since I’m in Korea. In that sense, I feel more stable, so I’m not so much tired as hoping each day that things will become okay soon. I keep moving back and forth between work and home, and I’ve started to reflect on parts of myself I didn’t know about before. Like that I feel somewhat comfortable when I start and finish work at a certain time. While I used to have to go to bed at a certain time for work the next day or else I had a hard time getting up early, now I know I’ve figured out what time I should wake up at to make sure I feel good all day. What I pursue in life is emotional stability, and I don’t think there’s really anything too exciting or sad happening these days.

What effect do those emotions have when you work on music? SUGA: They don’t have a big effect on it. I think it affects the way I write lyrics a bit, but I’m not working on any lyrics at the moment. I’ve been making music for a long time, so I think it’s possible for me to express emotions I’m not feeling in the moment. And it’s good that we released “Permission to Dance” in this kind of situation.

You sing rather than rap in “Permission to Dance.” In addition to rapping, you started singing more both before and after BE. What did you learn about your voice? SUGA: “Permission to Dance” was a little bit difficult. I don’t draw a line between singing and rapping or anything, but it was different from our usual style, and the vocals were a bit high, too. So even though it took a while to prepare for it, I worked hard, and even when I asked some older musicians for their opinions, they all said, “It’s good the way you’re doing it. Don’t try to sing better—just sing more.” I think my only option is to sing more, like they suggested.

As far as style goes, you’ve been doing a smoother kind of pop music. Did any differences arise as a result of these changes? SUGA: All things considered, the English was the hardest part. I paid close attention to my pronunciation in “Butter” and “Permission to Dance.” It wasn’t easy to capture that smooth feeling in the songs, so I practiced my pronunciation quite a bit. And I end up breathing a lot when I’m doing an English song, but the rap parts were a bit hard for that reason. There’s a clear difference from Korean songs, since English has so many syllables. But I don’t have any one method I stick with for my vocals yet, so I tend to try lots of different things out.

What do you make of BTS’s achievements over the past year with “Permission to Dance” and “Butter,” as well as the group’s change in style? In the space of a year, you’ve released songs in a style different from MAP OF THE SOUL: 7 or BE. SUGA: As a producer, I think reactions are important to an artist who works within the field of popular music. With that in mind, speaking as a producer, “Dynamite,” “Butter” and “Permission to Dance” were the best choices. And musical tastes are different from country to country, and the cultures are different, too. Given that situation, I think it’s important that we’re a group who can send such a universal message out into the world.

BTS has really grown and changed a lot, starting with “No More Dream” and all the way to “Permission to Dance.” SUGA: I think it’s a natural course of event for those of us who make pop music. Artists mix and match different genres as they grow, and the music develops as the people of its time listen to it. I’ve been listening to a ton of music lately, and thanks to the times we live in, if I listen to a song a few times, they recommend me more songs in a similar style. And after listening to them, I realized the style of hip hop is also changing and is splitting off into different offshoots. Other than hip hop, I also listen to a lot of instrumental music. I’ve always liked Hans Zimmer’s music. There have been many times where a movie I like turns out to have music by Hans Zimmer.

What is it about Hans Zimmer’s music that draws you in? SUGA: I like orchestral music. There’s a lot of pop songs that are under the three-minute mark now, and whereas it’s sort of predetermined that they’re always written with intros that are four bars long, orchestral music can do a lot within its framework.

But, as can be seen in IU’s song “eight,” which you both produced and featured on, you broke out of pop music’s typical composition style and tried out a highly condensed progression. The composition of the chorus is very straightforward. SUGA: Yes. I insisted that the flow be roughly cut in half from that of a typical song, and I expect more pop music will be like that in the future. And maybe even shorter as time goes on. I mean, these days there’s songs that are under two minutes, even.

Regardless, I felt the chorus in “eight” is extremely dramatic with its structure and the melody of the chorus. I thought it was rather grand in scale as well. Would you say that you’re attempting to mix your tastes and things you want to do into the structure of pop music? SUGA: As you know, I love hip hop, so when I was first making music I thought it had to be hip hop no matter what and that I had to take pride in my own ideas and not accept any compromise. But while getting some experience at the forefront of pop music, I figured out that you can keep being stubborn or inflexible because there are people listening to you. There was a time I made music without any listeners before I became a member of BTS. But if someone were to ask if I stopped being stubborn about the music I’m making these days, the answer’s no. As I grew up and became an adult, I came to realize that I have to negotiate between what I want to do and the kind of music the public wants without compromising anything. When I give up on something I wanted to do, I ask myself, What will I get out of this? And conversely, when I want to do something, I ask myself, What can I get out of this? That’s how I keep my balance to make it to where I am now.

You have no choice but to think about those things when you work on other artists’ songs, especially when you’re a producer. SUGA: I’m BTS’s SUGA, and I’m Agust D, and when I’m producing, I go by “by SUGA.” But when it comes to by SUGA, I make perfectly commercial music. I’m the producer for those songs, sure, but the owner is someone else, you know? In that case, they’re commissioning my work. But they wouldn’t think about just leaving it all with SUGA. The artist’s label has to think carefully about whether to commission me for producing and consider my situation, too, and those people must be hoping for something commercial. That’s the most important part of working with outside people. Actually, that kind of work isn’t much of a benefit to me, to be honest. Oh, he can write this kind of song, too. That’s all. The more valuable thing I can get from it is the recognition and records the artist or the company will get with the song instead.

As you noted in your previous Weverse Magazine interview, when you discussed your “interest in the music industry in the US,” you seem to constantly think about the things artists can do within the framework of the music industry. SUGA: I don’t know. It’s just that I’ve become more certain since the pandemic started that I’m the kind of person who always has to be doing music. That much I know for sure, so I want to keep on making good music. And the pop music market is something that came about because there were people listening, and there’s a long history to the US music market, and it possesses the most influential charts in the whole word. So then I thought, Wouldn’t they have gone through all the same things that we have? And really, whenever I talk to other pop stars, the situation is always similar. The US is also more realistic about commercial results than any other country. I wanted an accurate picture of how those people work. Right now, Korean pop music’s spread is in full swing and we need more good artists to keep popping up. From a producer’s standpoint, if that’s going to happen, I think the key is how well we can mix our music and the characteristics of overseas music industries overall.

How did it feel to be in the lineup for the Grammy Awards, one of the icons of the US music industry? SUGA: The feeling was less immediate because we couldn’t be there in person, and it wasn’t a huge distinction, but the performance made me think, This is different, because it’s the Grammys. What changed my view from the first time I went to an American music awards ceremony was, the first time I went, I was really scared of the world’s biggest music market. But when I look back now, I don’t think I had any reason to feel that intimidated. To be honest, I have only now begun to enjoy the awards ceremonies; I wasn’t able to then.

It’s no exaggeration to say that you’ve achieved most of the things that you can as an artist in the music industry. What steps do you think are necessary for the artists who follow after BTS? SUGA: The way artists work seems so difficult. They make an appearance on a different music show every day once the promotional period begins, meaning the exhaustion artists face is enormous, and that fatigue often results in injuries as it adds up. That kind of music show is for promotional purposes, so it’s not like the artists can earn a proper income from them. On top of that, despite all the promoting, there’s no visible outcome, so they inevitably lose morale. If possible, it’d be nice to have one of the performances be really high-quality, even if it’s just the one, but in this environment I’d say that’s pretty difficult. And since our job doesn’t fit the common conception of work, there’s ambiguous boundaries when it comes to issues of legal protection as well. We need a lot of improvements to be made to the industry and its system.

They demand a lot of things as collateral for success, yet success is extremely difficult to attain. SUGA: The great thing about the label I’m with is they listen to the artists’ opinions. I think both we and the label know to a certain degree what kinds of activities would be best commercially speaking. But the question is whether the body can endure it or not. If the fatigue builds up as you continuously do those promotional activities, it’s hard to do them the way you did when you first debuted. In that case, I think the label ought to actively accommodate the artist’s views about what they can and cannot do. An attitude that’s just like, Oh, we made you kids, and as long as you just do what we tell you to it’ll all work out, so just do it—I think that really doesn’t make any sense. Of course, there could still be situations where the label has to be pushy like that, obviously. But I heard there’s been times where a label will just say, Do it, without any explanation to the artist, or, Why are you talking so much? I think that’s the biggest issue and it’s destroying the industry. If you just see the artist as a product, how can they do anything creative? I really think it’s very contradictory to ask the people on stage to put on an enjoyable performance when they’re experiencing neither fun nor enjoyment.

That reminds me of the music video for “Daechwita” somehow. You appear onscreen as both a rebel character and a king, looking as different as your situation when you first debuted with BTS and your situation now. SUGA: There was a lot I wanted to do in “Daechwita,” not just musically but also visually, and a lot of ideas came to me as I came to reflect on who I am as a person while working on the music video. It naturally occurred to me to separate SUGA, by SUGA and Agust D. The character I played in that video who wasn’t the king was a stranger. It takes place during the Joseon era, but then there’s cars and guns, which of course don’t belong in that era. I think we’ve been living our lives that way. Right from our debut, a portion of the hip hop lovers criticized us by saying, They’re idols. But at the same time, we heard things like, They’re not idols. I didn’t know which drumbeat to march to, so I think that’s why each of our albums took a different direction than people were expecting. But I don’t think I can call myself a stranger in this situation anymore. So these days my main goal is to keep going with BTS for a long time. Having a huge audience show up at our concerts is nice, but I think the goal for all of us is to make sure the group can keep making music even as we get older. I think right now we’re thinking a lot about how we can have fun and be happy on stage.

What do you mean when you say fun and happy music? SUGA: I think people are happier the busier I am, so lately I’ve been thinking that I need to focus a little more. I figure we should do as much as we can for ARMY since they feel happy watching us. We’ll continue to try our best, so I hope they believe in BTS and keep their eyes on us.

So that’s why you do music. SUGA: This is the only thing I know how to really do. Other than music and BTS, there’s nothing special about me when I look at this 28-year-old Min Yoongi. That’s why I want to keep doing this.

#yoongi #suga #bangtan #bts #210730 #interview

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jadekitty777 · 3 years

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Fic Writer Questions

Tagged by @victorious1956 (I kind of forgot you tagged me for like, ever, lol). These stats are from 9-1-21.

How many works do you have on AO3?

Currently 79!

What’s your total AO3 wordcount?

411,393. Jesus, when did that happen?

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Mostly RWBY, though I have 2 Undertale fanfics up as well.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. Sick Leave (485)

2. A Bit of Luck (324)

3. The Hero’s Road (253)

4. Transmission Error (214)

5. Temptation (187)

4 out of 5 of these are Qrow/Clover fanfics and of those, two of them are drabbles.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Yes, always. My philosophy has always been that if someone took the time to comment, then I can take the time to show my appreciation for it. (It can also sometimes lead to friends!)

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Ooo… Hm. I tend to like happy endings since I write mostly romance. So, Luck of the Draw probably wins by a mile, especially considering it was a vent fic.

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve ever written?

Yes, I have. Or, well, kind of? Not in so much that the characters of two shows tend to collide, but moreso AUs using that idea of the show.

Absolutely the Miraculous Ladybug/RWBY AU is the weirdest one I’ve got.

Though I DID at one point want to do a Voltron/RWBY story and actually use Voltron and RWBY characters together as a more traditional crossover. Never did get around to it.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Eeh, yes. Like twice on Ao3 and twice on fanfiction.net. While I can remember what all of them were about, the one that super stuck with me is the very first one I ever got – but that was because it was from my friends at the time and I was like 12 or 13?

Might be why I tend to be nervous posting stuff or showing friends my work.

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I do on occasion. I used to a lot more consistently when I was younger but anymore I tend to find keeping the, ah, “groove” to be difficult. I have about 3 up and a LOT more in my folder that never got… *snorts* completed.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No, or at least, not outright.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don’t believe so.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Oh yeah, many times. Most of my Kingdom Hearts fanfiction days were all cowritten as well as some really old Final Fantasy 7 stories.

What’s your all time favorite ship?

Hurm, “all time” huh? God I always was terrible at this “ultimate favorite” thing.

Honestly, I don’t know. One of the ones that probably stuck with me the longest was Sora/Riku because Sora is my favorite KH character and Riku is, well.

…He’s pretty lol.

In general, I tend to gravitate towards the optimistic characters and then pair them with someone they have good chemistry with, which often is someone they are friends with – though, not always. I tend to like that emotional connection though as it tends to jive well with my own personal lifestyle (as in, I’m demisexual lol).

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Probably the Dragon AU idea I had for Taiqrow – Bound to the Sky with You. I always intended to cycle back to it, but with my waning motivation for RWBY, I don’t see it happening.

What are your writing strengths?

I’d say for the type of stories I write – single character pieces and romance are where I do my best work. I tend to favor a small cast; it’s easier to maintain and keep focus when I’m only juggling a handful of people. Character pieces tend to be things where I want to explore something about the character that I have an extreme interest in (I.E. Tai’s depression or Qrow’s alcoholism).

As for what works best in my writing itself, probably dialogue and paragraph flow. With the former, I mean I’m pretty confidant my dialogue for characters sounds natural, both for what the characters would potentially say in canon as well as just authentic to a conversation actual people might have. For the latter, I tend to think a lot about how and where to put my sentences and how to construct the breaks in the story so it all provides the best impact.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Long writing, 1000000%. I struggle very much with doing a piece that is longer than a chapter or two – partially because I tend to lose interest or want to jump into another project but mostly becaaaaaaause- I am slow as fucking molasses. I have never been good at ‘freeforming’ my writing. This is mainly because I put too much pressure on myself to get things right the first time or, sometimes, will spend minutes searching a thesaurus to find the right word. I’ve tried many recommended techniques to try and speed up my writing process and leave the more time-consuming stuff for the editing process, but the habit is what it is.

Probably also goes without saying that, since I’m good with smaller casts, of course larger casts are also a bit of an issue for me. It’s hard to balance like, nine people for example. Which, when I wrote One Piece fanfiction was…. Yeah, kind of an issue LOL.

I’m also a bit weirdly OCD about not reusing a certain word too many times or even a character’s name too many times. I don’t like things to sound repetitive; though ironically, it’s probably not even something most readers would even notice.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I mean. I did an entire fanfic with ASL in it soooo…

More seriously though? I think it’s fine, but research is often necessary if it’s going to be a huge staple for the story. Not only do language and culture go hand-in-hand, it’s important to think why the character knows certain languages and what environment they grew up in to learn it and how that might influence them in general.

Also, providing translations for what’s being said has to be carefully considered, because the best way to do it is in text, but it can be hard to do so and not break the flow of your writing.

What was the first fandom you ever wrote for?

Ha, don’t laugh. Dragonball Z. You will never find them though – I purged them back in high school.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Terribly, I love a lot of my fanfics and am proud of many. Also, I’m still terrible at picking favorites. But, okay – I Found My Heart in San Francisco is almost always the first Taiqrow fanfic I will recommend. I poured so much love and research into that piece and I really enjoyed how it came out, even if it could have been stronger. If the person isn’t looking for a romance piece though, I would probably recommend The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus One. That one is a Qrow-centric character piece, exploring his journey from young child to adult and the things he learns along the way thanks to the influence of certain people in his life.

Given the chance though, I would name half my folder just out of pride lol. It’s important to love what you do, and I do cherish the stuff I write.

Tagging: @spectralscathath, @aerislei and @raybyanothername (if you guys want to/haven’t already done it, of course)

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quirkwizard · 3 years

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Spoiled Sushi

For a while, a certain article has been vexing me. One that seems to have a great misunderstanding of the series it was writing about, missing obvious points and core parts of the worldbuilding. No, it wasn’t by CBR, nor was it by Screenrant. But it was by Cruchyroll of all places. They decided to make an article about the Top 5 Misused Quirks in My Hero Academia. It was not good and has been bugging me. So I decided to give them a taste of their own medicine. I mean they try to shut down whoever even attempts to do what they do, so why not make fun of them for trying to do what I do? Plus you guys seem to like it when I’m snarky, so this could be fun for everyone.

For clarity’s sake, this was written at the beginning of 2019, when the most recent chapter was Chapter 214 and the the anime had only reached Season 3. I’m keeping that in mind as I write. I will also be skipping around some of the parts of the article as I am talking about it. If its not worth mentioning, I won’t bring it up, simple as that. For instance, I’m skipping the intro because it is completely superfluous and would only serve to make a completely different fanbase mad. Might as well, most of what I am passing up are just dumb jokes. But if you are curious... don’t waste your time reading this. Your time is valuable and you have better things to do then read this article.

5. Kurogiri Can Create Free, Renewable Energy

“In all seriousness, though, Kurogiri is probably one of the most powerful characters in the anime, with their being virtually no limit to how far he can extend his Warp Gate portals.”

I mean there are certainly limits for his Quirk. Besides the need to know the coordinates or see where he is moving, there’s obviously a limit to how much he can spread out his body.

“Why then doesn’t he use them to create near-infinite energy? Open two portals one above another, throw in a heavy object inside and watch it fall endlessly. Devise a way to hook a dynamo or something to it and, bam, you have free power that would make Kurogiri a billionaire overnight and a hero to the entire planet.”

This idea has so many problems that I don’t even know where to begin.

One, if this could work, it likely wouldn’t make a lot of energy. Besides the various physics problems involved in this, Kurogiri would just be one guy doing this, meaning that it’s unlikely he’d be able to make enough power to matter.

Two, Kurogiri would still need rest as he is a living being, meaning he wouldn’t to keep up this theoretical contraption forever and you’d get even less energy relying on him. At most, it would work best in a small bunker as a last resort.

Three, that sounds like it would be a lot more dangerous then it would be worth for the energy made. If Kurogiri would to lose focus for a moment, the portals fall apart and there would just be a lot of damage from this heavy object moving at high speeds.

“Even if Kurogiri only cares about taking down All Might, it would still be much easier to do if he had a literal mountain of money/public goodwill at his side.”

What kind of bizzaro universe are you living in where the guy who makes energy could possibly turn public option about the very well liked Number 1 Hero that saves lives every day? That’s literally what Lex Luthor does and people hate him for it.

4. Koji Koda Could Help Feed Billions Of People

“Koji is the resident Class 1-A stoner (get it? he's made of rock? come on) with the power to control ANY creature in the animal kingdom. This would logically also include spiders, meaning that Koji could literally end all street crime in, like, 5 minutes tops by swallowing all the criminals up in a giant arachno-tsunami.”

While this article is infuriating in many ways, it did give us the mental image of an “arachno-tsunami”. Which is totally worth sitting through this jumbled mess of words and ignorance.

“But, you see, Koji is just too shy and nice to be an effective hero. He wants to do good but he just doesn’t have that fighter instinct in him. Which is why he should instead use his Anivoice Quirk to revolutionize agriculture all around the world.”

You can be an effective hero and not beat people up. Sure, it certainly can come up in the job description, but that isn’t all of what a hero is meant to do. Koda’s Quirk makes him great at information gathering and rescue work, two very important aspects of hero work that suit his personality perfectly.

“Give him a megaphone and fly him over American fields, telling feral pigs to stop causing $1.5 billion worth of damage a year in destroyed crops. Fly him to Australia to tell the invasive cane toads and rabbits to kindly lemming themselves off a cliff. Have him tell the aggressive lionfish the get the hell out of the Atlantic. FORCE HIM TO GET OVER HIS FEAR OF BUGS AND MAKE AGRICULTURAL PESTS A THING OF THE PAST. “

There is no possible way Koda could be everywhere at once to pull that off. And considering that the average human voice can only carry for about a mile, IE, about the average size of a single farm. You know, because animals need to hear his voice in order to receive his commands. So even if it was limited to a single farm, its unlikely to do much to help. But by far the biggest issue with this entire plan is that what Koda does to an animal is not permanent. The second his control is interrupted, the animals return to normal, bound to just go back to whatever they were doing before.

So if Koda tries to change anything, its just going to end up undone by the time he leaves, just delaying the inevitable problem that comes from these animals. So even if Koda told the pigs to go away, they’d likely be back by the next day, destroying farmland like nothing happened. Even then, because of the previous limitations, he’d still have to go farm by farm to pull it off. That’s not even mentioning all of the other suggestions. Honestly, if you wanted to do something with Quirk, you should just convince all the animals to line up during hunting season. Dark, yes, but it least it would offer a more permanent solution then what the writer is suggesting.

“If Koji was utilized properly, he could travel the world undoing mankind’s mistakes and creating organic, pesticide-free crops instead of doing what he does now, which is largely sitting around on his ass roleplaying Snow White.”

Which, in spite of many fans joking about his Quirk, has shown to be very helpful quite a few times.

3. Inko Midoriya Would Have Made A Great Nurse

“Izuku’s mother in My Hero Academia has mainly done two things so far: jack and squat.”

I mean she did design Izuku’s costume, even if it got replaced, its is still a corner stone of his design, and she offered a good amount of drama after the fight with All Might and All For One.

“She did try to be a good mother but kind of failed at that when she tearfully apologized to her son because he was born without a Quirk, essentially telling him: “I’m so sorry I gave birth to such a loser.””

Would you believe that this one line was what really prompted me to talk about this? Because that is probably one of the worst takes I have ever in relation to this series. If you honestly believed that is what Inko was doing, the woman who practically raised her child by herself and constantly talks about much she cares for him, you must be watching the wrong series. That’s the only way I could explain why that is.

“So, she doesn’t really have much going on in her life. That’s why she should try nursing instead. I realize that becoming a nurse takes a lot of hard work and dedication, but Inko would be a natural fit for it. Despite her initial shortcomings, she is a very caring person with loads of empathy.”

Inko’s empathic? Could have fooled me. I mean she did feel the need to apologize to her son for giving birth to a loser. No, I am not over that, how could you have possibly gotten that from the scene?!

“She also has the power of limited telekinesis. Inko can move small objects over short distances, and while that would not be helpful for stopping crime, it would be great for, say, removing kidney stones. Or things stuck in people’s throats. Or coins from children’s stomachs.”

Trying to use a Quirk like this in any kind of medical procedure is laughable at best and dangerous at worst. Imagine if Inko had to remove a bullet from someone. From what we see, the process of her moving objects is slow and need several pulls from her to attract the object to her. So if she’s going to try to pull it out and its going to get caught on something, causing more damage to the person she is trying to save. She’s basically going to be keying the insides of whoever she is trying to operate on.

The entire reasons doctors, especially surgeons, train for so long is because the human body can be extremely delicate. It needs a lot of care and time so the doctors don’t make things worse for the patients. It’s why surgeons need to have such steady hands and a lot of time even to due minor procedures. But trying to do that with a Quirk is just going to cause more problems then it can solve. Doing that with a Quirk like Inko’s just lacks a lot of the precision and dexterity necessary to pull this off.

2. Uraraka Should Go Work For A Shipping Company

“Ochaco Uraraka has one of the most well-rounded Quirks out of all the main characters: Zero Gravity. With it, she can make objects and people float, which is great for offense, defense, and rescue operations. As a superheroine, she is doing everything right with her Quirk.”

I mean “Zero Gravity” can kind of be used offensively, but not effectively as other Quirks. Its why she did all of that training with Gun Head to make up for her lack of an offensive presence. Eh, two of three ain’t bad. I’ll take what I can get.

“I just think Uraraka should never have become a superheroine in the first place. Uraraka has actually always been honest about her motivation: she wants dem YEN YEN BILLS YO (for her struggling family.)”

That’s because hero work is an extremely frugal business even super minor heroes can still seem to make a decent living out of it.

“But regular jobs also exist in that world, and that must include shipping companies that would instantly hire Uraraka to Zero-G their freighters, trucks, and planes. Even if she cannot make them float, she can still remove enough gravity from them to save the company tons of fuel. Company profit margins are razor thin.”

First off, its mentioned several times that if you want to use a Quirk for a job, you need to have a hero license. Its to make sure you know how to use your Quirk properly so you don’t end up hurting someone with your powers. So for her to even try this, she needs to go through hero school anyway. Might as well get the most out of it. Second, Uraraka cannot lower the gravity of her target. Either the object is floating or it isn’t floating. There is no in between for Uraraka.

Third, given what we’ve seen from Uraraka, there is no possible way that she could ever lift that much. She’s barely able to lift three lower numbered robots and that was only for a few seconds. So, at the most, she can lift a few tons. How exactly do you expect her to work with something like a cargo plane, which, on its own, can weight over forty five tons, not including fuel or any extra cargo?

Which is another thing I noticed throughout the article: the writer seems to severely overestimate how effective Quirks actually are. The range and scope of Quirks is much smaller then other power systems, even when compared to similar “low level” series like HunterxHunter. Like every kind of application listed goes far beyond what most Quirks are capable of, such as forgetting certain drawbacks. And that is most notable with the last suggestion.

1. Momo Could Solve Literally All The World’s Problems

I bet Kohei Horikoshi was really proud of himself when he came up with Momo Yaoyorozu’s design: No, see, she HAS to dress scantily because her Quirk is Creation, i.e. the ability to create any object she wants through her skin, which must be constantly exposed. Peachy.”

Oh boy, it wouldn’t be any sort of discussion about Momo without beating that long dead horse. What’s next? Bakugou angry? Izuku cry?

“Momo can apparently create anything as long as she understands its composition, and seeing as she’s made an ethanol spray can, infrared goggles, a lighter, and a tracker, it seems like there’s nothing she cannot make.”

Oh boy, it wouldn’t be any sort of discussion about Momo without a grievous misunderstanding of how her Quirk works either. Maybe they are in the fandom. As I have mentioned in my Momo Misconceptions post, Momo needs fat to make what she does. She’s not an alchemist where she can just clap her hands and make whatever she wants. If she doesn’t have enough fat, she cannot make items. By those very rules, some things are just out of her reach because it would just take too much fat. It’s why she limits herself to simpler items.

“Cool. MAKE US SOME HELIUM THEN. The world is running out of the gas and we need it for MRI scanners and the like. Momo could make more of it.”

Actually, we don’t even know for sure if Momo is capable of making gases. All we have seen her make is solids and a few liquids. There is the lighter she made, but that could easily run on lighter fluid.

“Or thorium. She could make thorium that we could use to make thorium-based reactors that are apparently way safer than uranium ones.”

Thorium isn’t even that rare, just as about as common as lead and three times as common as uranium. Even if it was a problem, it would likely kill her, either from burning through all of her fat or from the exposure to radiation.

“Medicine, fresh water, cheap electronics that we could send to developing countries: Momo could crank all of those out in an afternoon.“

Yes, in theory, Momo could do that, but not the extent that she would make a major difference in the world like they are suggesting. There are just more practical and better long term solutions then trying to force a single person to do all of that. It’s almost as if Momo is a regular human being who has limitations you need to keep in mind when making these ill informed suggestions.

“And while spending your life as a walking Everything Faucet might not seem that glamorous, it actually has the potential to change the entire planet for the better.”

Given the kind of set up and effort that would be required to even attempt that, I think “horrific” would be a more appropriate descriptor since it would be done to a living, thinking person.

Honestly, I think that most of these people are doing more with their Quirks now then with any of these suggestions. At least, when you actually think about the rules and limits of the characters. Sure, Inko isn’t doing much, but she is a civilian with a fairly weak Quirk. Kurogiri acts as a major player within the League, getting them around quickly and evading capture. I mean he is using his power to help out a bunch of villains, but my point still stands that he is not “misusing” his Quirk.

In fact, a majority of the people on this list are doing more to help people and save lives by being heroes. Given the limitations of their abilities, using them to stop superpowered criminals who risking damaging the people around and helping victims of these crimes is doing then any of those roles in spite of the fact that the article tries its best to downplay that these people are already saving lives. So, in reality, they are doing far more to help people then doing any of these ideas, you damp sock of a writer.

#My Hero Academia #Quirks

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dramionediscussion · 3 years

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The issue whether the HP series has adequate POC representation has been brought up quite often at this blog. The basic assumption usually is that the Wizarding World's POC population should represent that of United Kingdom's. Also, it's sometimes followed by a claim that HP fails at this, and the series is whiter than the real life UK is or has been in the past. I got curious about this, as to me it seemed like something that might be true, but also that might not be (I am interested about population history in general, and the UK and its history, and to me the claim didn't strike as something that was intuitively absolutely wrong, but not something that was absolutely right either. So, I decided to sate my curiosity and see how the matter is, to best of my abilities. I thought other people might be interested as well, and once I did the research for myself, I might as well share it). One of the moderators (Elle) made an excellent and informative dig about the subject sometime ago, but it mostly concentrated on the 2010s data, and not that of 1990s, which is when the original HP series primarily takes place in. I thought I could perhaps try to expand that to the period and also weight how the HP series fares. This strictly just a quantitative analysis. It's simply beyond my capabilities to try to answer, whether the representation is good or authentic, or anything like that. Or trying to judge it in any other dimensions, like their importance or impact (as in, are they in relevantly presented in the world and narrative or just relegated background set-pieces). This is only about the original book series, which is primary set between 1991-98, so this is not relevant for CC or Fantastic Beasts or Marauder or any other era beyond 1990s. This is because the POC population in the UK is not some static number, which is constant through the history. Like any other population it changes between decades and centuries both in absolute and relative terms (as in their total number and what is their proportion of the overall population), and the situation would be quite different between 2020s, 1990s and 1970s or 1930s. For the sake of readability, in this posting I am only showing final results and conclusions. In case anybody is interested in the process, like how and where I got the stats and I how I interpret them, about terminology and all the rest, I've added separate links at the bottom. First, if we are to determinate whether HP series reflects the UK's POC population accurately or not, we have to know what the UK's POC population was during that era. Precisely at 1991-98, but for a sake of convenience I am using data from only years 1991 and 2001. Not doing year by year, and then comparing to each individual book. Rather I establish one score for the entire book series (91-98), and then compare it against the real life score, for which I use the mean between 1991 and 2001. However, because the Irish magical population is eligible to attend Hogwarts, and it's heavily implied that the magical Ireland is tied into rest of British Isles in some way (e.g. at Quidditch World Cup we don't see separate political delegation or presence for the Irish nation, but we see one for Bulgaria. So, apparently there's no taoiseach of magic and it's said that Wales, England and Scotland all have their own separate national Quidditch teams, despite being one polity otherwise). Also, because of the HP series being so tied into Hogwarts specifically, so I am going to offer two numbers here, one for the UK proper and another for the UK, which includes the entire Ireland. The UK had the total population of 57 813 821, and 61 339 821 including Ireland at 1991. Of this, the white population of UK was 54 682 062 (94,58%), and UK+I was 58 162 880 (94,82%). The POC population of the UK was 3 131 760 (5,42%), and UK+I was 3 176 942 (5,18%). For the sake of simplicity I am going to use 94,5 % for the white population and 5,5 % for the POC population. During 2001 the total population of the UK was 58 789 187, and UK+I 62 636 187. Of this, the white population of UK was 54 152 188 (92,11%), and UK+I was 57 861 664 (92,38%). The POC population of the UK was 4 637 006 (7,89%), and UK+I was 4 725 271 (7,54%). For the sake of simplicity I am going to use 92% for the white population and 8% for the POC population. The mean and median for the white population between 1991-2001 was 93.25 %, and for the POC population 6.75 %. Let's round those up and down, so we get 93 % for the white pop. and 7% for the POC pop.. So, now the question is that does the Harry Potter series fulfill this 7% POC representation or not, which would authentic for the time period of 1990s. Overall, the POC population is statistically slightly younger, thus we would expect to have more POC representation among younger people, and less with the old, though the total averages for the entire population are as stated. I've used 3 different sets for the HP series. The only exhaustive and complete cohort of people we have is Hogwarts starting class of 1991, from which we have at least names for everyone, and descriptions for most of them. Then second set is all people at Hogwarts during the time (including both the staff and students). Then the rest of the world, including Muggle and Wizarding worlds. Differing sources are bit problematic, but I compiled one set from the book descriptions, then one which adds book descriptions to other canonical material, such as JKR's notes and interviews, Pottermore portraits, book illustrations, and so on. Then finally the movies. Also, I didn't include people who were only mentioned or seen in visions, memories, dreams. Only those who were corporeally present at 1990s, and seen at the events books depict (except that starting class of 91, from which 11 are mentioned in JKR's notes, but never make an appearance at books nor movies). First, the 43 people who start their education at Hogwarts 1991. Books (32 persons in total) When ethnicity is known: -White: 9 (69,23%) -POC: 4 (30,77%) Of all characters: -White 9 (28,13%) -POC: 4 (12,50%) -Ambiguous: 19 (59,38%) -If White normativity (assumption that all ambiguous characters are white): 28 (87,50%) Books + Additional Canon Material (43) When ethnicity is known: -White 14 (73,68%) -POC 5 (26,32%) Of all characters: -White:14 (32,56%) -POC: 5 (11,63%) -Ambiguous: 24 (55,81%) -White normativity 38 (88,37%) Movies (26) -White: 20 (76,92%) -POC: 6 (23,08%) -Ambiguous: 0 All Hogwarts residents, min. 157 max. 214 Books (157 persons in total) When ethnicity is known: -White: 34 (82,93%) -POC: 7 (17,07%) Of all characters: -White 34 (21,66%) -POC: 7 (4,46%) -Ambiguous: 116 (73,89%) -White normativity: 150 (95,54 %%) Books + Additional Canon Material (168) When ethnicity is known: -White: 56 (84,85%) -POC: 10 (15,15%) Of all characters: White: 56 (33,33%) POC: 10 (5,95%) -Ambiguous: 102 (60,71%) -White normativity: 158 (94,05%) Movies (214) -White: 180 (84,11%) -POC: 34 (15,89%) Every character min. 302 max. 323. Books (312 persons in total) When ethnicity is known -White: 74 (90,24%) -POC: 8 (9,76%) Of all characters: -White: 74 (23,72%) -POC: 8 (2,56%) -Ambiguous: 230 (73,72%) -White normativity: 304 (97,44%) Books + Additional Canon Material (323) When ethnicity is known: -White: 110 (90,16%) -POC: 12 (9,84%) Of all characters: -White: 110 (34,06%) -POC: 12 (3,72%) -Ambiguous: 201 (62,23%) -White normativity: 311 (96,28%) Movies (302) -White: 267 (88,41%) -POC: 35 (11,59%) As a conclusion, it's a quite weird situation overall. As in it's not factual to say that HP whitewashes the period, or that POC are underrepresented for the proportion of their population (I mean, technically they are, but so are whites, because the majority of characters cannot be categorized clearly to either groups in books). Yet, there should've been numerically more clear and visible POC characters in the series. What we have is not enough for that period, despite not exactly being underrepresented. This is because ambiguity isn't a neutral position or descriptor in a society with so clear and overwhelming super-majority. The ambiguity works against POC minorities in a way that it doesn't with the white majority in that time and place (there's nothing inherent to either groups in this regard. If HP was based in let's say 1990s Japan, then the situation would be reversed. The dynamic is due majority / minority relations, not essential characteristics of any group). This is simply, because people will fall down to popular heuristics and rational statistical assumptions, when there's no exhaustive evidence to either direction. In the UK of 90s, that means white normativity pretty much. So, if you have ten visible POC characters and ten visible white characters, and 280 ambiguous ones, in the UK at 1990s for most readers with even a cursory knowledge of that place and time, that often equals 290 white characters and 10 POCs. Because individually, without any identifiers, it's more rational to assume each individual is part of the reigning supermajority. Sure, if you do so, you would make the wrong judgement for 11 individuals, but you would right 269 times. People will do this unconsciously, unless they are very conscious that statistically every fourteenth non-descripted person should be part of the minority. Ofc, this relies heavily on what assumptions people have about the UK in 1990s, and if someone has no prior knowledge about it, then this could be different. But who writes a book about the UK of all places, and would rely that readers have no apriori conceptions or images about the place. If someone wants to establish a truthful and accurate minority presence, it should be totally clear and unambiguous. Otherwise it might well not even be there, because in this matter basic assumptions and pattern recognition about normality work against minorities by just the definition of them being a minority. It's an asymmetrical imbalance between minorities and majorities.This teetering and noncommittal eye of the beholder diversity "they can be POC, or whatever you want them to be, if you personally want to read them as such, but they also might not be, if you so decide"-approach is not doing any favors to anybody. It totally trivializes the entire issue to basically something totally meaningless, and doesn't even deliver what it intends to accomplish. With movies there isn't similar ambiguity problems, and purely by the numbers they are overrepresented by 4,5% (movies would closer to current demographics of the UK and Ireland). However, problems are more of qualitative than quantitative nature. Movies are quite odd in this regard, because quite often they don't interpret these +200 named and canonical book characters, which are ethnically ambiguous as POCs (except for couple characters like Alicia Spinnet and Romilda Vane). Instead of using the richness of more established book canon characters, they added new POC characters, which are not found in books (like Bem, Kellah and Gwendoline Hedgeflower). I had no idea those even existed before researching this, little alone their names or what they did. Ofc, if we are modeling it after reality, 7% is not going be a huge group regardless (little over 20 people out of 300. Even 10% would be 30), but they could've done it better. Although, in this analysis I didn't take any account or weight in their relevance or screen-time or lines or anything like that, but intuitively while looking at these numbers they probably are not far off from that 5,5-8% what it is was back then. I'd say pretty good overall, but they should've added POCs by casting people like Trelawney or Alastor Moody as ones, and not via new non-book characters with very little relevance. Here are links to sources and detailed explanations of how I gathered and used them. UK data https://justpaste.me/OoVX Harry Potter data https://justpaste.me/OogL

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thebibliomancer · 4 years

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Essential Avengers: Avengers #218: Born Again (And Again and Again...)

April, 1982

Avengers fill-in issues are so weird. Beast isn’t even here and things are weird as heck.

And geez this is an unsubtle cover. And for once, not a lie.

Although Yellowjacket being in the roster rectangle is one.

I do like that the And Again... And Again... wraps off the edge of the page.

Y’know, I don’t know that this is a fill-in. It says Jim Shooter co-plotted. Then again, there’s a regular creative team box instead of an essay. So co-plotted probably means Shooter offered some adjustments to the plot but mostly let J.M. DeMatteis get on with it.

This feels like a weird time for it, honestly? The fall of Yellowjacket arc is kind of humming along leisurely already. With setup in 212, the fall in 213, fallout in 214, then a pause in 215 and 216 for the Molecule Man plot, and finally picking back up with Hank in 217 to see him fall further. And then there’s going to be a stretch of issues before we pick up again.

But it is what it is and what it is is a weird fill-in.

The issue starts where a young boy just walks right up to the door of Avengers Mansion and rings the doorbell.

Somewhere, Henry Peter Gyrich is shaking his fist. Where are the door tentacles? He fought for those door tentacles!

The young boy is here to see the Avengers and won’t take a “the Avengers are quite busy today” for an answer.

This boy: “This is a matter of life and death!!”

He remains quite insistent that he see the Avengers.

Luckily, Wasp (who I guess is not quite busy today?) shows up and decides to let this boy in for the best reason of all.

Wasp: “Turn away an adorable well-spoken little boy like you? Never! I know you were just doing your job, Jarvis -- but I’m a sucker for a pretty face! I think I’ll give him the grand tour.”

Wasp, pls.

But what Wasp says goes, so Jarvis just shrugs and goes back to the chocolate mousse cake that he was making.

Leaving Wasp to deal with this unruly child.

Wasp: “What’s your name, sweetie?”

This boy: “Sweetie?! Madam -- I am not your ‘sweetie!’ As I explained to your butler, this is a matter of gravest importance! Now take me to Captain America and the others!”

Wasp: “Just one minute, young man! I know you’re excited about being here -- but that is no excuse for rudeness! I think you ought to --”

This boy: “Madam -- SHUT UP!!”

And then he shoves her and runs off.

Pretty sure he shoves her in the boob too. You can’t fool me by changing some letters, SFX that says BOONT.

Anyway, very rude, this boy.

Meanwhile, in the Avenger’s lab we get to see what the Avengers are so quite busy with.

Thor is holding up an incredibly heavy piece of machinery while Iron Man does some welding on the bottom of it.

Thor is also complaining about holding up an incredibly heavy piece of machinery because Iron Man has been at it for about an hour. Do they not have a jack or something that can do the job instead?

Also, the big thing is apparently an “inter-spatial monitor.” I assume it watches the space between spaces.

Cap is also here, being quite busy leaning against the wall and also complaining about how long this is taking.

He’s already worked out for three hours today and he wants to get on with the Avengers meeting.

And then This Boy runs into the room exclaiming “Avengers! I’ve got to talk to you!!” startling Iron Man just when he was finishing up the welding.

Startled Iron Man accidentally blasts Thor’s foot causing the God of Thunder to lose his grip on the inter-spatial monitor out of surprise.

Cap realizes Iron Man could get crushed underneath it and springs into action, tackling Iron Man out from under the monitor. The choreography almost makes sense.

Iron Man: “Thanks, Cap -- but I could have handled that myself, you know!”

Captain America: “I know, old friend -- but I didn’t want to... take any chances!”

And then they shake hands in a display of what good friends they are. Ha ha this is ironic in hindsight. But also: is DeMattias trying to ship them? This feels like a very shippable moment.

Look at Cap’s little smile.

Anyway.

Thor scoops up This Boy and scolds him for scurrying around and distracting thunder gods.

Thor: “Whoe’ver thou art -- Thor hath half a mind to give thee a sound spanking!”

This Boy: “I... don’t think I’d live through it!”

Hah.

Thor: “Worry not, child -- Thor shall not strike thee!”

So then Wasp shows up so the gang is all here for this boy to explain why he wanted to talk to the Avengers so badly.

This Boy: “Listen to me -- all of you! I am not a child! I am a man cursed with eternal life! I am a man who cannot die -- and I need your help!”

Iron Man: “Easy, son -- why don’t you tell us your name so that we can get in touch with your parents. I’m sure they’d like to know where you are...”

This boy: “My parents?! Fool! I was afraid this would be your reaction! But I must make you understand!”

And then he pulls out a gun.

Points it at his own head, like on the cover. And shoots himself.

Good grief.

It all happens way too quickly for the Avengers to react. Or maybe the audacity just stunned them.

HEY I THOUGHT THE AVENGERS’ SECURITY SYSTEM SCANNED FOR WEAPONS.

God, Gyrich would be rolling in his grave, if he were dead.

Anyway, as Wasp is crying into Cap’s star that a child just died, Cap goes hey look something weird is happening with the child corpse.

The child corpse just disintegrates into ash and fades away. Thus clearing the Avengers from having to explain this to anyone.

And more bizarrely, where the ash was-

I... I guess the way to explain it is that a fetus just sort of develops into a baby and then back into this boy right in front of the Avengers’ eyes.

Why is this happening

I do like the “Now do you believe me?” “They do...” caption.

Thor: “Methinks it be time for an explanation!”

YES. EXACTLY RIGHT.

This boy finally introduces himself as Morgan MacNeil Hardy.

So. This guy. Is an established character. He was established first in Spider-Woman #33 where he was Turner D. Century’s foster dad. Turner D. Century is a guy who just super loves the early 1900s because Morgan MacNeil Hardy raised him only in the values of that time period for some reason.

I’m getting off track, really. But this is a rabbit hole.

So. Even though Hardy seemed to die in Spider-Woman #33, he came back in Captain America #264. He invented something called the psi-augmentor to alter reality and make America moral again.

He did this by plugging four people into his machine, two of which I’m decently sure were a racist and a Nazi.

Cap intervened because some of the changes to reality were causing racism and Nazi stuff to happen and then when Hardy tried to wipe Captain America out of existence, he almost wiped out America instead. Because Cap is the symbol of America. Or maybe the machine missed the Captain part. Either or.

But Hardy was too patriotic to allow America to be retgonned so he drew the energy back and then died.

SHIELD came and mopped up the mess Cap left and buried the dead Hardy. But then three days later the man rose from the dead as this boy.

And in fact, the jolt from the reality altering machine freed Hardy’s repressed memories of all the lives he has lived.

Hardy: “I have lived innumerable lives, died innumerable deaths, yet time and again by body has somehow regenerated itself -- grown back to this youthful form! But, until my current incarnations, I’d believed every lifetime to be the first! Each identity to be the only identity! Hear me: since the dawn of time I have seen life as no other man has ever seen it -- as no other man should have to see it! And I am tired... infinitely tired. All I want now -- is the peace of death.”

Shot in the dark but you may be a Time Lord, Hardy.

Anyway, as dark as an infinitely regenerating suicidal child is, it gets worse. The psi-augmentor also dicked up whatever process makes Hardy regenerate. It took him three days to regenerate after the psi-augmentor incident. Now he’s back up in minutes.

Hardy: “I can’t bear much more of this! I can’t! That’s why you’ve got to help me! You’re all so wise -- so strong! You’ve the greatest super-scientific devices in the world at your disposal! Surely you can find out why this is happening to me!”

The Avengers are blown away by this story and Wasp speaks for all of them when she promises that the Avengers will do everything in their power to help him.

So the Avengers spend several days doing assorted science at a child. Or at least Iron Man does while Wasp watches in interest and Thor and Captain America watch in disinterest.

They’ve only got the one smart guy right now.

But after using all those big science machines and gazing at science glassware full of science chemicals, Iron Man finally sciences a science science.

Science.

Iron Man: “It seems our young friend is a true anomaly... a freak of nature... perhaps the first mutant the world ever knew. Simply put: his own lifecycle is somehow tied in with the lifecycle of the Earth itself! It’s as if the man and the planet -- were one soul... as long as the planet exists -- he will exist.”

How... how do you test for that?! What science chemicals told you that this boy’s soul was one with the Earth??

Also, another hat thrown into Actually the First Mutant contest. Get fucked, Namor.

Anyway, a distraught Hardy questions whether this means he’ll have to live forever but Iron Man says that now that he understands the problem, he can start working on a solution.

Which leads to a bit of a disagreement among the Avengers.

Iron Man sees a SCIENCE! problem to be scienced at. But he’s the only one.

Wasp: “Wait a minute! A solution? I know that this... boy has been through a lot -- but who are we to provide him with a means of suicide?”

And Cap agrees with Wasp. But for more different reasons.

Cap: “Captain America has always stood for the preservation of life! With all he’s been through -- all he’s learned -- this... Forever Man could help humanity immeasurably!”

Geez. Are you really standing for the preservation of life if you then follow it up suggesting that Forever Man should be (beneficially) exploited for everyone else?

And Thor just doesn’t see the problem at all. And maybe isn’t even sure what the Avengers have been bothering over for the past couple days.

Thor: “Thor hath yet to see if a problem doth e’en exist! Immortality be not a fate fit for mourning -- ‘tis a blessing that -- till now -- only the gods have known!”

And Hardy. Hardy is pissed at the way the conversation is going and all this not putting him out of his misery.

Hardy: “You sanctimonious morons! You can’t even begin to comprehend what I’ve been through! I haven’t had a god’s life, Thor -- I’ve had the pathetic life of a man! I’ve seen the death, the suffering, the loves lost, the hopes denied! Forget what the movies tell you about the immortals who’ve walked with Methuselah, Moses, Jesus! I’ve known no great me and, with the exception of Hardy, I’ve been no great men!”

Iron Man cuts him off to go why not go to bed kiddo while the adults talk things out.

I mean, not exactly, but the spirit is there.

And maybe not the right tack to take because upon being sent to his room, more or less, Hardy decides well fuck this. Inspired by an article he sees in a newspaper, he runs away from home/Avengers Mansion, hitches a ride on a train, and threatens with a gun some vagrants who I’m pretty sure are Laurel and Hardy.

Morgan MacNeil Hardy rides the rails all the way to Cape Canaveral.

Upon which he lies his way onto the base by pretending to be the lost grandson of the base’s general, sneaks off, and then sneaks into a rocket that is being prepared to launch.

“He stands, dwarfed by the mammoth spacecraft, gazing up at it the way some men would gaze up at the face of God. For this NASA probe -- ‘Star Core Three’ -- is a god of sorts. A god that will carry him to the heart of the Sun; a Sun that, he hopes, will succeed where he has failed... a Sun that will consume him... and grant him the peace of final death.”

Damn, Hardy.

You sure are serious about this death thing if you’re willing to go so far out of your way to throw yourself into the Sun.

Did you even consider just throwing yourself into a volcano? Its less of a trip!

The rocket is Star Core Three and is going to orbit the Sun and get all kinds of SCIENCE data.

It also wasn’t meant to have passengers so Hardy dies and dies and dies again from the lack of oxygen and the cold. Just death and rebirth for the weeks it takes the rocket to travel to the Sun.

This story is pretty messed up, if you think about it.

Anyway, during those “brief, agonized moments of life” Hardy reprograms Star Core Three’s guidance system.

So that when the probe arrives at the sun, it plunges into it instead of orbiting it.

Cool. You just sabotaged a millions dollar space probe to try to kill yourself in the Sun, Hardy. You dick.

After the probe’s destruction, General Nelson calls the Avengers and asks if they know of any cosmic nonsense or anything else that could have caused Star Core Three’s guidance systems to shit the bed.

He’s also asked the Fantastic Four so really he’s just checking the Avengers off a list just in case.

Wasp asks if anything weird happened on the day of the launch and Peter Parker looking General Nelson says that there was a small boy intruder but that’s about it.

Wasp is like gasp! We’ve misplaced a small boy! Is it possible, nay even probable that Hardy launched himself into the fucking sun in a grand suicide attempt??

Iron Man decides that’s far fetched.

“Far-fetched, Iron Man... and true!”

“But, if it is death the ageless child has come to the sun seeking... it is something far more horrible that he has found! For, as he is swallowed by the staggering energies of the sun; as he dies, screaming, ten thousand times in ten thousand seconds... an awful change occurs!”

“Whatever the creature is that rises in the boy’s place, it is not human. It is a thing of plasma and pain; a pain that, the creature senses, has been its lot for centuries.”

“It knows it must end that pain -- at any cost! And so it arcs out towards space, toward home... toward Earth!”

So. Yeah. Yeahhhhh. Yeah.

Hardy dunked himself into the Sun and found a fate worse than the fate worse than death he was suffering.

Pro-tip to all immortals out there? Looking at you, Lestat. Unless you’re absolutely sure that dunking into the Sun really will kill you and not consign you to an even more hellish existence, maybe don’t?

Anyway, an undisclosed amount of time later, Jarvis runs into the Avengers meeting room (which once again has a decently sized table - although the chairs look a little cramped) and tells the Avengers that he was watching the news on his tea break and saw a bulletin about a fire creature on the loose.

I do make fun of it a lot but the Avengers sure do rely on the news to keep on the ball, huh?

Also, is it just me or have the Avengers been fighting a lot of fire monsters? Not in a short time span but still. They fought that Inferno guy in a two-parter. Pyron when Wasp was the cool hero. And now a child who swan dived into the Sun and became a monster.

Anyway, Fire Hardy is menacing Midtown because he vaguely remembers failing to die here once.

The police and even the army are failing to do much to stop Fire Hardy’s rampage. And some are getting discouraged because of it.

A police officer: “Why are we even doing this? The blasted monster’s unstoppable! Why don’t we just give up and let it kill us?”

Iron Man: “Take it easy, officer -- the situation can’t be that bad!”

So the Avengers tell the army and police to armscray because this looks like a job for the AVENGERS.

Fire Hardy sees the Avengers and their gaudy costumes stirs a vague memory, perhaps of them being unhelpful, and he AROOOOs angrily, like Futurama Nixon.

Cap also claims that Fire Hardy is like a living sun, generating heat that is almost unbearable.

But, Cap, c’mon. C’mon. Really? C’mon. Look, you can’t do the Pyron story where the Avengers all had to wear heat resistant suits and Jocasta started melting and expect me to take any fire threat as seriously if you’re confronting it in your red, white, and blues.

Wasp takes initiative. I was wondering whether, since this smacked of filler, it would remember that she’s the leader of the team. But at least she gets to go first.

She shears a lamp-post with one of her sting blasts and has it fall on Fire Hardy.

It doesn’t work. The lamp-post just catches fire and melts on contact. But, hey, blasting a lamp-post in half in one go is a good showing for Wasp’s vaguely powered pew pew.

Wasp goes uh Iron Man, you’re up.

And Iron Man has a good idea.

He borrows the shovel from a steam shovel and uses it to dig a hole.

Then they can trip the monster so it falls into the hole and uhh look its a good first step. They’ll figure it out as they go.

Thor: “If only thy words couldst make it so, Iron Man! But methinks the creature hath other plans!”

And Fire Hardy melts the asphalt ground molten with a touch and allows it to fill in the pit.

The monster is clearly more intelligent than the 8 whole panels before this one have led the Avengers to believe.

Now its Thor’s turn. Because I guess they’re just going one at a time.

Good teamwork, Avengers!

Anyway, Thor’s plan, unsurprisingly, is to do Thor things. Which as you might recall, isn’t limited to just hitting things really hard.

Thor: “Let this lumbering sun-beast brace itself! -- For it is about to face -- THOR, god of thunder! I now call down the living lightning that be mine to command -- the roaring gale -- the full, unfettered fury of the storm! May the floodtides of heaven surround yon walking star -- and drown its fires in life-giving water...”

And Thor brings the storm and the thunder. But. Remember when Cap (laughably) claimed that Fire Hardy was as hot as the Sun?

Do you know what the evaporation point of water is? A lot lower than the heat of the sun, probably??

So Thor’s storm just evaporates from the heat before even touching Fire Hardy.

So another dud.

Cap’s up!

Not sure what he can do that Thor couldn’t do. Lets be honest. They kind of spent their biggest gun already. What’s Cap gonna do?

Did you guess... run up and throw his shield at the problem? Good guess.

Cap: “We’re facing one of the most dangerous menaces we’ve ever faced! Unchecked, it could wipe out every man, woman, and child in this city -- perhaps in the world! But I have no intention of letting that happen!”

I’ll give him credit for stubbornness and a Corellian-esque hatred of knowing the odds.

But throwing his shield actually does do a thing.

It elicits a NOOOOOO from the monster.

The voice sounds familiar to Iron Man but before he can ponder it, he tackles Cap to stop him from burning his hands off.

Iron Man: “Despite the fact that your shield’s made of some strange, powerful alloy, Cap -- it still gets mighty hot when you toss it into a mini-sun!”

Cap: “That’s one I owe you, Shell-Head!”

Sometimes I suspect that Cap may be a beautiful idiot. Who specifically doesn’t know how thermodynamics work.

Although to be fair, the shield was in Fire Hardy for a couple seconds at most. That’s an impressive heat transfer coefficient.

Anyway Fire Hardy has more to say such as FOOLS! AT LAST -- I REMEMBER!

And Cap realizes what Iron Man suspected just a five lines ago. That the fire monster sounds like Hardy.

Cap puts 2 and 2 together and realizes that Wasp was right that Hardy threw himself into the Sun and realizes that obviously because of science, he must have mutated into a fire monster.

Of course. That’s just science.

The Avengers try to reason with Fire Hardy but Fire Hardy claims HARDY IS GONE! ONLY HIS PAIN AND RAGE REMAIN!

So the Avengers shrug and go back to doing what they do best. Fight scenes that resolve in eyebrow raising ways.

Cap figures that hey his shield had seemed to hurt Fire Hardy before so why not do that again but better. And he throws his mighty shield so hard that it lodges in Fire Hardy.

Uh. What is it.... lodged in? Fire Hardy is made of fire. Which is not known for its tangibility.

But with the mighty shield lodged in his gut somehow, Fire Hardy goes NOOOOOOO

Iron Man figures that something in the shield’s unique molecular structure is janking up Fire Hardy and decides ‘hey lets all concentrate on the shield!’

This makes as much sense as anything else.

So Iron Man blasts the shield, Wasp blasts the shield, and Thor throws Mjolnir through Fire Hardy.

Wasp worries that they may be killing Hardy but Thor argues ‘hey he said he wasn’t Hardy! We’re free and clear, morally speaking!’

More seriously:

Thor: “And tell me -- can we truly slay a thing that ne’er hath died?”

Good point, Thor, good point.

Problem is that either Fire Hardy has had enough of these shenanigans or they’ve hit the weak point for massive damage too well.

Because Fire Hardy starts glowing white hot, almost as if he’s going to explode.

And with the heat that he’s allegedly putting out, its an explosion that could destroy the entire western hemisphere!

Or Iron Man says so anyway!

He asks Thor to make a vortex with Mjolnir.

And Thor is like ‘oh right that is a thing I can do’

So he spins Mjolnir around and around and around so fast that it creates a tornado that picks Fire Hardy up and shoots him into space.

Where he explodes.

“At last, a wildly-spinning vortex forms about the brilliantly-glowing sun-thing... sucking it up, up, up -- out of the Earth’s atmosphere... into the dappled heavens... where, with a soundless, scintillant explosion... the threat of the man who lived forever... ends! Or does it?”

Wild.

Even though the blast was all up in space and contained by the vortex, it still shakes the Avengers off their feet. AND CREATES A NOT-WIDE BUT PRETTY DEEP CRATER!

Cap: “If I had any questions about Hardy’s living through that -- they’re gone now.”

Wasp: “Then -- he’s finally found the peace he was looking for.”

Thor: “Aye, Wasp -- but at what cost?”

Iron Man: “Uh... I hate to be the one to put the damper on this impromptu memorial service -- but considering we’re talking about a guy who’s survived since the dawn of time -- don’t you think we ought to check?”

Pfft.

I love that exchange.

So the Avengers jump down into the crater and find two ludicrous things.

Cap is talking about how he lost his shield in this nonsense and would like to look for it.

Thor: “Captain -- art thou daft? Thy shield hadst no more chance of remaining intact in that inferno than--”

-Cap’s shield perfectly intact-

Iron Man: “... you were saying, Thor?”

Thor: “Heimdall’s beard! Surely thy weapon must be as enchanted as mine uru mallet!”

And then Cap just picks his shield up.

Not by the metal, obviously. That’d be silly! It’d be way too hot to hold!

No, he picks it up by the straps! The presumably leather or cloth straps which are perfectly intact after being at the center of an explosion that reached all the way from space!

Good lord, what is that presumably leather from? The legendary tarrasque??

Even if the leather straps were indestructible, wouldn’t they still be very hot?

Anyway, that was just ludicrous thing number one.

Ludicrous thing number two is that Not-Fire Hardy regrows to his child form at the bottom of the crater.

And he has AMNESIA!

-soap opera sting-

Because. Of course.

Thor and Wasp immediately accept that this is a thing which has happened because of course.

But Cap is more doubtful. About that and about this whole misadventure.

Cap: “Despite the fact that he’s managed to resurrect himself -- we killed a living being today!”

Iron Man: “But -- is it really killing when the being you’ve slain... doesn’t stay dead?”

Cap: “That’s something we’ll all have to wonder about -- for the rest of our days.”

And then the Avengers fly out of the crater. With Cap riding on Thor’s back.

God, I love this comic sometimes.

And Hardy being wrapped in Thor’s cape and held in Wasp’s arms while Iron Man holds the both of them.

But Iron Man is wondering a thing himself.

“What if the boy’s amnesia isn’t legitimate: what if it’s an act, meant to lull them into a false sense of security. What then? Indeed... WHAT THEN...?”

And given Hardy’s little smirk at the end, yeah, its implied that he’s faking amnesia to get away with having tried to kill the Avengers as a monster of solar fire.

Does anything come of this?

HECK NO!

Nothing is done with the character after this! You’d think that an alleged First Mutant would be more important but I’m not attached enough to this character concept to want to argue for that.

Especially not for man who builds psychic device to bring back traditional values.

I kind of wonder whether this whole exercise was to sort of take his death in Captain America #264 off Cap’s hands by having him come back to life.

Anyway... yeah. Very fill-in. Reading it feels like a speedbump. We’ve got the Hank Pym thing spinning its wheels in the background and we gotta deal with this for a month.

I don’t mind one-offs but aside from sheer lunacy (solarcy?) this doesn’t have much to recommend it.

Next time, at least, the Shootering continues with our old friend.... workplace acquaintance? Yeah that sounds better. Our old workplace acquaintance, Moondragon.

She’s the worst. Which makes her the best.

You should follow @essential-avengers because I cover the Avengers issues that nobody else will because they have better things to do. I assume. Also, like and reblog so I feel appreciated.

#Avengers #Morgan MacNeil Hardy #the Wasp #Captain America #Iron Man #Thor #essential avengers #essential marvel liveblogging #cw suicide #this issue is memorable if nothing else #what with the on panel child suicide #thanks JM DeMatteis #and also the child stealing a spaceship to fly into the sun #a bunch of child endangerment happens and the avengers are vaguely around it

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bboyplankton · 4 years

Text

2019 Playlist

1. A$AP Ferg & MadeinTYO – Wam

2. Action Bronson & The Alchemist – Arnold & Danny

3. Action Bronson & The Alchemist – Descendant of the Stars

4. Akon feat. Skales – Control

5. Akon feat. Olamide – Scammers

6. Alex Isley – Colors

7. Amaal – Coming & Going

8. Anderson .Paak feat. Andre 3000 – Come Home

9. Anderson .Paak feat. Smokey Robinson – Make It Better

10. Ari Lennox – I Been

11. Ari Lennox – Up Late

12. Ariana Grande – fake smile

13. Ariana Grande – in my head

14. Arin Ray feat. Kehlani – Change

15. Arin Ray - ZZZ

16. Asiahn – Like You

17. Asiahn – NOLA

18. August Alsina – Forever and a Day

19. August Alsina – For You

20. Baby Rose – Mortal

21. Beyoncé, Jay-Z & Childish Gambino feat. Oumou Sangaré – Mood 4 Eva

22. Big K.R.I.T – Blue Flame Ballet

23. Big K.R.I.T – Energy

24. Big K.R.I.T – M.I.S.S.I.S.S.I.P.P.I

25. BJ the Chicago Kid feat. JID, Buddy, & Kent Jamz – Get Away

26. Blackbear – Sick Of It All

27. The Black Keys – Sit Around And Miss You

28. The Black Keys – Tell Me Lies

29. Bobby Sparks ii feat. Robert “Sput” Searight & MonoNeon – The Comanche Are Coming

30. Boogie – Live 95

31. Boogie feat. Snoh Aalegra – Time

32. Burna Boy feat. Jeremih & Serani – Secret

33. Che Ecru – That’s My Baby

34. Ciara – Greatest Love

35. Ciara – Set

36. Ciara – Trust Myself

37. City and Colour – Mountain of Madness

38. Col3trane, DJDS, & Raye – The Fruits

39. Conway the Machine – Half of It

40. DaBaby – Bop

41. DaBaby – Goin Baby

42. DaBaby – Suge

43. Daniel Caesar & Brandy – Love Again

44. Danny Brown – Dirty Laundry

45. Danny Brown – Savage Nomad

46. Dave East – Mama I Made It

47. Dave East – The Marathon Continues (Nipsey Tribute)

48. Dave East – Me & Mines

49. Denzel Curry – Speedboat

50. Devin Morrison – Bussin’

51. Devin Morrison feat. Dahvi – It’s Time

52. DJ Shadow – If I Died Today

53. DJ Shadow feat. Run The Jewels – Kings & Queens

54. DJ Shadow feat. De La Soul – Rocket Fuel

55. Doja Cat – Say So

56. Doja Cat – Streets

57. Dreamville feat. Ty Dolla $ign & Dreezy – Got Me

58. Dreamville feat. JID & T.I. – Ladies, Ladies, Ladies

59. Dreezy feat. Jeremih – Ecstasy

60. E-40 feat. Quavo Roddy Ricch, A$AP Ferg, & ScHoolboy Q – Chase the Money

61. E-40 – Imma Find Out

62. E-40 feat. Redman, Method Man, & Bosko – Keep On Gassin

63. Earthgang feat. T-Pain – Tequila

64. Earthgang feat. Kehlani – Trippin

65. Elhae – fXXX

66. Elhae – I.D.B.I.L

67. Elhae feat. Big K.R.I.T – Sanctuary

68. Emotional Oranges – Someone Else

69. Emotional Oranges – West Coast Love

70. Emotional Oranges – Your Best Friend Is A Hater

71. Eric Bellinger – iPod on Shuffle

72. Eric Bellinger feat. K Camp – Moist

73. Eric Bellinger – Run It Up

74. Eric Bellinger – The Sexy Song

75. Eric Bellinger – Spice

76. Eric Bellinger feat. Chris Brown & OG Parker – Type a Way

77. Eric Bellinger – Undress

78. Esperanza Spalding – Touch in Mine (Fingers)

79. Fabolous feat. Jacquees – My Mind

80. Fabolous feat. Ty Dolla $ign – Ooh Yea

81. FKA twigs – Mirrored Heart

82. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib feat. Killer Mike & Pusha T – Palmolive

83. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib – Soul Right

84. Free Nationals – Lester Diamond

85. Free Nationals feat. Syd – Shibuya

86. Free Nationals feat. Mac Miller & Kali Uchis – Time

87. Future – Crushed Up

88. Gallant – Céline

89. Gallant – Sleep On It

90. The Game – Born 2 Rap

91. The Game feat. 21 Savage – The Code

92. The Game feat. Anderson .Paak – Stainless

93. Gang Starr feat. J. Cole – Family And Loyalty

94. Gang Starr feat. Ne-Yo & Nitty Scott – Get Together

95. Gary Clark Jr. – I Got My Eyes on You (Locked & Loaded)

96. GoldLink feat. WaveIQ – Spanish Song

97. GoldLink feat. Tyler, the Creator & Jay Prince – U Say

98. Griselda – Freddie HotSpot

99. Gucci Mane – Move Me

100. Isabella – Tag

101. Jacquees – Fact Or Fiction

102. Jacquees – Good Lovin

103. Jaden – Got It

104. Jeezy – White Keys

105. Jidenna feat. GoldLink – Babouche

106. Jidenna – Sou Sou

107. Jidenna – Vaporiza

108. Jim Jones feat. Maino & Drama – My Era

109. Jim Jones feat. Cam’ron, Guordan Banks, Benny the Butcher, & Conway the Machine – To Whom it May Concern

110. Joell Ortiz – Jamaican Food

111. Joell Ortiz – Sip Slow

112. Johnta Austin – Breakin Rules

113. Justine Skye – Secrets

114. Kalin White – 4 sexonds

115. Kaytranada feat. GoldLink, Eight9Fly, & Ari Pensmith – Vex Oh

116. Kehlani – Feels

117. Kehlani feat. 6lack – RPG

118. Khalid – Paradise

119. Khalid – Talk

120. Kiana Ledé feat. Jenifer Lewis – Heavy

121. Kiana Ledé – If You Hate Me

122. Kxng Crooked & Bronze Nazareth feat. Tristate & L.A.D – French Connection

123. Kirk Brown – Vibes Up

124. Koffee feat. Jane Macgizmo – Blazin

125. Konshens – Back It Up

126. Konshens – Last Wine

127. Kyle Dion – Hands to Yourself

128. Kyle Dion – Spend It

129. Larry June feat. Premo Rice – Booty Girl Club

130. Larry June – Early Bird

131. Larry June – Organic Smiles

132. Layton Greene – Never Knew

133. Lion Babe feat. Leikeli47 – The Wave

134. Lion Babe feat. Raekwon – Western World

135. Lophiile – Late Ass

136. Lophiile feat. Jesse Boykins III – You’re Gonna Need It

137. Lophiile – You’ve Changed

138. Lucky Daye – Love You Too Much

139. Lucky Daye – Real Games

140. Lyfe Jennings – Baby

141. Mac Ayers feat. Uhmeer – Fears

142. Mac Ayers – Get Away

143. Mahalia – Karma

144. Mahalia – What Am I?

145. Mahalia feat. Ella Mai – What You Did

146. Marc E. Bassy – Crash and Burn

147. Marc E. Bassy – Where We’re From

148. Matt Martians – Movin’ On

149. Maxo Kream feat. Megan Thee Stallion – She Live

150. Megan Thee Stallion feat. Da Baby – Cash S**t

151. Mereba – Stay Tru

152. Moonchild – Strength

153. Murs, 9th Wonder, & The Soul Council - Sin

154. Murs, 9th Wonder, & The Soul Council – Unicorn Glitter

155. Nikki Jean – Driver

156. Nikki Jean feat. Lupe Fiasco – Mr. Clean

157. Papoose feat. DJ Premier – Numerical Slaughter

158. Pardison Fontaine – Money Machine

159. Pardison Fontaine – Under8ed

160. PJ Morton – Kid Again

161. PJ Morton feat. JoJo – Say So

162. Post Malone – I’m Gonna Be

163. Problem Child – Whole Heart

164. Quinn XCII feat. Yoshi Flower – Werewolf

165. Rapsody feat. Queen Latifah – Hatshepsut

166. Rapsody feat. D’Angelo & GZA – Ibtihaj

167. Rapsody feat. Elle Varner – Michelle

168. Raveena – Nectar

169. Raveena – Salt Water

170. Rex Orange County – Always

171. Rex Orange County – It Gets Better

172. Rick Ross – Fascinated

173. Rick Ross feat. Drake – Gold Roses

174. Rick Ross feat. Summer Walker – Summer Reign

175. Rick Ross – Vegas Residency

176. R.LUM.R – Happy

177. R.LUM.R – Lies

178. Roses Gabor feat. Sampha – Illusions

179. Rotimi – Love Riddim

180. Rotimi – Way Gone

181. Sabrina Claudio – Truth Is

182. Sammie – Issues

183. Sara Bareilles – Armor

184. ScHoolboy Q feat. Kid Cudi – Dangerous

185. ScHoolboy Q – Numb Numb Juice

186. Shal Marshall – Mas Forever

187. Shal Marshall – Splinters

188. Shwayze – Rich City

189. Sinead Harnett – Be The One (Interlude)

190. SiR feat. Smino – LA Lisa

191. SiR feat. Kadhja Bonet – New Sky

192. Slum Village feat. Dwele – Call Me

193. Snoh Aalegra – Nothing to Me

194. Snoh Aalegra – Toronto

195. Snoop Dogg feat. Swizz Beatz – Countdown

196. Snoop Dogg feat. Marknoxx – I Wanna Thank Me

197. Snoop Dogg feat. Russ & Wiz Khalifa – Take Me Away

198. Solange – Almeda

199. Solange – Dreams

200. Steve Lacy – N Side

201. Steve Lacy – Playground

202. Summer Walker – Wasted

203. T-Pain feat. Tory Lanez – Getcha Roll On

204. Tayla Parx – Me vs. Us

205. Tayla Parx feat. Joey Bada$$ - Rebound

206. The Teskey Brothers – Rain

207. The Teskey Brothers – Sun Come Ease Me In

208. Tinashe – Feelings

209. Tobi lou feat. Erica Rene & Cam O’bi – That Old Nu-Nu

210. Tobi lou – Waterboy

211. Tori Kelly – Kid I Used To Know

212. Toro y Moi – Freelance

213. Toro y Moi – Ordinary Pleasure

214. Tory Lanez – Blowin’ Mine’s // Leah’s Introduction

215. Tory Lanez feat. Ludacris – The Fargo Splash

216. Trey Songz – Jill (Sumn Real)

217. Trina feat. Rico Love – Water

218. Tryezz – Walnut St. Dub

219. Tsu Surf – Killing Me

220. Tyler, the Creator - Earfquake

221. Tyler, the Creator – I Think

222. Umi – Sukidakara

223. Vedo – Do It Nasty

224. Wale feat. Jeremih – On Chill

225. Weezer – Happy Together

226. Willow – Time Machine

227. Wiz Khalifa feat. Young Deji – Gold Bottles

228. Xavier Omär & Sango – Cry & Lie

229. Xavier Omär & Sango feat. Billy Mercury – Keeping Me

230. YBN Cordae feat. Anderson .Paak – RNP

231. YBN Cordae feat. Meek Mill – We Gon Make It

232. Ye Ali feat. DCMBR – All About You

233. Ye Ali – Rehearsal

234. Ye Ali feat. DCMBR – Show Me

235. Ye Ali feat. DCMBR & Rainy Milo – Songs2Get2GetDrunk2

236. Yelawolf – Box Chevy 7

237. Yelawolf – Unnatural Born Killer

238. Young M.A. – Stubborn Ass

239. Zacari – Midas Touch

240. 2 Chainz – Threat 2 Society

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f4liveblogarchives · 4 years

Text

Fantastic Four Vol 1 #214 & #215

Mon Sep 9 2019 [01:29 AM] Wack'd: OH GOD YOU CAN SEE BEN'S RIBS. WHY. HOW

[01:31 AM] Wack'd: Johnny decides that if an aging ray could make them old he just needs to find a supergenius to build a de-aging ray to make them young [01:31 AM] Wack'd: Seems simple, sure, just find someone on Earth who can cure old age [01:31 AM] Wack'd: That won't break the setting at all [01:32 AM] Bocaj: Endgame Hulk intensifies [01:32 AM] Wack'd: Jarvis is a good

[01:32 AM] Bocaj: I do like Jarvis [01:32 AM] Wack'd: (He can't be that allergic to nuts, he lives with a half-dozen of 'em) [01:34 AM] Bocaj: HAH [01:34 AM] Wack'd: HOLY SHIT THIS HELICARRIER DESIGN. GLORIOUS

[01:34 AM] maxwellelvis: Bean [01:34 AM] Bocaj: Why does it have a handle [01:35 AM] Wack'd: This is what you want. The underside seems hostile to the concept of landing and there's huge deadly propeller blades giving off massive gusts of wind where people are walking around and launching planes [01:35 AM] maxwellelvis: And it looks like it's got a giant metal- [01:36 AM] Wack'd: There's a dong yeah [01:36 AM] Bocaj: I didn't want to say dong but yeah [01:36 AM] Wack'd: Anyway Tony is taking care of a radioactive waste problem and the decontamination procedure takes 25 hours so he's out [01:37 AM] Wack'd: Not like everyone's in stasis. Definitely a real ticking-clock situation [01:37 AM] Bocaj: Writer of this book: "Fuck the shared universe" [01:37 AM] Wack'd: In fairness if you look to the Marvel Cinematic Universe you get the opposite situation where it seems like everyone's just too stupid to call each other [01:38 AM] Wack'd: "Everyone's conveniently indisposed" is a good answer that keeps the main characters centralized [01:38 AM] Wack'd: If you have the space to spare. I'm not asking for every MCU movie to have a scene where they call up all the other heroes and get sent to voicemail [01:40 AM] Wack'd: So anyway Johnny decides to ask if anyone on Xandar has a fix. Answer: no. Also: we're in the middle of a war, please call back later [01:40 AM] Wack'd: Johnny is about to give up when he's attacked by SKRULL X! [01:41 AM] Wack'd: Skrull X has all Super-Skrull's powers. Since Super-Skrull is dead at the moment [01:41 AM] Wack'd: He's a fairly transparent substitution [01:43 AM] Wack'd: I have to say that this is remarkably well set up? They established this dude was here before the aging ray even appeared. Weird to see this level of long-term planning

[01:44 AM] Wack'd: Skrull X is dead now. Bye Skrull X. [01:44 AM] Wack'd: You would think a dude with Johnny's powers would be more fireproof but I guess not [01:47 AM] Wack'd: Anyway with the aging ray in hand, Johnny wakes Reed up so he can use the rest of his strength figuring out how to reverse it. Last time we saw him he was at deaths door but I guess now he's ambulatory enough to make this work [01:49 AM] Wack'd: This is a good scene. Keeps Johnny central to the plot and lets him expand his range. Can't solve everything by brute force. Or brute heat I guess

[01:51 AM] Bocaj: I admire how they make welding dramatic [01:51 AM] Bocaj: I'm not being facetious [01:51 AM] Wack'd: Welp

[01:51 AM] Bocaj: In greenest day, in darkest night [01:51 AM] maxwellelvis: "It's working! My gray is going away gradually!" [01:52 AM] Wack'd: It is not, in fact, working [01:53 AM] Wack'd: Holy shit dude

[01:54 AM] maxwellelvis: Marv's just warming up. [01:54 AM] maxwellelvis: Wait until he writes for the Titans, then you'll see primo angst. [01:55 AM] Wack'd: So of course, it did actually work. It just took a while. [01:56 AM] Wack'd: (Given that the aging ray took three days to kill them, it's definitely a little weird that he expected instant results, but patience has never been Johnny's strong suit) [01:57 AM] Wack'd: Awwww

[01:57 AM] maxwellelvis: Yaaayyyy [01:59 AM] Wack'd: WE HAVE BEEN SPARED THE RAVAGES OF TIME

[01:59 AM] maxwellelvis: And so the Comic Book Stasis... begins [02:00 AM] Wack'd: A good way to commemorate...uh...milestone issue 214? Anniversary year 19? I've got nothing

[02:02 AM] Wack'd: Anyway I guess that's it for tonight. Nice to end on a story-ending note [02:02 AM] Bocaj: When they cheer at the screen, who are they cheering at in universe? [02:03 AM] maxwellelvis: Us [02:03 AM] Wack'd: @Bocaj : HERBIE [02:03 AM] maxwellelvis: Doop [02:06 AM] Bocaj: Fair enough

Mon Sep 9 2019 [04:37 PM] Wack'd: This one has Blastaar. From ish 62. He's a negative man from a Negative Zone [04:37 PM] Wack'd: Gotta keep recycling z-listers I guess [04:37 PM] maxwellelvis: He hates both Annihilus and the Four. [04:38 PM] Wack'd: So we open in media res! Professor Randolph James' lab blew up but the Four contained the blast [04:38 PM] Wack'd: Reed warns Prof James to take his very dangerous work more slowly and use more safeguards. What is that work? *shrug* [04:38 PM] maxwellelvis: And I'd say he's about a B-lister at most. He's crossed paths with the X-Men, Thor, and Hulk, since then. [04:40 PM] Wack'd: Ben objects to eugenics

[04:40 PM] Wack'd: Anyway the Four hurry back to the Baxter because an alarm just went off [04:41 PM] Wack'd: Ah yes, experimental scientists, well known for their immense wealth

[04:42 PM] Wack'd: Back at the Baxter--Blastaar! Fight fight fight [04:43 PM] maxwellelvis: I guess that's a reason for a bunch of Hell's Angels to start bullying a scientist. [04:43 PM] Wack'd: Well that's concerning

[04:43 PM] Umbramatic: oh [04:44 PM] Wack'd: Anyway they lose track of Blastaar in the sewers and give the Avengers a courtesy heads-up [04:45 PM] Wack'd: Oh no! It's a supervillain origin story!

[04:45 PM] Wack'd: *siiiiiiigh*

[04:46 PM] Wack'd: 🎵 Guess what I'm a Watcher now 🎶

[04:47 PM] maxwellelvis: GOOD LORD! GIGANTISM! [04:47 PM] Wack'd: And then he turns the neighborhood toughs into mice with his mind [04:49 PM] Bocaj: Why did he choose to wear a toga? [04:49 PM] Wack'd: Look it's the ultimate in human clothes evolution [04:49 PM] Wack'd: Also this is a cliffhanger. Reed doesn't see James do this so he's like "come back to the lab to run some tests" and James is like "you're my only friend so yeah sure" and then we cut outside and the toughs are mice [04:49 PM] maxwellelvis: It's like, half-toga, half-wrestling trunks [04:50 PM] Wack'd: THE ULTIMATE IN HUMAN CLOTHES EVOLUTION

#1980 #marv wolfman #John Bryne #The Main Book

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kinzie · 4 years

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— && guests may mistake me as ( kristine froseth ), but really i am ( mckinzie ‘kinzie’ stirling + cisfemale + she/her ) and my DOB is ( 01/01/1996 ). i am applying for the ( pet groomer ) position as part of the EHP and would like to live in suite ( #214 ). i should be hired because i am ( + optimistic and forgiving ), but i can also be ( - cynical and uptight ) at times. personally, i like to ( rock climbing, word searches and going for long drives ) when off the clock, but that won’t interfere with work. thank you for your consideration !

henlo !! it’s me, ziggy bee !! and i have brought you a brand new muse of mine. so let’s see how this goes !!

mckinzie has lived in chicago her entire life. she was born and raised on the south side of chicago but moved closer to where the malnati is located around when she was 21 after she got the job as a pet groomer there. she’s been working at the malnati for 2 years.

mckinzie aka kinzie’s parents are very laid back and super chill. she never really had any rules set for her growing up, but she used her common sense and kept out of trouble ( for the most part. ) she started drinking and smoking pot ( but her parents do too !! ) when she was a young teenager after she realized that it helped her cope with her anxiety disorder.

when she was around 10 when her aunt and uncle passed away. their son seth was left without parents and so kinzie’s parents brought him in and adopted him. she treats him like a sibling rather than a cousin. she is constantly pushing him ( in a good way ) to be his best. the two bicker like siblings, no one would expect them to be cousins. she even introduces him as her brother. she’s very close with her older cousin fleur. the two of them are practically siblings and most people think they are.

has a weird obsession with sea weed chips and chai tea.

loves to be outdoors, doing things like hiking, rollerblading, skateboarding, hanging out with friends. kinzie is a big extrovert and is a tomboy, she ain't afraid to play in the mud !!

kinzie had a bunny when she was 11 and she accidentally stepped on him ( don’t worry, floppy was okay !! ) and a beta fish named nemo that she forgot to feed and it died and ever since then has been traumatized of owning any pets. she is fine just loving other peoples pets.

she is a huge daddy's girl. mostly cause he spoiled her rotten growing up. her mother ain't too happy about that because she's got an attitude problem thanks to that. if she doesn't get her own way, good luck with that spoiled brat. her nickname from him is dandelion.

she has mad trust issues bc of her idiotic ex-boyfriend that cheated on her. their relationship was based off of lies and toxicity. she was too forgiving and love blind to see what he truly was.

of course my baby is a bi-baby because love doesn't have a gender.

growing up with kinsleigh as a birthday twin was probably her favorite thing. the two have been best friends since they came out of the womb. they met sam when they were twelve and formed an elite best friend group between the three. they're each other's ride-or-die's.

this is all i've got on her so far as she is still completely new !! i'm sure she'll change as she develops more.

#malnatiintro #« 【 👽 】 ➝ ❛ 𝑚𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑧𝑖𝑒 » thread.#« 【 👽 】 ➝ ❛ 𝑚𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑧𝑖𝑒 » visage.#« 【 👽 】 ➝ ❛ 𝑚𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑧𝑖𝑒 » inspo.#« 【 👽 】 ➝ ❛ 𝑚𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑧𝑖𝑒 » texts.#« 【 👽 】 ➝ ❛ 𝑚𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑧𝑖𝑒 » snaps.#« 【 👽 】 ➝ ❛ 𝑚𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑧𝑖𝑒 » meme.

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blackrosesfanfic · 4 years

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Chapter 214

Cammie

I kiss Caden all over his face. He stares at me then he starts curling his little lips. I turn away from him really fast. He stank self is about to start crying and make me change my mind. I can't get out of my head that Trey needs to stop acting selfish and stupid. All he has to do is come home to his family. What the fuck did you do, Tremaine? Why can't you get on the plane and come home?

"Please go." Joyce says walking out of the living room with Caden. "He will be fine."

"I know, I know."

Buggzi grabs my bag from me once I'm near the door. I blow then I close my eyes. I am a mother and a wife. Sometimes I got to do shit like this. Shit that doesn't fucking make sense. I'm the wife of Trey Songz and that requires dumb shit that other wives don't deal with. Some ordinary mothers maybe deal with this. So I can't even be like that. I can't even say it's a Trey Songz thing.

"Rollie!" I snap when he answers his phone.

"Hey, sweetness."

I suck my teeth at his live background. "Where the fuck you at?"

His background goes silent. "Where you need me to be baby?"

"Stupid Trey is calling me talking about ending his life and he sitting on a damn balcony somewhere in Vegas. So I have to fly to Vegas and pray he doesn't kill himself before I get there. I can't keep him on the phone and he won't answer no one else's calls."

"I'm in Vegas."

"What!?"

He chuckles. "Yeah, Forrest called me worried about Trey. So I been following him."

"You know where he is?" I say hopeful.

"I'll answer that in like 5 minutes."

"Imma be at the jet in a few minutes."

"Then I'll make it quicker baby." He says hanging up.

I call Trey on video. He doesn't answer. I blow. The good thing is it doesn't take a long time at all going from LA to Vegas on a jet. All the delay time and lines. Annoying little people who want to talk. All of the chaos out of the way.

"Do you want me to ride with you?"

"No, Buggzi. I got this."

He kinda shrugs. "I have nothing to do. I'll ride just in case."

"Then why you give me a choice, Bug?" I snap.

He chuckles focusing back on the road. My phone rings. I stare at it. It's not Trey or Rollie. Hell it's not even April. It's my damn mama. I sigh but answer it.

"I'm about to get on the plane."

"I was calling to check on Caden. How is he?"

I sigh. "I really don't know. I have to fly to Vegas. Trey having a celebrity life crisis."

She sighs. "It's a hard decision sometimes to choice between your kids and your husband."

"You would know."

"Yes, I would. I also want to know if it's fine for me to come to LA. See the city and spend some time with you."

"You don't have to ask."

She chuckles to herself. "Yes, I do when I know nothing about your LA life."

I smile. "Oh, well, yeah sure come. I'll send you the address. Tell me when you coming and I'll have a car pick yall up."

"Oh... just me."

"Oh okay." I look at my phone to see who was beeping in. "This is kinda an urgent call. Can we talk later?"

"Oh yes. That is fine. The boys are..."

"Home with Joyce. Lane is sleeping and Caden is snobby."

She says okay and I click over. That was fucking awkward. It's always awkward cause she never pushes herself into a situation but gets offended like I supposed to fucking know what she want. Like I don't know with her. What was the point of pointing out that she would be along?

"Hello." I say annoyed times 200.

"He at a very private suite. Club members only. I can't get any information about if he is really there or not. Just word of mouth."

I roll my eyes. "He is so annoying at times. Now he isn't answering the phone."

"He will be fine."

"Rollie you don't know."

Rollie exhales. "Well Jay you don't know. I'll handle it alright. Try to get him on the phone. Make sure he stay positive. Get him to tell you where he is."

"I'm about to get on the phone. It's an hour from now."

"I'll handle it Jay." Rollie reassures me.

"Rollie my kids need their father."

"Jay, you need your husband. I said I will handle it."

I blow. "Fine. Me and Buggzi are getting on the phone... I mean plane."

"Relax, Jay. I got this."

"Okay."

"Promise you, Baby. Get on the plane."

Rollie

This is fucking insane. I look at Kirven as he shakes his head. I lied to her. I don't know where he is. I lost him the other day when I thought he was going to the pool but instead he had switched hotels. What had thrown me off that day was the fact that he didn't have any bags on him.

"Nigga." I say hitting Kirven. "He either left his bags or had them delivered to him at the other hotel."

"Huh?" Kirven says rubbing his chest.

I push him forward then start walking to the rental car we had. We are going to retrace our steps. Do what we have already done looking for him. This time it's going to be a bit illegal. I get on the phone and call Mayweather. He was supposed to be trying to get in contact with Trey and invite him out.

"Mayweather, what you get?" I ask.

"Shit." He says. "He not answering my call or the message I sent about the party. He was just talking to me an hour ago. I don't know."

I suck my teeth. "He didn't say where he was an hour ago?"

"Naw he just sent me a picture of his liquor bottle. I should have invited him out then."

"Send me that picture. Why he sent you his liquor bottle?"

Mayweather laughs. "I forgot. Something about how heavy his shit was. You know what he going through. He was drunk. I couldn't understand him."

The shit I do for my sister. I shake my head. "Alright call me if you hear something in the next hour."

"Yeah, will do."

"Alright I got this picture. Let's investigate. I'm sending it to you. Look for anything of value. Hell let's just talk about the picture."

Kirven watches his phone then he looks up. "I got it. Celebrities are dumb as fuck."

"Yeah. You can't see too much shit with the filter."

"He on the balcony." Kirven nods.

I stare at the picture. "How you tell that?"

"The glass. It's a rail."

I nod. "Man fuck all that. The shit say Palms on the damn napkin under the fucking bottle. Come on."

Kirven laughs holding the phone close to his face. "No shit."

I grab my bag and head out of the door. Time for a bit of babysitting and possible cleaning up. I want to send Kirven in first so that I can stay neutral but Kirven fucking worst than me about Cammie. Nigga might start beating the shit out of Trey. Fucking lunatic. We walk up to the front desk with our bags.

"I'm meeting my brother. Neverson."

"Neverson?" The lady says staring at me. "Trey Songz?"

Damn, I was hoping she wouldn't know who he was by his last name. Most people don't fucking know his last name. I just look at her and not say nothing. I should have brought Forrest ass with me. Didn't think about that.

"Trey Songz isn't staying in this hotel." She says after a few minutes.

"Lady." I say narrowing my eyes at her. "Now if he not saying here how you know that's the Neverson I'm looking for?"

She smiles slightly. "His name isn't here."

"Privacy issues right. K, get Trey on the phone and let him know they won't tell me shit."

"Aight." Kirven says walking away. Well played.

The lady looks at her computer. "Sir he really isn't in the system."

"This is the Palms place. With the three buildings." I say looking around. I call Forrest. "Aye, Forrest where are you at?"

"I was just about to call you. I'm at your hotel but they say you checked out. I told you I was coming back. Where you moved to?"

"I'm at this building but they won't give me the key Trey left for me. He gonna be shitting bricks if he got to fucking send his key from downtown. I told him he should have just stayed downtown. He might listen and move now. These people shitty."

Forrest sucks his teeth. "Okay. I needed a whole speech. Bitch I was just over there."

Kirven walks up. "Aye, Trey mad. He said just come where he at."

"But Forrest already on his way here."

"Yall doing too much. I'm not calling him back." Kirven shakes his head.

The hotel we were staying at is not that far away. Trey could have fucking walked here. Bitch could have went to the pool then decided he wanted to walk and forgot where he was staying before. He was fucking drunk then. Maybe I shouldn't have let him go to the pool but I was being a spy. A bad one.

"Y'all move around too much." Forrest says walking in dragging his bag that didn't fucking have wheels. He drops it in the middle of the floor. "What's the issue? Where the key?"

"Um." The lady says glancing between us. "There is no key."

Forrest sucks his teeth. "Bitch, what you mean? Look my name up. Forrest Tucker."

The lady had gotten nervous and red in the face at this point. "Sir, there is no need for..."

"Look it up, ma'am." Forrest demands.

"Everything okay, Shelby?" A round face white man asks coming up.

"No." Forrest snaps. "We pay all this fucking money to get treated like this. I supposed to have a key down here. She won't look it up. Just got off a plane flying 14 hours. I don't feel like this shit. My fucking guts still in gotdamn Tokyo."

I look at Forrest. Nigga you came from fucking LA. The shit he talking about. He acting like a damn fool. He leans over the counter looking at the lady's computer. The man steps to the computer and turns it away from Forrest's view. Little baby Trey is worst than his damn brother.

"Sir, I will handle it. There is confidential things on this screen. Please."

"Handle it then sir. I just want to get to my room."

The man puts his hands on the keyboard. "What name would you like me to look up?"

"Forrest Tucker."

"And what do you need?"

Forrest looks at me then throw his arms up then walks to his bag. "You talk to them. They not listening to me."

"His key." I say dryly. "This all could have been avoided man. Need to learn some conflict resolution. I simply said I was meeting my brother. You never asked my name to see if I was left a key."

"Sir you said Neverson." She states like she proving a point. "There is no Neverson."

Forrest comes up. "What? There's no what?"

"Neverson." The man looks at me. "Sir what is your name? You said you were left a key?"

"Roberson."

The man signs placing a key on the counter. It said Roberson. I suck my teeth and snatch the key. Trey is fucking head over heels for my damn sister. Don't make no damn sense. Forrest leans over the counter then he starts laughing.

"Aye, bruh. I seen that sitting there."

"You can't read. So who the fuck name is Trey saying under?"

Forrest shrugs. "Probably some shit he made up. You hand someone cash they will put anything anywhere."

"Oh, like you just hand them money and they put their dick in your mouth bitch? Okay Forrest. I didn't need to know that about..."

"Oh bitch shut up. How you find out where he at anyway?"

I show him the picture. "Mayweather and Trey were staring dick pics."

Forrest cuts his eyes at the phone like he was scared. "Ah, man. I was worried bout why Mayweather would share it with you."

"Huh?" I say laughing. "Trey does that often?"

"Man, Rollie, your ass would flip anything somebody say. Shut the hell up."

I shrug. "Cocktail napkin tells it all."

Forrest wasn't interested anymore. "What's the plan? He gonna fucking flip when we walk in his room."

"Cammie on her way. We doing some cleaning before hand if he too drunk to."

"Oh Cammie coming!" Forrest says excited. "Good."

I stop him from walking. "Aye, we gonna wait on a different floor. You go up and make sure no bitches in the room. It's best I not see no shit like that. Cammie is happier when me and Trey get along."

Forrest nods. "Aight, but I doubt..."

"Like I said Cammie happier that way."

"Aight. I'll call you." He says pressing a random button on the elevator then the right floor. "He know Cammie coming?"

"He should." I say studying him. "Why you acting like you backing out?"

He sucks his teeth. "I just don't want to look at him differently."

"Everybody being soft." Kirven snaps. "Let's just all go up in that bitch."

"No." I shake my head. "You trouble. Forrest going alone."

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