#also Earth is offscreen but still there looking over them

[ao3cassandraic]

What does Aziraphale know and when does he know it? Part 4: The Aftermath

Prologue, Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3, for those who need them.

After Crowley strides out, Aziraphale has a lot going on in his head still, and it shows on his poor devastated angry (he is angry, just a bit) face.

Then the Metatron comes back in, and Zira has to turn sharply away to pull himself back into some kind of kayfabe. "How did he take it?" the Metatron asks cheerfully, despite already knowing because he was watching. Jehoshaphat, y'all, I thought s1!Gabriel was punchable -- I want to drop the Metatron into Earth-core magma like Gollum at this point!

Aziraphale's heroic efforts at kayfabe are pretty successful, on the whole, but it hurts to see him stiff as a board, arms at his sides, letting the Metatron (argh, so punchable) insult Crowley and laughing nervously. Then the Metatron starts forcing him out the door again with "Right, ready to start?" The presumptuous wretch doesn't even wait for a yes -- just assumes it!

Aziraphale, however, knows he never said yes, so he tries playing for -- anything, really, more information or some kind of choice (arc word! arc! word!) or anything at all. No dice; the Metatron highhandedly gives his bookshop (his. BOOK. SHOP.) to Muriel. Aziraphale now knows why the Metatron wanted Muriel to stay behind on Earth, and he also knows that the Metatron will stop at nothing and trample anyone to get what he wants. Not comforting knowledge, that.

And Aziraphale, having essentially no more choice (I repeat: arc word!), but still horribly torn because he never got to make a decision about the job offer, still doesn't have a Metatron-thwarting plan, and wants Crowley with all his mind and heart, blurts "I think I --" Then he drops back into kayfabe, following the extremely punchable Metatron out the door.

Crowley's still there, standing by the Bentley. All our hearts shatter. But the extremely punchable Metatron (have I mentioned that he is extremely punchable?) keeps Aziraphale moving along by dropping hints at answers to his continuing questions: whatever the Metatron's up to, it's something to do with the Great Plan.

Aziraphale asks. And now that he's firmly in the Metatron's clutches, the Metatron answers: it's the Second Coming.

Watch Aziraphale drop kayfabe (fortunately, the Metatron isn't looking at him) for a look of helpless dismay. A.Z. "entire collection of Bibles, wicked and otherwise" Fell knows what that means! Watch him re-establish kayfabe when the Metatron looks at him from the elevator. Watch him turn back toward Crowley to tell him (unnecessary -- Crowley knows from his visit Upstairs -- but Aziraphale doesn't know Crowley knows), then decide (with another of those pulling-himself-together deep breaths) that he must instead play along. Watch him kayfabe-smile at the Metatron and enter the elevator.

And watch kayfabe warring with devastation and guardianly determination in Aziraphale's face over the credits. My read -- you may have a different one -- is that determination wins, and the eventual smile is an "okay, now I have a plan" smile.

Watch out, Metatron. Aziraphale's gonna wreck you and I'm gonna enjoy it.

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

This interpretation of the Final Fifteen Minutes is parsimonious. It works with what's there onscreen, not assuming much beyond that -- the only Caveat About Offscreen Shenanigans I left in was to note that we don't necessarily see the entire chinwag. Exactly zero of the twistier, more elaborate fan theories, you may have noticed, made it into this meta -- heck, we don't even have to assume we didn't see the entire chinwag! We might have! What we did see was enough to lead to these outcomes!

The Gaiman-Pratchett-Finnemore brain trust likes jigsaw-puzzle plots where everything has its place and little or nothing is wasted. That's a big reason I think a parsimonious interpretation is likely to be close to a true interpretation. It's all there; why get wild if there's no need to?

This also aligns with what Michael Sheen has said (do please read this not-mine meta, it's lovely) about angels and goodness and making choices. I, too, want Aziraphale to have made the hard, hurting, noble choice at last, even if he was partly railroaded into it.

(Anyone who doesn't care for fan theories should stop reading now, with my effusive gratitude for making it this far.)

That said, the explosion of fan theories about the Final Fifteen Minutes also demonstrates that this interpretation is narratively accommodating. It doesn't have to assume poisoned or drugged coffee, but it doesn't preclude that. It doesn't require a body swap, but it allows it -- all that really has to change is the estimation of who's doing how much kayfabe when. It doesn't need some massive season-spanning conspiracy arc, but if there is one, it can make that work.

Neil knows fandom, none better. He knows we love our meta and our theories. So I have no trouble believing he wrote us a narratively accommodating finale so we could get our book-length Tumblr posts on. Appreciate it, and you, Neil.

#gos2spoilers #gos2 spoilers #good omens season 2 spoilers #the fucking metatron #the final fifteen minutes #good omens meta #good omens #aziraphale #crowley #ineffable husbands #the EXTREMELY PUNCHABLE metatron #seriously is there a bafta for playing the most punchable character #because I want to give it to Derek Jacobi

[look-how-they-massacred-them]

Preliminary Poll

Chakotay

Submission reason:

Chakotay is an Indigenous American. However, the "expert" they hired as a consultant for writing the character turned out to be a fraud. He lied about his ethnicity and level of knowledge...article here: https://redshirtsalwaysdie.com/2021/02/26/voyagers-native-american-consultant-was-a-fraud/ Chakotay's actor's ethnicity is also part of the problem: "Robert Beltran is Mexican American, and although he tried to justify his playing an “Indian” role by evoking the Mestizo heritage of many Mexicans,16 many viewers experienced his presence as “yet another non-Indian actor […] in a part that is identifiably Indian and uses trappings from the culture."" http://www.asjournal.org/49-2007/star-treks-native-americans/ Over the course of the show, writers tried to improve their writing of Chakotay's Indigenous identity. But these are fundamental mistakes, so a lot of moments dedicated to establishing Chakotay's character and building emotional depth are tainted. On another note, the show gave Chakotay so much little attention in comparison to other characters...one of the biggest examples being a complete 180 in his romantic interests that makes nearly 0 sense for him. Chakotay falls in love with Janeway, the Captain, in the early seasons. It's mutual!! But because he is her First Officer, they agree not to have an affair, as that might mess with the already tense status of their crew. But the two are emotionally intimate throughout the show, having dinners together, calling each other by first name rather than title...a lot of superficial nods to their mutual romantic attraction. The whole show is about their crew trying to get back to Earth. If/when they succeed, they would no longer be Captain & First Officer, so they could date! But the show decided to make Chakotay fall in love with a more popular female lead in the last season, just because he was "available." So, they explore her interest in Chakotay, but not his in her...effectively reducing him to an accessory to the show's most popular character. This relationship is established in two, arguably 3 episodes. We only see them show romantic interest in each other/spend time together as a couple for less than 10 minutes...and it's not deep shit, it's flirting and a first date. We're then TOLD that, offscreen, they got married and fell super in love. It's ridiculous. She's also much younger than Chakotay, and MUCH less emotionally mature. It's pretty gross imo, especially after the show consistently emphasized Chakotay and Janeway's intellectual & emotional equality. He goes from being interested in a woman his age with similar life experience, to being interested in a younger woman whose whole deal is that she's still learning to form relationships and identity! It's bullshit! Chakotay was written and performed to be a very morally complex character with real emotional depth. There are a lot of good character moments, but they exist amongst scenes that flaunt negative stereotypes of Indigenous Americans or reduce Chakotay to being an oversimplified version of some of his traits. In a serial show, it's inevitable that a character's going to be written poorly every once in a while. But the extent to which they made Chakotay into a mere prop for other characters in the later seasons, and the damaging relationship this sidelining has with the racist legacy of the character overall...it's bullshit. His character concept could've been made good on, and but the show failed hard.

Propaganda:

I've found academic studies on how Voyager majorly fucked up with Chakotay

#look how they massacred them poll #look how they massacred my boy #star trek #star trek voyager #star trek chakotay #chakotay

[dumpster-of-the-lost-souls]

More winx au stuff.

@emsartwork @drops-of-moonlights since you two are some of biggest inspirations for this I'm tagging you so you can look at this if you want. If you want to ignore me you can. I'm very sorry for being pushy and wanting you guys to see this. If you two want me to stop I will.

So long story short my mom got a new iPad and gave me the old one. So I redownloaded procreate to do some art that wouldn't be impeded by a horrible camera quality.

I'm going to do art of all of the Gardenia Gang but I got Levina's done first.

I dont know how to make her sparkly or how to make the image transparent yet I'm sorry about that so yeah.

This is her Basic transformation which I have dubbed Basix.

Since Basix wings are so small, she isn't a real stable flyer due to her center of gravity being off due to being short part of an arm.

Later transformations with larger wings are better for her flight-wise. She's able to balance better with larger wings.

She learns how to free run and parkour in order to keep up with the rest of the Gardenia gang since she's the fastest of all of them since lightning is very quick.

her transformation is supposed to be like a tracksuit or jumper being streamlined for easier movement and so it won't get caught on much. She has shoes that are good for running and a glove that would protect her hand from magical backlash and helps her grip things better.

Here's more about Levina, her friends call her Levi or Vina.

Since I'm placing bloom at 18 at the start of season one Levina is 8 years younger than her being 10 at the time. She's still ten when the Trix arrive in gardenia to steal Bloom's dragon flame and is traumatized by being dropped down the portal to the omega dimension the Trix summoned in their floor and dropped Mike, Vanessa, and Levina down in order to tire Bloom out. It's left her with a really bad fear of heights.

She was 14 when the whole snafu with the Wizards of the black circle happened. For context when she lost her arm she was hanging out with Mike at the fire station on a Saturday, it had rained heavily the night before so there were puddles of rainwater everywhere. Levina had started to show interest in being a firefighter at the time and Mike decided to show her around the station and tell her how things worked around the station. She was standing in a puddle in galoshes looking at and holding onto a metal structure the firefighters used to practice when Anagan redirected one of Tecna's spells into a transformer causing the transformer to overload and explode and release a lot of bolts of electricity/magic. One of these bolts struck Levina in the left shoulder. Electricity follows the path of least resistance and as she was standing in a puddle in rubber galoshes while holding onto a metal structure that was bolted to the ground all of the electricity went out of her arm.

Her arm was severely damaged, from the electrical burns to muscle and nerve damage from the electricity along with micro fractures from the heat of the energy coursing from her arm, the worst places were her shoulder and hand, being the entry and exit points respectively. Her arm was amputated above the elbow and she lost a lot of feeling in the stump and lost mobility in her left shoulder. she has a Lichtenberg figure on the back of her left shoulder and down her stump. She gained a fear of sudden sound noises after that incident.

Timeline wise this occurs offscreen between 16 and 17 of season 4 as a frame of reference. Levina spends the rest of season 4 in the hospital before being released around the timeframe of episode 6 of season 5.

Because the winx left earth around this time Morgana takes over the love and pet shop keeping the shop up and running. A few minor fairies from Tir Na Nog also work there as a way to slowly re-integrate magic to earth as abrupt shifts in the balance of magic on Earth can be lethal an example being Duman.

She tens to short out electronics and cause power outages when distressed or angry so she writes most everything down by hand.

#winx club au #dragon’s flame and tempest’s flare #Levina brand #Lore

[gorogues]

purplecyborgnewt said: But we just got him back… Maybe the new writers will find some opportunity to keep him in story anyway?

He may well hang around to help out, but if we do see him it probably won't be in the 'cozy slice of life' approach Adams set up. Which is a bummer, as I was looking forward to it.

terranerin05997 said: Mysterious Allies … It was nice at the Moment but i guess we will see him again in maybe 5 years or so. Or maybe in a pride month comic but i dont think more.

Fingers crossed that things are better than we're fearing! However, I do think we'll be seeing a lot less of him than it seemed a couple of months ago :\ (And as you can see in the post before this, he will be appearing in a reprint during Pride month. Which isn't new content but it's good DC hasn't forgotten about him.)

one-rogue-army said: @tricksterrune How did Roscoe get six extra tiles? There's plenty of ten-letter words that have "rat" in them. :)

He cheats! :>

one-rogue-army said: @gorogues @purplecyborgnewt How about Hartley watches over Central City and all, while Wally’s off exploring whatever’s beyond the Speed Force?

That'd work!

purplecyborgnewt said: @one-rogue-army wouldn’t it still mean he would stay mostly offscreen, I mean off-page, while Wally “experiments with new approaches in new realms”? Unless we’re getting “meanwhile, back on Earth” every now and then…

Unless he's actively helping Wally with some of his explorations (which he might), I think his participation would be fairly sparse, yeah. But considering we might see some far-out trippy stuff it's entirely possible Hartley might be able to help with that.

Also I have the perfect reaction image for this and must use it.

one-rogue-army said: @purplecyborgnewt Looks like Wally’s going to need his family as his lightning rod more than ever. So their wellbeing would matter to the story.

Very good point. I hope we won't see many Wally's-family-in-peril stories, and I think the kids + cosmic horror would be too much. I wonder how much of the family we'll even see.

#purplecyborgnewt #terranerin05997 #one rogue army #one-rogue-army #words #spoilers: comics

[spicyicymeloncat]

One thing I need the fandom to drop when it comes to Wu is them thinking he never talks about the ninja’s parents to them. It was never his information to disclose to Jay that he was adopted if he was even aware of that, it was up to Ed and Edna. If Jay’s mom had to make the tough decision of leaving her child behind and was never seen or heard from again despite being married to a movie star I don’t think she would’ve ran up the mountain to tell the Bros what just happened. I’m 75% sure he hardly even knew Dr. Julien or that Zane was a robot (poor guy probably couldn’t comprehend that robots could exist and be so human). Somewhere in the comics he holds a baby Cole and he was good friends with Lilly. Cole would’ve been surprised or confused when in S13 Wu says she never had a necklace like, “What do you mean? You knew my mother?” I feel at some point Cole either realizes he knows Wu from his childhood or Wu’s cryptically like “I remember you used to fight your parents on bedtimes constantly” and giggles

(Disclaimer: this is all my opinion, if anyone reading this doesn’t like Wu or disagrees with me ur valid to do so. Love u all really)

Yeah I’ve had a bit of time to think over the “Wu didn’t tell the ninja about their parents” and my blanket statement response would just be Wu couldn’t have told the ninja about their parents before their parents have even been conceptualised as characters.

The reason the ninja are continuously interesting for this many seasons is partially because their backstories weren’t told right at the beginning and they have room to develop and grow. Their parents characters are only introduced when it’s relevant to the plot, and are only canonically conceptualised right up to the season they get released. Which does make sense considering how many times the show was going to end. There’s no point planning seasons ahead of time if you aren’t sure those seasons will exist, otherwise you end up with unfinished and unsatisfying story arcs. The price of this is that the retcons contradict either Wu’s integrity or knowledge. Or do they?

Yeah I agree 100% with you on Jay’s mother. Wu probably doesn’t even know what happened to her, and considering what Nya said in s5, that elemental powers can skip generations, Wu may not have been sure Jay was her child. But even if he was, if Ed and Edna hadn’t told Jay, then it’s not really up to Wu, or at least he shouldn’t be held accountable more than Ed and Edna.

With Cole, I don’t think Wu really withheld any information about Lilly. I haven’t seen anyone debate this yet so maybe Cole doesn’t apply lol, but yeah I think Wu has been transparent about her probably. I mean considering how Wu and Cole were close, and Cole told Wu about her death as seen in s8/9 in his flashback. I haven’t seen the comics so idk how true this is (I don’t really consider the comics truly canon anyways) but I sometimes hc that Lilly kept her identity as master of earth from her family as sort of a way of dividing her work and home life, which is why Cole’s dad was originally against him being a ninja.

I also think that Wu knew Dr Julien (not very well) but didn’t know he died or got kidnapped afterwards and when he discovered Zane as a loner, and realised he didn’t remember, Wu told him that Zane had a family and that they’d look for him (which was a fruitless search bc dr Julien was at a lighthouse at sea) BECAUSE LOOK

EPISODE 2 of Ninjago and this is my favourite scene ever look look lok at this

…anyways. I think this argument is strongest with Kai and Nya’s parents. In my personal opinion I still think maybe they didn’t want Wu to tell them due to them feeling as if their parents abandoned them on purpose? Idk that’s just a theory based on how quick Kai was to turn on his dad and how much beef Nya had with her mum. Although I still think that Wu offscreen told the siblings what he knew if they asked, or that he’d make off hand comments about how cool their parents were (they were friends). Or maybe he didn’t out of fear of pressuring them. I’d feel like he’d relate considering his own father. Maybe that’s the whole reason why he didn’t tell Nya about her water powers. Because she was doing so well as a samurai and didn’t want her to live through that pressure.

Idk I think there are so many cool options when trying to make sense of Wu that I feel like it’s a shame no one sees that potential. On that note, thanks anon now I have generated more ideas about Wu and I really want to make something out of them now :P

#they always ‘what has Wu ever told the ninja’ but never ‘how is wu’ #ok that joke didn’t work sorry #tbh I wasn’t a wu enthusiast I’m a bad faith critic anti #this is wu antis fault for real /hj #i ramble #hhhhhhhhh #Ninjago #lego ninjago #I want want want to make a Nya wu talk it out comic #but I gotta draw magical ninja #and the new dtiys #and the non humans comic I put off for a thousand years #and other wips #AHHHHHHHH #I’m hungry also

[wafflesetc]

I've been wondering a lot if there is a way out of here where Upstead would be okay. Gwen has been saying that it's important we keep loving them, that they are loves of each other's lives, how what they have is true and so on. She has spoken a lot about that even after Jay left. I'd also like to think that if they wanted them to be over, they would have done it already in 10x03 because who likes if it's being dragged on for the entire season.

I mean the ball is in Hailey's court right now. I wonder if her love for him will ultimately come out on top. She will obviously question everything at first. She will want to give up because seemingly Jay did so. She'll try to let go of him and be happy alone. But something happens where she hits a turning point. That she decides to wait for him. And after he comes home they would do the real work. It would be slow but they would do it together. (And Jay would grovel the shit out of him.) They could do that in a way where Jay is home but offscreen. Little mentions here and there. It's terrifying to expect her to carry their marriage but maybe she will. Maybe they will come on top. Maybe she will realise while she can live without him, she doesn't want to. Because Jay has been a big part of her life. He is a big reason she was able to move on and win her demons. I'd like to hope that in the end she can't just forget him.

On the other hand, Hailey's trust and heart has been shattered. She's got a difficult past and Jay was supposed to be the one person who would never break it. He promised so multiple times. So I don't know. Hailey fought tooth and nail to get to a happy place.

I guess we'll have to wait and see though I really don't want to sit through them dragging Upstead more through the mud.

The beautiful thing about television is there is always a way out of a scenario. Look at Tiva - how Ziva "died" and then suddenly she's alive and Tony has a child. That didn't happen until years after she had left the series.

I do find it odd, how much Gwen has gushed about them being the loves of each other's lives and then this is where they have taken them. I'm not arguing if I think they love each other or not, I firmly believe that Jay and Hailey are IT for each other. Which, since they are, I can see why the writers may feel the need to drag them through the mud like this. Even though it is painful to watch, in some capacity it may make it seem more "realistic" to them (the writers) to drag it out this long. However, I disagree, I'm just trying to find some kind of logic in the nonsense we've been given.

I agree with most of your second paragraph, mostly. The only slight thing I disagree on is the ball being Hailey's court - marriage is teamwork. I think they are both trying to make it work, figure things out, do what they can for the other while also trying to heal themselves. I have said this a couple of times BUT growth has to happen with each individual in order for the relationship to grow. It's painful, messy, and not always black and white, but it takes two to tango. Jay is just as culpable as Hailey is in all of this. I think the process for each of them is different, but I do believe they would fight to the ends of earth to preserve their marriage because that's the kind of people they are.

I think the thing I am trying to remember right now is that we are only on episode 12 of 22/24 episodes for the season. There is still a lot of time to watch, a lot of the story left to unfold, and I don't think we've seen the end of Upstead yet. Only time will tell, but I think by the end of the season we will have a more clear picture of where they are taking this.

#Ask Waffs #Upstead #Chicago PD

[squireofgeekdom]

Me? Crying specifically at the presence and impact of a single D20 as a continuing thread over years of character’s lives as it connects to their identity and relationships? Yes. The Spider-Gwen creative team was on another level, and the ‘one last roll’ moment in issue 20 owns my whole heart. (You can see little bits of the dialogue leading up to it if you squint really hard at Harry and Gwen’s notebooks.) Eternally emotional about the Earth 65 DnD nerds trio. 

The full view of Harry’s phone background, plus commentary, under the cut

Based on the heartbreaking glimpse we see of what is still Harry’s phone background while he’s on the run in Spider-Gwen issue 20 

he loves them so much no one touch me 

Other miscellaneous details: We see a gold D20 fall out of Gwen’s hand (landing on a 2, as I have it here) when Harry unmasks her as Spider-Woman back in vol 1, so I put the gold set of ttrpg dice as hers. We see Harry scrabbling to find an orange D20 when he’s on the run in issue 20 (vol 4), so he has an orange set of dice. I used hints of gold and orange throughout for their respective characters and notebooks. A very minor but intentional detail, the dice have rolled or have visible a lot of twos and threes, since this is a trio that ends up as two.

The figurine offscreen to the left is the Green Goblin figurine for the character Peter initially wanted Harry to play as, playing on/reclaiming the rude nickname kids called Harry, and what Peter thought was ‘cooler’ than the ‘generic hero’ Harry wanted to play - and ended up claiming - ‘Arkon, Thunder King of Polemechus’, who is the figurine Harry actually has on the board. He and Gwen’s character are facing off against a group of shadowy menacing figures surrounding them - as they are in issue 20 - led by a distant rooftop figure all in red - much like the Earth 65 Kingpin at the time. 

I didn’t have much to go on with regards to what kind of character Gwen would play, so I left most of the design vague, covered with a cloak and with her back to the viewer - though there’s a little nod to the Spider-Gwen look with the blue on the soles of her shoes, which also matches Harry’s character’s shield. I’m assuming both Peter and Gwen would have some input into the design, so I went with a magic using character - thus the little glowy flame in the figurine’s hand - who could do fun things and have fun with her powers. Thinking about Peter’s influence, how he pitched the ‘Green Goblin’ struggling with a curse as something cooler than a generic hero, and the way he speculates about Spider-Woman’s superheroing having strong Batman vibes (batarang equivalents, a butler driving her around, etc) I figured he’d go for something that’s a little bit on the darker side, and has some inherent struggle or curse built in, so I pictured her playing some sort of warlock, where there may be some sort of conflict with the nature or desires of her patron or of other groups or interests serving or influencing her patron - having a dangerous patron she’s in conflict with, of course, nicely paralleling where Spider-Gwen is by issue 20. It’s so tiny I doubt anyone can see it, but there’s a bit of bright green at the veeery bottom edge of Gwen’s character’s glowy flame, that matches the very small green glow around the orb in the shadowy figure in red’s hand, just a subtle note that her magic might be linked with the mastermind antagonist, in the way that her power-ups were being controlled at this time.

Oh, and it’s very silly, but the time on Harry’s phone is 6:53 pm because they’re on Earth 65. *fingerguns*

#spider-gwen #spider gwen #gwen stacy #harry osborn #peter parker #earth 65 #squire's stuff #squire reads spider gwen #squire's art

[overobsessedfanboy23]

VRAINS Characters Tier List

Because I did one of these for the each of the other shows (though I’ll need to redo the 5Ds one) and my opinions have shifted slightly.

Everything I said in my favourite characters list still stands so I won’t reiterate those ten. Windy I like for no good reason. Shima I admittedly think is funny. I like having someone who absolutely sucks at duelling and for the most part I found him amusing rather than annoying.

Aqua and Earth I’ve decided I like. I hate Aqua’s design and Earth pushing her off the hoverboard still upsets me but apart from those things, they’re good characters. Earth’s socially awkward bit makes me laugh what can I say? Lightning is a cool villain though I’m not particularly attached to him.

Spectre is... fine, honestly. I used to say I hated him because he had a terrible first impression with his pointless nonsense defeat of Aoi and this is gonna sound rude but looking like a creep. Honestly though? He’s a perfectly fine character. I still hate the tree thing though. That was bullshit. However, seeing a victim who actually enjoyed the Lost Incident is interesting in a messed up way and I kinda like how he figured out Lightning was hiding something just from his vibes. Also, one of his first lines was legitimately clever pun so I gotta give props to that. Everyone else in that tier I don’t really have an opinion on.

Revolver just barely goes in conflicted rather than dislike because he does have his moments. His Ignis racism makes me want to slap him across the face and it’s something he really should’ve grown out of if the show wanted me to think he developed at all. Yeah, he vaguely cares about his teammates by the end of the series. Sure, whatever. HE’S STILL A FUCKING RACIST PRICK. That’s not an excusable flaw. And yes it is racism because he hates all the Ignis for being Ignis and insists they all need to die because of his daddy’s superstition about them even when three of them fought by his side to protect humanity despite his ultimatum that he’d kill them after because saving humanity mattered more to them than their lives and also Lightning was the only one actually causing those futures his dad saw, something HE TOLD EVERYONE. By the end of season 2 after all these events, it seemed for a moment like he got over his stupid racism. Then in season 3, before Ai has done anything villainous, his racism comes back full swing in an honestly insulting scene where he tells Yusaku and Takeru, the latter of whom is GRIEVING THE LOSS OF HIS RECENTLY DECEASED IGNIS, that he still intends to hunt down the last Ignis because their mere existence is a threat to humanity. Again, before Ai was a villain and after he knew for a fact that Lightning was the only Ignis that wanted humanity dead. Because Windy straight up had his personality altered by Lightning to be evil, none of that was actually him. So yeah Revolver really pisses me off, thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

Oh yeah and Go Onizuka is in dislike because he has two sudden out of nowhere shifts in personality completely offscreen. He was a good character in season one but the writing really screwed him over. Also Queen doesn’t do anything cool, sorry not sorry.

#yugioh #ygo #yugioh vrains #ygo vrains #vrains #windy vrains #wind ignis #naoki shima #shima naoki #aqua vrains #water ignis #earth vrains #earth ignis #lightning vrains #light ignis #ignis vrains #spectre #spectre vrains

[nyssausage]

Companions getting back

Susan got stranded on mars causing the crispy master, then somehow got back to gallifrey, got a tardis, and time travelled with ping cho. During their time travels they of course met the other companions.

Vicki, I imagine that the rescue team found her and she's now Administrator Pallister of UNIT. She time travels through UNIT.

Steven, he got left by the Doctor against his will, so of course just after the Doctor is gone, he goes back to Earth and is eventually Spacefleet Brigadier Taylor of UNIT. So he can time travel too.

Ben and Polly, they're propably just off frame chatting to Barbara, maybe with children and grandchildren too. And Dodo is also chatting to them or Steven.

Victoria, you know how her father invented a time machine? And how the Harrises were only a lil older than her and did'nt want her? Well, when shes in our present she's part of the support group, in the past she has that academy in Tibet and of course has her son Edward Travers, who would be born in 1891, 39 years younger than Victoria, and thus her youngest child to Victoria and her husband Lyndon, thus also making her the sister in law to Ben Travers who would be born in 1861 and thus 9 years younger than Victoria. What, you don't think Travers is the son to Victoria? Of course he is. He looks a lot like Victoria (since Jack and Deborah Watling are father and daughter), his name is the same as Victoria's father, and he is tied with the same university\location that Victoria ends up working at. He is pretending that he is'nt Victoria's son because he can't reveal such until Season 6B. Which is why Moffat invented River Song. Or something.

Jamie and Zoe, I think they got their memories back during 6B, and are able to time travel through Victoria.

The UNIT guys and Liz, of course they're there. Maybe they're just offscreen.

Harry was one of the Cybermen in Missy's army, and then he was in Trap Street, could he have got a shimmer of his physical self? Or maybe he could still be alive and got back from being lost in the jungle.

Sarah Jane, with so many time shenanigans around I bet someone managed to resurrect her under a new alias or something. Or they could time travel to somewhen before she dies.

Leela and Romana, well, Romana would be Lord President of Gallifrey, Leela would be her companion but also have a life back on her planet, she could have a son with Calib and daughter with Tomas to continue the legacy of the Sevateem. Or maybe she has her Tesh husband from that other timeline, they could unify the two tribes. Which means they could also visit. And Romana also time travels with Narvin, Braxatiel, and Duggan.

Adric, maybe Ashildr could save him. He could get back to E-Space. But he'd be on Trap Street at one point.

Nyssa, well, apparently she married Tegan, I'd assume Terminus could have some time travel capabilities to get Nyssa back with Tegan and the rest of the Space Teenagers. Of course she could still usually be on Terminus.

Turlough, apparently he's Trion's Emperor and also opened the CVE's. Maybe he has a Trion Imperial Battleship or something like that, Adric could work there, they could pair up Adric and Turlough.

I also want new Trion, Traken, and Alzarius scenes. Yes. If Gallifrey and Skaro can be brought back so can Traken, where Luvic gives his Keepership to someone less midwitted so the planet can go back to N-Space.

Peri fricked off back to Earth as soon as Yrcanos keeled over, and propably married Grace Holloway. Or maybe not.

Mel got to Earth via Glitz. And propably is married to Ace.

Rose and Mia could end up getting back to the main universe, through Torchwood. Jack Harkness too.

The Smith-Jones family is propably just offscreen.

Donna Noble, propably she got her memories back somehow, perhaps through Clara and Ashildr or through the Celestial Toymaker.

Amy and Rory propably got to go back home through River, Clara+Ashildr, or Bill+Heather.

Clara and Ashildr, Bill and Heather, those are immortal time travelling couples and could come back that way.

And the fam, Ryan's propably just offscreen.

#doctor who #classic who #nuwho #companions #everyone

[zapphattack]

Unfinished: "Antibiotics, Alcohol & other Aphrodisiacs" - [PeterStakh]

[Note: the canon in this is a bit strange due to it happening in the context of my Patho RPG, which altered how the outbreaks happened. all you need to know is that this is during the first outbreak, but it was more severe, spreading to the entirety of the Earth Quarter. also Taya's father dies offscreen. also there's a random butcher mentioned, he's one of my friends' characters for the rpg. don't sweat the details or else i might cry. bless]

TW: description of self-harm scars, the expected mentions of alcoholism and plague

Stanislav Rubin had been tasked with patrolling regularly and making note of which houses were looted, dead, infected, or otherwise living during the outbreak. The only saving grace for his sanity was that the Crude Sprawl was already condemned, so he could avoid the southernmost part of the Earth Quarter, dealing instead with the neighboring districts and their infected. He had a niggling feeling that it wasn't supposed to be this way, that this outbreak was of a bigger magnitude than it should've been, as if the inverse was trying to make rights with something in the future. 

One thing he never expected was the development of his acquaintance to one Peter Stamatin, renowned architect and chronic drunk. Something he didn't think he'd bring himself to do was accept bribes, but Andrey Stamatin was a clever sort of devil, and the supplies he sent in exchange for Peter's continued health were persuasive enough to convince Rubin to actually invest in the drunkard, still wondering how the man’s brother got himself out of the quarter before the lockdown.

Peter Stamatin had an affinity for twyrine; before being tasked with his supervision that was the extent of Rubin's knowledge of the man: a sulking shell of a prestigious artist who came to the town at the end of the line to drown himself in his own sorrows, clogging up the streets with more bottles than buildings. Really, Rubin didn't develop a high opinion of the man in the number of years of his presence. The Gorkhon didn't need fools like the Stamatins to sully the already tarnished settlement. 

Overturned bottles littered the street as the doctor's apprentice approached the building housing Peter. It was an uncanny waste of space to have a whole wing of the place belonging to one man, three floors to house a single living being, two of them abandoned and locked up with dust smattered over abandoned furniture. Rubin ascended the stairs with a passive scowl, thinking of the burning candle on the third floor window sill, signaling the continued survival of one single man whose fingerprints lay in half the messes and disasters plaguing the town. Idly he thought he wouldn't be surprised if the Stamatins had caused the plague with their experimentation. 

Three knocks, standard. He waited for the architect to open the door for a solid two minutes before kicking it aggressively at the lack of response. A dull thud sounded in the apartment, followed by some grumbles and the sound of clinking glass. The door opened, and before him stood Peter Stamatin, barefoot and with his shirt unbuttoned, slouch making him seem smaller than what he was, carrying a bottle and scratching his neck with his free hand before he tugged a paintbrush out of his hair, bun falling undone messily without support. He looked like he'd just been raised from the dead, eyes glassy as he scanned Rubin thoroughly. 

“Stakh.” His voice was rough, tone tinged with surprise. “I didn't expect your visit. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Rubin was surprised to witness how coherent he was even when drunk, words steady and stance balanced, only his eyes betraying his altered state. 

Rubin scoffed. “You might not recall, but there's an outbreak going on. I'm to inspect your health.” He deliberated for a second. “And don't call me that.”

Peter only tilted his head and looked up at him, looking infuriatingly like a confused child. “You weren't inspecting me before.” He took a sip from his bottle and added, almost as an afterthought. “I'm not sick.”

“Not in the body, at least.” Rubin grumbled. “Your brother sends his regards, and most importantly he's the one who put me up to this.” He raised a satchel in his grip, its contents rattling with the movement. The sound of clinking glass aroused Peter's curiosity, drooping eyes widening. “Let me in.”

The architect stepped aside, looking at Rubin's boots as he strode in with purpose, looking around for a second before approaching a table and clearing its surface of littered papers with messy scrawling. A pitiful whine was followed by Peter kneeling down to fetch the sketches as Rubin sorted myriad vials and bottles on the tabletop, metal tins rattling with pills. 

“That's a lot of things to be carrying around.” Did Peter have some sort of compulsion for saying non-sequiturs or was this a pitiful attempt at making conversation? Rubin grunted noncommittally before putting on a set of surgical gloves, watching the architect out of the corner of his eye. He was inspecting the bottles, tapping the glass and humming with interest at bubbles rising in the colorful liquids. Childish. 

Rubin extended a hand. “Your wrist.” Peter tilted his head and plucked a pencil from somewhere on his person, biting the tip of it in thought as he examined the objects on the table. The doctor cleared his throat pointedly, earning an “oh” from his patient, who extended an arm without looking at him, still mouthing at the writing implement idly with his eyes glazed. His lips were pink and wet, teeth peeking out to nibble on the wood sometimes. Rubin sighed and shook his head, focusing on counting the heart rate of the man. 

His wrist was pale and thin, clearly he was somewhat underfed and hadn't gone out in proper sunlight for a while. At least his bad habits were a good thing during present circumstances. Rubin raised his sleeve higher and counted the pulse under his fingertips, eyebrows furrowing as he caught sight of what seemed to be scars, thin and white. He kept count under his breath, looking up at Peter to check whether he was being paid attention to or not before pulling his sleeve up higher with his pinky finger, feeling the bumps of myriad scars on his flesh. 

Lines, straight as a razor, not parallel at all, formed into the shape of… something. It looked as if Peter had drawn something on his own forearm with a blade multiple times overlaid, a macabre artistic endeavor in the medium of self-flagellation. Rubin felt as if he were intruding on a person's lowest moment just by seeing it. He pulled down the soft sleeve of Peter's shirt and coughed, catching the other man's attention. “Your heart rate is fine, if a little on the low end. Twyrine does that to you, so I suppose this isn't remarkable.”

Peter smiled at him, which felt strange. “Anything else, doctor?” His tone of voice was docile and distant, as if he thought he was dreaming. 

“I'm not nearly done, Mr Stamatin…” The name felt slimy on his tongue. “I need to verify a few more things and administer immunity boosters, seeing as alcohol isn't an efficient disease deterrent.” Although the amount Peter drank could certainly be viewed as 'cleansing'. “Open your mouth, I need to see the back of your throat.” 

Peter startled, flushing an embarrassed pink and muttering. “I didn't realize it was that kind of dream…” Rubin graciously ignored him in favor of picking up a wooden stick to place on Peter's tongue, raising a light to see into his mouth. The back of his throat was clear of any sort of phlegm or mucus he could associate with disease, but it was red and scratched, as if he'd been coughing. Not ideal. Rubin ignored how he could see the telltale tears of chewed cheeks from the inside of Peter's mouth, wounds that refused to heal as they were bitten anew. 

He withdrew the stick and clicked Peter's mouth closed with a finger to his chin when he didn't move himself, causing the man to open his eyes and swallow. “Nothing conclusive, but you seem fine. Stop biting your cheeks, that's asking for infection.” If Peter said the alcohol would disinfect it, Rubin would punch him. “You’ve been coughing. Explain.”

Peter tilted his head to a countertop littered with bottles and a few cigarettes, ash coating the marble. “Yulia’s menthols. I borrowed some, but I don't think smoke is my thing.” He seemed to deliberate on his wording as if Rubin was really invested in the infinite ways the man was attempting to shorten his lifespan. “Don't suppose you're going to lecture me on bad habits, will you, doctor?”

“I don't have time to waste on your self destructive coping mechanisms, you fool.” Rubin turned to the table, picking up a box of immunity boosters and tossing it to Peter carelessly. “Take these, swallow them with actual water, keep the candle lit, don't open the door for strangers, stay indoors at all times, wait for supplies and ration your food, put a white sheet out of your window if you grow sick, wait for news before presuming the outbreak is over…”

Peter nodded at his instructions with a distant look on his face, sitting down and scribbling on a piece of paper instead of looking at Rubin. At least he seemed to be listening. Rubin should be a little more thorough, but he couldn't bear the overbearingly dim atmosphere of the apartment, so he excused himself quickly, shoving his supplies into his bag. As he turned to close the door behind himself, he swore Peter's silhouette bore the weight of the long shadows cast in the room. Stakh left with a whispered promise of return. 

..

It was a cold morning, crisp and refreshing for someone who was often stuck in rooms plagued with fumes and rot. Rubin walked at an unhurried pace, greeting the few people he passed by, messengers on their way to and from the bridge, volunteers fetching supplies from storehouses, butchers guiding wheelbarrows to the cemetery. Northward was his destination, the sky a dull blue with thin clouds, a sight he'd almost call pretty if he were a man of beauty. 

Something zipped past his ear as he approached Peter's flat, bearing down on the path with a whisper of scrunched paper. A paper airplane, its nose crumpled but the rest of it otherwise pristine and white, the inside scrawled with messy handwriting. ‘Stakh. It's a beautiful day, I wouldn't want to waste your morning on my affairs. Perhaps I'll paint, and you can come back in the evening? I'll save a drink for your troubles. -PS’ 

Fool. Rubin looked up to catch Peter standing at his open window, nursing the obligatory candle to light while whistling idly, eyes scanning the horizon with interest, seemingly taking in the morning. Rubin wouldn't stop himself from doing his due diligence normally, especially not at the request of someone who clearly didn't know better. And yet. He was struck by a magnanimous feeling of kindness when he witnessed the peaceful expression on the architect's face, a soft smile breaking the tired lines of his visage as his dark eyes reflected the warmth of the flame. Stanislav Rubin wasn't a man of beauty, but Peter Stamatin was, and something about the domesticity and contentment of the scene gave Rubin pause. 

Peter's calm eyes met Rubin's, and his smile brightened, causing a twinge of… something… inside the doctor's chest. The man waved, seemingly forgetting about the lit match between his fingers, flicking it out of the window accidentally. He leaned out of his window to watch it fly down, landing about forty centimeters away from Rubin, who snorted. Peter looked down with pink cheeks, tucking strands of his shiny hair behind his ear, the rest of it flowing in the meager breeze. Yes, he was a man of beauty. 

“I'll see you in the evening, Stamatin. You better use the time wisely, if you're rescheduling. The painting better be good.” Rubin felt stupid, shouting up at the window, but Peter nodded gravely, eyes intense, and closed the curtains. Perhaps he ought to use the morning hours to continue his personal research, if Isidor didn't have anything for him to do. He'd have to walk all the way back in the evening, yet he found he didn't mind. More time spent outdoors meant less in the company of the hopeless sick; a cruel sentiment, but a true one nonetheless. 

..

Rubin walked in what felt like a solemn procession, jaw clenched so hard, he heard his teeth creak with every step out of the Termitary, feeling the scornful eyes of the many-headed beast of the Kin on the back of his neck. His fingers tingled as they held his satchel, carrying harvested organs as if they were stones that weighed not only his body, but his conscience. Overseer Tycheek was dead, his tomb the concrete monstrosity that housed the Kin. Dead, just like that. Rubin knew Burakh would bear the brunt of the personal grief, but guilt fell on his own plate, by association. 

Isidor was the one requesting organs, but Rubin fetched them, knowing he would be lynched for it if knowledge of his actions was disseminated. That butcher, the gruff man with a trimmed beard and tired eyes, certainly suspected something of him, and Rubin knew his unkindness to the man prior had made him sore. One of the few healthy able-bodied men of the Kin’s butchers from the Abattoir who deigned to go outside and speak to Rubin in a language he could understand; they'd had one prior interaction, and it was sour. 

It wasn't one-sided, but Rubin knew it was insensitive to make light of the Kin's beliefs. Still, hearing prayers to mother bloody earth when he was right there, actually doing the work to fix things, was irritating. He couldn't help but grouse at the time: “Better hope your Mother Boddho does something to solve this goddamn epidemic. We need it.” or something along those lines. Then the butcher witnessed his Father Superior's death right alongside Rubin, and the way his eyes trailed Rubin's satchel as he left spoke of something. 

Rubin sighed for the upteenth time, gritting his teeth and mechanically walking towards Stamatin's flat. The day had started deceptively calm and pleasant, he really shouldn't have taken it for granted. A light flickered at the window, the wind making the flame of a candle volatile amid the stars dotting the sky; he almost wished it were overcast, if only to validate his own dampened mood. 

The apartment door was ajar when he approached, light leaking out into the stairwell and a hum coming from inside, deep and soothing in its musical spontaneity. The medic walked inside, letting his fingertips graze the top of the clock beside the door with a flighty flick, dust smearing his digits as he looked to the side where he expected Peter Stamatin to be. 

Moonlight streamed in from the windows, helped by a few candles to illuminate the wooden boards of the floor and the main room of the apartment, empty besides the counters, table, chairs, and incomprehensible bathtub, looking to be more lived-in than the rest of the space. At least the sea of bottles around the porcelain tub had been cleared, although Rubin didn't like to imagine how exactly that volume of glass had been discarded. The humming was ever-present, coming from the slight hallway leading to what he imagined might be the bedroom. 

Rubin wasn't ready to initiate any sort of social interaction, so he settled himself and his things on the table, fetching a bottle of water and some toast from his bag, sitting with his back to the bedroom to feign privacy. The wicked had to give themselves rest, how else could he live on to fulfill his destiny of drawing the ire of all? He grumbled to himself as he uncapped the bottle. 

“I don't find you at all wicked, Stakh.” He startled as a voice came from the hallway behind him. Rubin turned to see Peter, looking tired but content, paint smeared on his fingertips and cheek, staining his beige shirt. “And if it's any comfort, I have no ire towards you.” The man's smile was soft, although his face betrayed a sense of exhaustion. 

“One less knife to my back doesn't make the bed of nails more comfortable.” Rubin groused, overtaken by a spontaneous need to indulge his dark mood. 

Peter chuckled in surprise, his voice rough with disuse or cigar smoke, Rubin couldn't tell. “Actually, the more nails on a mattress the more the pressure is diffused, so it's less uncomfortable.” The architect sat down across from the medic with a bit of intellectual indulgence lightening his tired visage. “But, ah, you don't actually care for that, do you? I wish I could say I understand the feeling, you know, of being hated so widespread as you say, but I'm afraid I've been sheltered from it.” His smile seemed private, almost unknowing of who watched it. “Andrey was always my second skin.”

Rubin felt a drop of bewilderment diffuse itself in his core. Peter Stamatin, drunk and mad, speaking clearly and normally, and to someone else at that. Someone like Rubin. “Huh.” He exhaled, straightening his posture and untensing his coiled fingers. “I would've thought your Polyhedron drew hatred to you like… a lightning rod.” It certainly was true of Rubin's contempt, among other reasons. 

Peter tilted his head, hair falling over his face, his dark eyes clear and wide with a sort of naive wonder. “Ah, but do I care about the masses? They don't know Her beauty, only that She stands on their Earth. I can't imagine they care for my opinion, so why should I theirs?” Ah, yes, the detachment, also something Rubin detested. “Although Andrey was always better at not caring. I needed help to keep numb.” Peter’s eyes drifted half-lidded, pupils finding an empty bottle to represent all the others he'd ever held. “A lightning rod…” 

Rubin couldn't help but think he'd opened a novel on the second to last chapter, hearing such earnest thoughts from a man he barely knew, so he offered a bit of his own mind as retribution, if only to not feel like an intruder. “You don't need to care, though. You live in your own tower here, and your continued existence doesn't rely on the piddling ants at its base.” He sighed, looking out of the window; the streets looked just as dirty and dingy, but the tint of the glass made it picturesque; not quite lovely, but interesting and alien. “Your patrons are rich folk who pay for your drinks, mine are poor people who barely afford their meals. If I can't even get work there, be it because of distrust or prejudice, I die before a patient even gets a cough.”

“And your friends? Would they not help? Andrey helped-”

“Your brother, your family. He has a duty to you, above all.”

“Well, yes, but is friendship not also a bond as worthy?”

“I don't think even you believe that, Stamatin.”

“...”

Rubin sighed once more, wondering how many breaths he had left in his lungs. His fingers closed around a box in his satchel, bringing it to rest on the tabletop. “Take these with clear water.”

Peter looked sad, muted. Rubin couldn't help but feel as though he'd caused that. “When will I see you again, Stakh? I'd like to show you my painting, once it's finished.”

“...I don't know. I'll be back. That's all I can say.” Rubin got up to avoid the eyes looking at him with such vulnerability. Fuck it, Peter was drunk. (He wasn't, this was as sober as he'd ever seen the man.) “And if I don't come back, at least you'll have your brother waiting for you on the other side of the Gullet.”

As he walked to the door he heard Peter speak, light as a moth on a paper lampshade. “I shouldn't like you to leave if I could not say a proper goodbye.”

Rubin looked back, seeing Peter with a sad smile, too familiar for a stranger in his care. “You don't get to choose that.” He closed the door with more force than necessary, feeling forlorn and simmering in a strange sort of muted wrath. 

#ZapphAtext #pathologic #pathologic fanfiction #peter stamatin #stanislav rubin #peterstakh

[namimikan]

what’s kind of aggravating about lex luthor, defender of the human race, is that his trajectory to see himself as a protector for earth is there, it’s used so often to begin with! he wants to protect people against lionel, if clark comes to him for help, he always does find a way to protect and look after people. lex luthor would rather let himself die than other people, for most part. like, look, the word protect is kind of -- one of the most important words in lex’s vocab since s1. 

so him seeing himself as the chosen protecter, like he theorizes about sageeth being the only one who can fight against naman, it’s... there.

but! i’d also feel like it’s half-baked.

yeah, i think the show does an okay job at lex gradually getting disillusioned with aliens, i think it’s fairly good at lex being xenophobic bc like. he keeps on being taken advantage of, clark, brainiac, zod, etc.

what i can’t quite figure out is when he decides that it’s... kind of okay to make humans expendable to. why it becomes okay to treat lana like shit.

(and yes, fine, he does say that a lot of it was to protect her, luthors will do morally dubious things to protect people, clark will do a lot of damaging things in order to protect people/himself, but this goddamn show and it’s double standards about x can have secrets but no one else can, and then y comes along and tries to do the exact same thing, and they’ll get into an argument and not get a resolution, and the choice about secrets, agency and respect never fully do come in alignment bc someone is gotta be in control, and who that is, and who the right person is, is never given a good reflection on tbqh, and they will always, always use the whole but i was protecting you argument which feels like bs, after a while.)

you’d think it would be when he joins luthor corp, both dismantling his father’s projects, and then also creating his own projects. bc, i do think he could have had an arc similar to ken’s in dirk gently’s holistic detective agency, ymmv, but, i enjoyed how the more he read up on the company files, the more he was like. invested in what else his company had to offer, what else he could change. so when bart tells ken that the voice (instinct? higher power?) says that she should kill him, he understands, but he’s almost so rationale about it that it doesn’t matter, she’s locked up, and he’s in control of a company that will continue to do more and more experiments bc he’s fascinated by what results can be gained. always gutted this show did not get a s3 tbh. but basically, lex’s fascination could have maybe been given more depth, in this sense, but it felt too offscreen and like i’m supposed to give more merit to a couple of lines here and there than i actually do.

but i’m just. finding it kind of difficult when trying to find the part where lex does ultimately think that in order to protect humanity, the more extreme decisions he makes, where humans do get hurt, is worth the risk. in order to protect humanity, he must sacrifice humanity.

bc like, he should still be protective over meteor infected people.  they are humans, infected or not. they are citizens of the world, that lex should believe that he has the right, the chosen role, to protect. metahumans, he should protect them as well. they’re all earth born.

clark and kara, tho. on the other hand. are not. 

in the world where lex believes himself the hero of the story, and clark and kara and others are the enemy, the invaders... why shouldn’t he turn against them? he is not the villain in this version that exists in his head.

and i’m just not convinced the show quite got there, but the threads are there.

#sv talk

[taiblogcomics]

The Peanut Butter Solution

Hey there, fish from the aberrant depths. All righty, this is the last MLP comic in my backlog stack ...of this sort! There's a whole other three issues of a li'l something different still waiting. But we'll get to that later. Next week, we return to the fetid wastes of Avengers Arena. But I'm getting ahead of myself~

Here's the cover:

Well, this is a dang colourful cover, isn't it? It might be the most colourful cover we've ever covered. Who can say for sure? A full rainbow of fruits as well. It almost might be an advert for, like, a tropical candy, though I think if you make your green candy kiwi-flavoured instead of lime or green apple, somebody's gonna riot. It might even be me! Anyway, here's the two most-besties of the Mane Five sharing smoothies. They appear to have invented drink coozies that look like little sweaters. Dunno how popular Mane Six merch is in their universe, though~

So we open with a Pie Festival having just finished. Boy, that time crunch is so non-urgent that they're having events offscreen now. Izzy, you can mention "it's hard to focus with the looming threat of Discord hanging over us", but maybe perhaps you're not focusing on the right thing. Sunny knows how to cheer Izzy up, though, and they go to Sunny's house to make a smoothie. A very particular one they created together: The Dreamy Creamy Peanut Butter Starbow. That's a terrible name, imagine ordering that at Popular Restaurant Chain~

Sunny says a smoothie is just like the unity Crystals, it's all about things coming together. This prompts Izzy to do a flashback, recalling the days when the magic came back and Sunny first got her alicorn powers. Suddenly being a unicorn in a town of earth ponies doesn't seem so special. And Izzy's all about standing out. But right now Izzy's more feeling left out, as Sunny's gone flying with Zipp and Pipp. And Izzy's a bit jealous--not of Zipp and Pipp, but the magic of flight itself. Personally, I think telekinesis is way cooler and more useful, but I'm not a magic unicorn~

While going for a walk to get her mind off it, she passes by a couple of ponies melting in the heat. They complain that Sunny hasn't been around all day, so she hasn't been selling her smoothies at all either. See, it isn't just Izzy missing her. She catches wind of this, and mentions that she happens to be a personal friend of Sunny's, and therefore she should be able to replicate her smoothies. And in true Izzy fashion, she soon gets wrapped up in an even bigger idea: a total smoothie makeover for Sunny's business. She dashes off, leading the other ponies behind with their accusations of "weirdo".

So Izzy gets busy with redecorating the stall and reinventing some new recipies, all seen in a montage over a couple pages. Eventually Sunny shows up once she overhears some ponies talking about Izzy's unicorn smoothies. They still think she's weird, but the smoothies are good. Sunny's a bit overwhelmed, though, because Izzy has gone a bit overboard and extra, as is her wont. Sunny is touched by the thoughtfulness, but since it's so extreme, she wishes she'd been consulted first. And of course, Izzy takes this as a "you don't like it?" moment.

Aw, and Sunny doesn't mean it that way. She's touched by the thought and effort, it's just a bit much. She's had her business a while and likes the way she already does things. Izzy understands, but she's still a little hurt. She feels a little abandoned, and she doesn't feel as special when she can't go flying. Because, after all, it was the note Sunny made that brought them together. She got to meet the friend she dreamed about as a kid, and she just misses her. And of course Sunny is sorry she's made Izzy feel that way.

Izzy has one more gift for Sunny: a matching set of aprons (which are remarkably understated compared to Izzy's other works). Sunny genuinely loves it and thanks Izzy, apologising again for not checking with her friends sooner. Izzy also apologises for not speaking up sooner. The pair of them hitch up to the cart together and sell off the remainder of Izzy's smoothies. Once out, they go back home to prepare one more smoothie--a personal one, together. Using all of their favourite ingredients. Which fortunately don't seem to clash!

The resulting smoothie is, of course, the previously mentioned Dreamy Creamy Peanut Butter Starbow (still a weird name, I don't like the word "creamy"). Nonetheless, the pair of them enjoy it, and make a batch for their other friends as well. And as they share, the Hitch in the flashback begins to recount a story. Nope, let's not have nested flashbacks, huh? Izzy quickly ends her reminisce, and she and Sunny agree: magic is what brings them together and binds them. Could they survive without it? They hope to not find out, as the comic ends on a Scary Discord Face of him gazing omninously at the Pegasus Crystal...

Well, I can’t really complain about the time-wasting on this one. The festival happened offscreen, and the majority of the issue is a flashback. A flashback to further reinforce the importance of their mission, no less! Otherwise, kind of just a cute issue. Also ties back to the earlier part of this arc, where Izzy was once again feeling left out because she can’t fly. I feel like this may be a recurring thing for her. We’ll have to wait and see either way, because like I said, that’s the end of this batch for now~

Next week: back to something terrible. Can you handle another six issues of Avengers Arena? Guess we’ll have to see~

#comics #reviews #My Little Pony #My Little Pony: A New Generation #Taiblog

[bigskydreaming]

Hi, I was reading your post about Jason punching Dick in the face when Dick revealed he fake his death was bullshit ( which it was) and it reminded me of an issue/question that has bothered me for sometime.

Why did people believe Dick was actually dead?

I’m not the most avid comic reader so maybe I missed something but it was always weird to me that everyone just accepted this especially given how Bruce was acting or should I say wasn’t acting.

This is a man when his child died another child had to come along and told him sir you are being too violent and emotional you need supervision. When his other child died he went all over the universe to bring him back to life because he knew it was possible ( which was happening at the same time), so why didn’t anyone think it was weird he wasn’t doing that for Dick. Can you imagine Dick really dying that soon after Damian it would be injustice Batman Version. You are telling me that Tim, Jason or Barbara didn’t think it was weird that Bruce didn’t also bring Dick’s corpse to the bring Damian back to life mission or mention it to themselves. Like what more likely Dick dead and Bruce is handling it well or that he fake his death to do something stupid and Dangerous after his partner/brother/ little bit my son the feelings are complicated died after he was knocked out and woke up to his corpse.

Oh man, this is like, the entire nature of my beef?

(Slight derail just to emphasize the fact real quick that Dick DID actually die, he was just revived quickly, but like, the trauma of his death was very real and its not like anyone was clued into Luthor having a resurrection backdoor built into his literal murder of Dick in the actual moment of it happening. So Dick’s death wasn’t fake, and additionally, he didn’t have anything to do with like, telling people about it, because he was literally comatose in the cave and recovering while Bruce was telling people....by the time Dick woke up in the cave, we already know that Alfred at least had already been convinced by Bruce that Dick was dead, so I have a kneejerk need to pushback against the Dick faked his death narrative by reminding people wherever possible that Dick had no agency in the spreading of that narrative. 

It happened without him being involved, and the only actual contribution he ever made to it was just not revealing he was alive before Grayson #12, after Bruce like.....emotionally, mentally and physically badgered him into accepting that doing so would be directly harmful to his family and he didn’t want to be the reason more people died when like, people had just died because he ‘let’ himself be captured and interrogated by Power Woman’s Lasso of Submission, did he?

SORRY TO BE PEDANTIC, just wanted to start this off on a clarification, even though I know the aim of your ask was very much in tune with the rest of my response. A lot of people don’t read the actual comics, so like, I’m never gonna skip over an opportunity to emphasize that the shorthand people use to refer to Dick’s death and the year he was with Spyral, is like, literally just shorthand for describing it. Its not actually an accurate description of how all that went down and who had the most hand in it).

BUT ANYWAY. BACK TO THE MEAT OF THE BEEF.

Okay so like, not only was the entire family and Bruce himself giving Dick shit for his death and Spyral, like, PAINFULLY egregious because it was literal victim blaming in every possible sense of the word....

None of it made a LICK of sense with ANY of their characterizations, and they ONLY all accepted it on face value because the Plot Demanded It, and when you're like, no, as a reader I say The Plot Demanded It is not a good enough reason for me to be like well sure, that makes sense......looking at the characters ACTUAL actions at face value pretty much just makes them all look like assholes?

Like, Tim has never gracefully accepted anyone's death. Ever. This is core characterization for him. He will go to the ends of the earth for his loved ones and to bring them back, prove they're not dead, refuse to let death be the final verdict for them. He was tempted to use the Lazarus Pit to bring his parents back to life. He refused to accept Bruce was dead long before he had any proof whatsoever of that theory. He tried to clone his BFF/future-husband Kon in his fucking basement like, dude was two whole inches away from going Full Dark Side in his quest to bring back a lost loved one no matter WHAT the cost.....and then you've got Dick unmasked onscreen, killed offscreen, and Bruce then reporting to the rest of them with zero inflection 'oh Dick's dead now. Its very sad' and Tim's just like, sure. Sounds legit.

I mean?!?!

And you're SO RIGHT ABOUT THE DAMIAN THING! Bruce LITERALLY LITERALLY LITERALLY went BEYOND the ends of the Earth, like, he full on chartered a fucking space ship to fly his whole family out to APOKOLIPS to bring Damian back from the dead by going to EXTREME lengths.....WHILE everyone else thought Dick was dead....

And not a single person looked at Bruce and was like, okay, not that we're not down to do this for Damian because we miss Stabby Smurf something fierce ourselves, but.....what the fuck is UP with you dude? Why aren't you displaying ANY hint of this same kind of energy in regards to your eldest son that you said you watched die right in front of you?

Like....I don't know that we were actually ever told that Dick's coffin was empty or had a fake in it, but like....this family of detectives who refuse to accept death, defy death, COME BACK FROM THE DEAD....not a single one of them said like, okay, if I'm gonna like, ACCEPT accept that Dick is dead and gone for good, I need to at least just see him one last time? That's literally all it would have taken for someone to realize hey something's a little wonky here. Where's the dead body, Pops?

Since when has Jason ever missed an opportunity to prove Bruce is a) full of shit, b) acting like an emotionless robot and all his kids deserve better especially when they've just like....died, c) just factually incorrect and wrong and jumped to a conclusion before it was conclusively proved, d) lying like a liar or e) all of the above?

Nobody even ASKED if Dick's body could be put in a Lazarus Pit? Yeah, Jason wouldn't necessarily recommend it himself, given what it put him through, but actually fuck that, I take that back, because I'm NOT actually of the opinion that Jason full on hates his life and actively spends every second of every day wishing he hadn't been resurrected, even if it had come with a huge buffet of additional trauma and pain.

And that's kinda what's implied when people just take it for granted that he would never be on board with any scenario involving using a Lazarus Pit to bring Dick back, because it suggests that based even just on his own experiences and feelings, he honestly believes Dick would prefer being dead and not have ANY further opportunities to be with his loved ones, his friends, help save the damn world again at some future point.....that Jason, projecting based just off himself, legit feels Dick would rather be dead than have another shot at life even WITH the downsides of Lazarus Pit usage? Nope. Sorry, I don't buy it.

Speaking of not buying it.....you know what was missing from all those soliloquies the others monologued at Dick about how they felt and were hurt and just devastated by his death, to such a point they can't seem to muster a single shred of happiness that he's NOT dead still -

(seriously, Damian was the ONLY person in ALL THE LANDS OF EMOTION-HAVING who expressed ANY kind of positive reaction to having Dick back. We were so fucking cheated of like.....ANY opportunity to have the characters show just how much they valued him by just being fucking HAPPY he was alive, no matter what else was involved....and then most of fandom compounded that by for years being like mmmm, no, Dick didn't get yelled at enough by his family for what HE put THEM through. Needs more yelling. More punching too. Bad Dick. Bad. This is the only way you'll learn not to die and get shipped off on a mission that you don't want but at least is to protect your family after being beaten into it by your dad whilst victim blaming you for dying in the first place. WHEN WILL YOU LEARN TO THINK ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE AND THEIR FEELINGS FOR A CHANGE, DICK?!?)

- But like, BUT I DIGRESS aside....you know what was missing from all those monologues about how hard DICK'S death and ensuing year of basically exile from his loved ones was for EVERYONE BUT HIM?

We never got a single line of explanation as to what everyone else officially thinks even happened to him in the first place?

Like, did Bruce straight up just say oh bad news kids, your brother umm. Expired. Spontaneously. There's no one to blame, he just keeled over, its all very sad.

Is that how that went down?

You're telling me that the explanation of Dick's death didn't come with a single pointed finger at someone for this family of blame-happy vigilantes to like, BLAME for the loss of this brother they all mourned oh so much, they just couldn't help but blame him for all the hurt it caused them?

The family that in every other fic is like OBSESSED with avenging and being avenged and all things vengeful and even tangentially vengeance-y....like didn't ask for a single detail on whomst the fuck deprived us of our brother-having?

Where were the attempts on Luthor's life by Jason (who I mean, yeah I know it was in a previous continuity, but erasing that timeline doesn't erase my awareness of the time Dick killed Jason's murderer so like.....mmm, just saying, woulda been nice)....where was the rage directed at the Crime Syndicate and references to how seriously and personally the Batfam took making sure that they were PUNISHED for all this and would never be free to wreak havoc on their world or their family again? What did they tell Damian when he came back to life, and how are you going to tell me that this fraternal little ball of fury didn't aim himself like a cannonball at whomever the fuck had DARED take HIS Batman from him when Damian wasn't around to have his back?

Not only does everyone else's desire to be avenged start falling really flat the second you factor in hey maybe Dick feels "mmm what about MY avenging" sometimes, and why doesn't anyone ever care about doing that for him.....but also, y'know what REALLY sucks about the ONLY person we actually SEE being blamed for Dick's death and ensuing absence being like....Dick himself?

Not only were his family all super keen on making all of this HIS fault and HIM the bad guy because of how it made them all feeeeeeel (and meanwhile fuck his feelings, am I right Batfam hfaklshfklahfkla).....

They somehow found a way to justify prioritizing this OVER ever even getting around to blaming some villain for his death in the FIRST place, in the entire year or so they thought he was still dead!

Like, you couldn't come up with a single target in all that time, but Dick's back two seconds, and you don't even give him a chance to EXPLAIN before you're punching him, shutting him down with 'I expected better from you' and turning away with 'I don't want to hear it, why am I surprised Dick Grayson disappointed me again'?

afshklfhalfhalfhla

Make it make sense!

And like, it won't, cuz it doesn't, and it never will, and like I said at the top, the ONLY reason it all played out this way is because DC doesn't give a fuck about character development and deemed it necessary to go down this way for the sake of the plot (which was totes worth it, I mean, glad we sacrificed characters for this A+ plot which was clearly the greatest plot of all time and definitely justified every story choice made or not made around it loooool).

BUT.

BUT BUT BUT.

The problem isn't JUST that DC is stupid, even though that is an eternal mood and quite the problem.

Its that the SECOND large parts of fandom decided to play along with DC and just accept the story at face value, only add to it and play into it exactly as it happened in canon with no significant deviations, and like, heaping on the LITERAL abuse from Dick's siblings while ignoring the LITERAL abuse from his father....

THAT....is when all of this becomes relevant.

Because the second people decided TO engage with the reasoning DC gave for what Bruce did and how and what Dick did and how and just not mess with any of that and have it all play out exactly like that...

The second people are like, okay we're FINE with not just dismissing this story as OOC writing that doesn't make any sense, and actually VALIDATING it to various degrees by engaging with it as is....

That's when 'OOC writing' stops being an excuse or explanation for alllll of the above gaps in character logic and actions.

Because its like, when you had abundant chance to REJECT this story and say nope, this was bullshit from start to finish and I'm not here for it, when you were just as capable of transforming literally ANY aspect of this story you didn't like into something that made more sense to you....

And you chose not to.

That's.....accepting it as valid writing. You were like, okay, I'm game to just treat this as a thing that happened, just like they said that happened.

For the chance to give Dick shit for it, see. For the angst, see.

And that's when I'm like okay cool, so when engaging with this story as is and accepting it on face value and just delving into the characters as they were SHOWN interacting with and around these events......for the angst or whatever....

You guys just all decided en masse to just hop, skip and jump over allllllllll the opportunities for angst inherent in examining even ANY SINGLE ONE of the above lapses in judgment or hypocrisy on the parts of the characters (who don't get to be excused by OOC writing if you're not going to call the story an example of OOC writing, whoops).

And its just like, uh, what's up with that?

#lol thank you for this ask tho #I havent gone on a good Spyral rant in months #it does wonders for my pores

[catelyngrant]

Dynamic Duos that Never Were

For Day Two of the Farewell to Supergirl Week, a look at what could have been/can still be in our minds and fan creations! (Insert “we could’ve had it aaaaaaaaallllll!” gif here...)

With a large and evolving cast of characters, there were a lot of dynamics that never had the chance to be explored. Whether the characters below never even shared a scene or they shared many but had very little meaningful one-on-one interaction, these are a few dynamics that I’d have loved to see fleshed out or, at the very least, really enjoy considering the potential of. A taste, and then LOTS of headcanoning/pontificating beneath the cut.

Thoughts - so many thoughts - below.

Alex and M’gann When M’gann was first introduced it was frustrating that she had so little interaction with the other women on the show, but as the stories progressed and Alex’s arc really leaned into the Martian culture, it made me sad all over again thinking about what we could have had if these two had really had the chance to develop a relationship. They’re so similar in so many ways - in the beginning they’re incredibly hard on themselves, have a low sense of self-worth, have a constant drive to prove their worth (or, in M’gann’s case, her very existence), and are both wary of letting people in but are ride-or-die for them once they have. Their respective relationships with J’onn in particular are interesting - both were built on deceit, on J’onn’s part with Alex and on M’gann’s part with J’onn - and in both cases that deceit came from a place of wanting to protect the other person, shame and guilt (re: Jeremiah’s death for J’onn and her own survival for M’gann), and both only revealed themselves to save the other’s life. In both cases, those revelations eventually led to rich familial (and romantic, in J’onn and M’gann’s case) bonds - bonds that played a big part in Alex and M’gann’s journeys to opening themselves up to letting other people in, beginning to build their own sense of confidence and self-worth, and identifying the role they wanted to play in their communities and their own lives.  I also think that M’gann would’ve been a really great person to challenge Alex’s subtle prejudices and the broad brush with which she’d often paint entire species or anyone, really, that isn’t part of her immediate family. M’gann obviously changed J’onn’s perspective on a lot of things, but J’onn’s prejudice against White Martians was very personal and specific; I would have liked to see M’gann play a bigger role in challenging assumptions for both Alex AND Kara about the experiences different aliens on Earth have had, the roles that they play - or could play - in society, and in turn being a bigger part of embracing Alex into the Martian fold. It would have also been really great to maybe see her be a part of Alex and Kelly’s journey as an interracial couple - J’onn had that lovely scene with Alex in “Blind Spots” discussing going through life in America as a Black man (while acknowledging his privilege in that being a choice he  makes), but I would have loved to see M’gann and Kelly maybe have a chance to connect over existing in the world as Black women, and maybe M’gann being a part of Alex’s growth in that area. Finally, I just would have loved to see M’gann be welcomed whole-heartedly into the superfamily the way that so many other people were - she had some lovely scenes with a lot of characters but her character was really only tied to J’onn. We all know that when Alex decides you’re one of her people, that’s that, and we didn’t get to really see that evolution with her and M’gann specifically. Alex really came into her own over the course of the show - as did most of the members of the superfriend superfamily - and we saw bits of that for M’gann, but it mostly happened offscreen. It would have been sweet to see their friendship and M’gann’s role in the family more defined.

Cat and Nia We know that these two actually do have a relationship, we just never saw it onscreen, and that is such a loss! I have a million headcanons about this relationship - from Nia’s very first scene the Kara/Nia parallels are obvious, so it’s delightful to think that Cat took one look at Nia and saw a nervous young woman with a slightly better fashion sense than her old assistant but otherwise brimming with the same passion and potential that she saw in Kara from moment one. I like to imagine that baby intern Nia made a very timid but pointed contribution in a meeting full of important White House people and Cat just looked at her, turned away, and kept talking, leaving Nia to spend the rest of the meeting terrified she’d just lost her dream gig, only for the meeting to end and as she tries to slink out invisibly Cat snaps her fingers and goes, “You. With me.” and after the most terrifying ten seconds of Nia’s life she hires her on the spot to be part of the speechwriting team. I think they’d actually have gotten along pretty well and worked well together - Cat would have definitely been a strong advocate for queer issues in the Marsdin administration and once Nia had found her comfort zone I think she’d be great about pushing Cat on things like gender neutral language, implicit bias, etc. (It’d take her a minute to build that confidence, but by her second episode she was calling James out so I don’t doubt she’d get there). And the whole time, of course, Cat is grooming her to go to National City and I just feel like she’d get such pleasure out of building Kara up to being this intimidating and awe-inspiring figure that Nia’s desperate to impress and then - well. ANYWAY, though, after all of that, I think that she and Nia would have stayed in touch after she moved, both because Cat takes her mentorship seriously and also because it’s hinted that Nia was the one who came up with the cover story for when Kara was in the Phantom Zone, and she would have had to loop Cat in on that (I may or may not be several thousand words into a fic based on this premise). Knowing Cat’s track record, too, she probably clocked Nia as Dreamer within five minutes of her debut. Post-finale, it makes me really happy to think of Nia being promoted and continuing to thrive as a reporter working for and with Cat and Kara both and being a key part of the team moving CatCo forward and shaping the messages that matter to them. 

Kelly and Lucy

I was thinking about this on my drive home and going through the parallels between these characters - both served in the US Army, both have older siblings with close ties to Supers, both are deeply committed to service and hold their values tightly, and both ended up putting their faith in people and systems/organizations that ended up causing harm (General Lane/his connections to Cadmus and anti-alien initiatives, Andrea and Obsidian) and working hard to try to make up for the harm done. So I was going through all of this and it took me like ten minutes to remember that these two actually probably did know each other when James and Lucy were dating! So that’s cool. I feel like Lucy and Kelly would have gotten along really well back then - maybe they wouldn’t have been super close, just because I doubt they would have shared the same geographical region for long periods of time, but certainly as women serving in the Army there would have been a kinship and respect between them. In my mind, at least, Lucy will definitely cross paths with the superfriends again and I think she’d find it a little bittersweet but would admire the hell out of what Kelly’s done with her life. I think it’s also very likely that Kelly was still closeted when she and Lucy may have known each other previously, so that would be a fascinating conversation for them to have (you will pry bi!Lucy Lane out of my cold dead hands). I don’t really get the sense that being a case worker is Kelly’s long-term career, and it’s anyone’s guess what Lucy’s up to these days, so I kind of love the idea of them teaming up in some professional capacity. Maybe they both a key role in reimagining the military element of the DEO, maybe Lucy serves as legal counsel for the Dreamer Center while Kelly handles more of the social services side of things, maybe it’s something else entirely - I just know I love the concept. 

Alex and Nia

So these two obviously do have an onscreen dynamic, but I wanted so. much. more. There were so many possibilities! First and foremost, I would have really loved to see them develop a sisterly dynamic given the very obvious parallels between Kara/Alex and Nia/Maeve. Kara took on a sisterly role with Nia after she became estranged from Maeve, and that was lovely and I adore them, but Alex’s big sister energy is so strong around other characters and we really didn’t get to see much of that with her and Nia. It also would have been really, really interesting to see Alex interact with someone who’s so similar to Kara but that she doesn’t have the same relationship baggage with. Like Maeve was before Nia’s powers presented themselves, Alex was the golden child until Kara came along; Alex obviously coped much better, but the feelings of insecurity and uncertainty about her own role in the family unit/the world would be things that she’d relate to. I think it would have been fascinating for Alex as an adult to witness - and provide support to - Nia as she coped with her new powers and the loss of her family, and to have seen what that may have brought up in terms of Alex looking back on her relationship with Kara and some of the long-standing wounds between them that they never really ended up addressing. I think Nia could have really found some comfort, too, in hearing Alex talk about her own experiences - it’s one thing for Kara to empathize with her when she’s the direct parallel, but Nia spent so much time feeling guilty about what she “took” from Maeve, and I think hearing from Alex - who would be the Maeve parallel here - that Nia has done nothing wrong would have been meaningful. I think Nia and Alex would also have definitely related when it came to being the sister that spent their life being overlooked in favor of the “special” sister and having complicated feelings about their moms in particular. Beyond that, I would have loved to see Nia and Alex share more of their queer identities! Nia’s obviously more connected to the trans community than Alex is to the broader queer scene in National City, and their coming out journeys - Nia always having known and understood her identity, Alex coming into it much later in life - are so different and would have been so rich for them to discuss if they’d ever dug into it. I would have loved to see Nia introducing Alex to some of her queer friends, taking her dancing at queer clubs, introducing her to queer concepts, helping her find a good hairdresser, etc. That would have just been very charming. 

Eliza and J’onn

We definitely get some content with them, but come on - they now share two daughters, a granddaughter, and a gaggle of quasi-adopted adult children! What’s that like? We know a bit about their history and they’re certainly friendly, but there’s so much juicy potential. How does Eliza feel about how completely Kara and particularly Alex have embraced him as their father figure? Is/was she conflicted about that? Have they ever talked about Jeremiah and what happened after they found him in season two? J’onn made peace with Kara and Alex ages ago, but does he ever feel lingering guilt or awkwardness around Eliza? And then, of course, there’s the fun of it. We saw Eliza nerding out about his alien physiology in season one, but there’s a lifetime more where that came from. I feel like they’d have almost a married couple dynamic where they’re the adults who are “above” a lot of the shenanigans the younger ones get up to, but are also not-so-secretly completely invested. Eliza would nag J’onn to read Alex’s mind “just a little, her birthday’s coming up and she’s impossible to shop for!”, J’onn would try to talk her out of buying the entire Pride section at Target for their first family Pride event but dutifully wear “Free Dad Hugs” t-shirt when the time came, etc. They’d also check in frequently about the kids - Eliza bragging about Brainy’s amazing solution to some science problem she’s spent decades stuck on, J’onn giving Eliza a head’s up that Nia’s had a rough week and could use some mom energy, etc. It would all just be very wholesome and cute. And while this is a bit heteronormative of me, tbh I’ve been into this as a potential ship since season one and I still love that. We know that J’onn and M’gann end up together but they also have very long lifespans, and I think J’onn and Eliza sharing a few decades as partners would be incredibly sweet. 

Runners Up:

Kara and M’Gann - We got to see a lot of the themes that would have played out in their relationship play out in Kara’s relationship with J’onn, so it’s not quite as big of a loss to me as the Alex & M’gann connection, but there are obvious and fascinating parallels: their respective needs to justify their own survival, the sins of their families/species haunting them, and their ability and commitment to inspiring hope and uniting people for a common cause would all have been great bonding material.

James and Clark - We saw so little of this relationship, but it was so formative for James and I would have liked to see what Clark thought of James becoming Guardian, what he thought about him leaving National City and his new trajectory, etc. 

James and Cat + Winn and Cat - We saw Cat interacting with both James and Winn a bit (the Cat and Winn scenes in the season two finale were especially delightful) but oh man, it would have been fabulous to see Cat’s reaction to Winn showing up as a 31st Century superhero named “Toyman”. I’m obsessed with just the image. And we had one really lovely scene with James and Cat where they connected personally, but I think it’s interesting that they both ended up leaving CatCo because they were feeling stuck, and separately rediscovered their roots in and passion for journalism and the power of the press by returning to a place they left behind. It would have been really nice to see them have a chance to reconnect at some point.

Alex and Cat - This is partly me being salty about the fact that Alex spent most of her life desperately trying to keep Kara’s identity concealed and then we saw absolutely nothing about how she felt when Kara decided to tell the world who she was in a global interview with the Queen of All Media, but also, I obviously just wanted Cat to interact more with all of my favorites. They’d clash like hell for ten minutes and then end up as drinking buddies that always wipe the floor with everyone around them. 

Danvers + Kryptonians - This isn’t a duo so much as a bunch of overlapping dynamics that I’m still so sad were never explored in any depth onscreen. We got a little bit of the complicated dynamics between Alex and Clark, but I would love to dig into how Eliza feels about Clark and what their relationship is, or to think about what it might have looked like when Eliza found out that Alura was alive - or, even better, what it might look like if they ever actually met, and how complicated and bittersweet that would be for everyone. So many possibilities - does Alura know that Alex is the one who killed Astra? What would Eliza think of both Alura and Zor-El choosing to stay on/go to Argo City and leave Kara behind? What does Alex think about that? Honestly, this is the Thanksgiving episode we deserved.

#farewellsupergirl #supergirl #headcanons #meta #ish? #m'gann m'orzz #alex danvers #cat grant #nia nal #kelly olsen #lucy lane #j'onn j'onzz #eliza danvers #kara danvers #this was reallly fun #i know that a lot of these weren't possible for the show to explore due to network changes/actor availability/etc #but some of these really did have so much wasted potential #while others are just really fun to imagine playing out #farewell to supergirl week

[cottoncandythetrashpanda]

For the ask game: too much milk and fading lights

oooh interesting ones!

Too Much Milk

The borrowers Techno and Wilbur have had their eyes on one thing this past week: the milk.

They'd been watching the humans for days, perfecting their plan. They'd already gotten the cocoa powder and a couple marshmallows out of the pantry, all they needed now was the milk.

(The instructions on the packet said you could also just use water, but where's the fun in that? Plus, they'd heard one of the humans say that hot chocolate made with milk was way better.)

Finally, one night, they were ready to put it into action. When they were sure the humans were both asleep, they slipped quietly into the kitchen.

Their first obstacle: the door to the cold cabinet the milk was kept in. The handle was much too high for them to reach, and even if they could reach it, considering that even the humans had to tug pretty hard to get it open sometimes, they wouldn't stand a chance. Luckily, they had another plan.

"Wilbur, the knife."

Wilbur gladly handed over the implement they'd pilfered earlier that week- it was longer than he was tall, it was a pain in the ass to carry all this way- and Techno shoved it into the crack at the bottom of the door. Together, they pushed against the handle, until the door popped open, and the knife clattered to the floor.

The next part was a lot simpler, they just needed to climb up the shelves. They were no stranger to working together to climb things; Wilbur gave Techno a boost, Techno clambered onto the next shelf, reached down and lifted Wilbur up, rinse and repeat, until finally, finally, they reached their quarry.

The mountainous jug of milk towered above them… and they realized their plan had kind of ended here.

Wilbur walked around the jug, tapping on it like he was testing something. "It doesn't seem too sturdy. We could try and poke a hole in it."

"That would take forever to actually fill the container, though. And won't the humans notice that? I guess they'll probably notice whatever we do, but that's too obvious. What if we just…" Techno mimed something falling over with his hands. "Tip it over?"

"You think that'll be less obvious?"

"I think it'll be easier for them to explain to themselves, they'll probably just blame each other for the spill. And it'll be quicker for us."

Wilbur still wasn't sure. But Techno was usually better at thinking things through than he was, so he shrugged and followed his brother's lead. They set down the container they'd brought- it was a round, clear container the humans used to store food, it was the smallest one they had, and it was still very cumbersome to carry around, but it had a lid, and that was invaluable for loss prevention when they collected liquid of any kind.

Together, they pushed against the jug. It was only half full, but it was still incredibly heavy, they both had to put all their weight against it, straining to push as hard as they could- and soon, they did it. It tipped over. They rushed forward to try and catch it as it fell so they could at least try and control the spill, but not fast enough.

It hit the shelf with a thunderous BOOM that physically shook the two borrowers as the milk- the milk went everywhere. The jug had exploded.

The two stood still for a moment, hearts beating fast, sure that a human would be coming to investigate the noise, but they heard nothing more. No earth-shaking footsteps, no booming voices. The two looked at each other, and their panicked faces faded into smiles. Wilbur laughed, and soon they both devolved into a mess of relieved giggles.

"Well, here's the good news," Wilbur gestured at his now-soaked clothes, "We did get the milk."

[Time for some mood whiplash!]

Fading Lights

(Warnings: offscreen death of a teenager, discussion of mortality)

Tommy's been walking for a long time now. He isn't sure how long.

It's a long hallway. "Long" is an understatement- it's seemingly endless. All there is to do is walk forward. The lights hanging above him flicker and fade out as he passes, letting him know in no uncertain terms, he can't turn back. Occasionally, the hallway forks into multiple paths. He can't tell if it really matters which one he takes. It just keeps going anyways.

He's had enough of walking, though. He's tired, he's lonely, he's bored. He sits down and leans against the wall. He pulls his knees up to his chest. He hates this.

After a little while of sitting, someone walks up to him- the first other person he's seen here. It's a blond man with a kind smile.

"Hello," the man says, "You look like you could use some help." He reaches a hand down, and hesitantly, Tommy takes it.

They start walking together. The lights fading out behind them. Tommy asks the man who he is, and the man says his name is Phil, and that one could say he's "a guide".

"Lots of people need a guide here," he says, "Especially when they weren't ready to go yet. And I'm guessing you weren't ready, right?"

Tommy looks away. Phil makes it sound so pathetic. "No, I was totally ready."

Phil looks skeptical. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, Tommy. I wouldn't expect someone so young to be prepared to die."

Tommy has many more questions, but Phil only has vague answers. "Is this the afterlife?" Not exactly, but it can take you there. "How long will it take to get there?" That depends on a lot of things. "What's the actual afterlife like?" That's something I can't tell you.

"You can't tell me because you're not allowed to? Or because you don't know?"

Phil only gave him a sad smile in response to that one.

Phil had just as many questions, though, and Tommy's answers weren't much better. "What brought you here?" I don't want to talk about that. "Do you have friends back home you're worried about? Family?" That's none of your business.

"I can't help you if you don't talk to me, Tommy."

"I never told you my name," Tommy muttered.

Phil sighed. Tommy stared at the floor. They walked forward.

The lights flickered and faded behind them.

#fake fic title prompts #yes im still working on these hfddshs #mcyt g/t #the first one is anyways #ngl the first ones still Calling to me #twinsduo as thrillseeking borrowers? y e s #also they both got Long dsghs #you all have to deal with my weird long hallway accepting mortality metaphor #which i left open ended bc i kinda wanna continue it

[theregoesmylurkerstatus]

So... I have a lot of thoughts on the finale. I've deliberately kept my mouth shut, more or less, on the campaign overall because I'm a firm believer that you can't pass judgement -- at least not complete judgement -- on stories until they're over and done with.

Well, it's done! Kind of crazy. I've been watching Critical Role with almost insane consistency, viewing almost every single episode live, with maybe five-ish exceptions, since episode 19, and I've been blogging it for, what, two and a half years?

It's a weird feeling. It's been such a constant thing for me that I'm always gonna have love for it and remember with a lot of fondness.

...Which is in spite of the fact that I can now comfortably say I'm pretty eh on the ending. I know not being positive about something most of us have loved a lot for a very long time can sting a bit, but I personally think it also stings when people relentlessly crow over how good they think it is or want it to be, to the point where you feel you can't voice your absolutely valid upsets or dissatisfactions. So, here goes, if anyone's interested! I'd be curious to see other opinions, too!

I actually drafted a post talking about my overall frustrations with the campaign a whole two weeks ago, and then scrapped most of it when 140 blew me out of the water. I was really touched, and really happy. I hadn't expected it, but it shockingly felt right, you know?

Unfortunately 141 robbed me of most of that satisfaction and brought me right back to neutral.

The blanket statement you have to make, of course, is that you can’t criticise this as a DnD game, and you can’t be mad at the cast for playing it in a way they think is best for them. They’re the players, Matt’s the DM, and in the end it makes no sense for them to try to make themselves act how they think the audience wants them to, and I’m sure most of the audience wouldn’t like the result anyway.

That said, there is an audience. And that’s where I see this clash coming in. As a DnD game, as long as the players and DM have all enjoyed it and been satisfied, it’s a successful game! But for us, it’s not a DnD game. For us, we’re watching a story be written in real time through the medium of an RPG. And while as a DnD game you can’t fault it, as a piece of media, I completely get why the way things have gone has sat weirdly for a lot of people.

It's not satisfying to see so many character hooks dealt with so quickly or left as an offscreen "and then you do it." If they don't want to keep playing to dive into it, absolutely, but for us who have been watching this as a story with all these character elements get so built up, it's a huge anti-climax.

Which is a lot of what this campaign has been, really.

Oh, Nott’s cursed! But through a really cool character moment that problem is completely taken care of with no consequences we see. Yay, I want her to be Veth and that was an iconic move from Jester! Still, it kind of feels like this was built up to be a big problem and at the first success it was let go... Caleb's got a really intense frightening past he tries to hide, I wonder how the Mighty Nein will respond? Oh, they found out, but it's not a difficult revelation for anyone. Looks like it's easy for them to move past it and forgive. Yeah, that's healthiest for the characters, but huh, kinda undercuts it as a storyline or point of interest. Oooh, Avantika’s back! Ah, they’ve killed her and grabbed the eye again. I mean I don’t want them to die or for Uk’otoa to be free, but I’m starting to feel like that’s not much of a threat anyway. The Traveler’s been kidnapped! Nah he hasn’t, he tried to save Jester so he was let go with no further issue, and also he wasn’t actually in any danger anyway. Oh... Cool. So... Why should I care or be worried?

And these are just the biggest ones I remember being kind of let down by. I wanted to see them STRUGGLE for the successes to have meaning. To my view, threats of failure -- real failure -- really decreased the more the campaign went on, with a few exceptions.

Because don't get me wrong, we've definitely had struggles, and those have made for some of the best moments! Molly’s death, Yasha’s kidnapping, Yeza’s imprisonment. When failures that were threatened are allowed to occur, it’s far more gratifying when it’s followed by success, because you understand that that success was actually necessary. It shows us that what they do really means something.

Honestly, that's why the final battle really shut me up, because nothing makes you quite feel stakes and failure like having two PCs die, and having a resurrection ritual fail -- AND knowing that failure would be delivered on, had it not been for a seemingly miraculous roll of the dice to turn it around. One of the greatest failure's -- Molly's death -- made the success of his resurrection put a lot of my other issues to rest immediately, because to be honest? Molly's resurrection was the biggest success of the campaign, exactly because it was originally the biggest failure.

But this episode, we got to see the other side of making threats and successes feel disappointing -- when you get the impression that success was robbed from you. Again, their characters, their choices, but to have them roll an intervention to get Molly's soul, to convince Molly to come back with his own possessions they've so loved, after so long and so many struggles... only to apparently not get Molly at all?

Changed, of course. Memories, maybe he'd never get them back, though that seems inconsistent to how the initial resurrection was played and Matt's hints. It even makes sense that not having his memories and being a bit different, he might forge a new identity, but insisting Molly was a different person entirely after such a supposed hard won success to get Molly back, especially after what his death meant to the audience and potentially healing that old wound? It robs the narrative of a LOT of catharsis, at least for me and I know many others.

Trent, too, I'm very up and down on. He was so built up -- and what fun that build up had -- and I very much disagreed with the idea that the best story would be dealing with him offscreen.

It's true that you don’t need to explicitly address, confront, or explore every big aspect of character's story hooks and background ties for PCs to move past them and grow healthily. But that does not make it a satisfying viewing experience. People quietly healing in real life is healthy. People quietly healing in an explosive fantasy setting is frustrating for the audience.

What on earth is the point of a story if you don’t get to SEE THE ESTABLISHED CONFLICTS go anywhere? A lot of the characters got distant, quiet resolutions, if that, to everything we wanted to see.

Except, we did get to see Trent. It was a really fun, inventive battle, from opening to conclusion, but much like Travelercon, much like Nott's/Veth's problem with the hag, these were things that the audience in general wanted to see be really dug into and explored, and every single one of them got, in my opinion, quickly tidied up instead. Trent got beaten in the first and only proper battle they had with him, which, after all his build up, is pretty disappointing for a villain many of us wanted to see be a big deal. It really just felt like they were trying to tidy up to get on with the epilogue, which is not what a lot of us were looking for with Trent especially.

And that's how most of their endings felt to me. It didn't feel like any of them had reached a comfortable conclusion. Literally all of them, bar Veth and Caduceus, continued on their character journey threads, without each other and very quickly. Meeting Yasha's tribe and Vandran, Caleb finally openly debating changing time for his parents, Trent and Zeenoth's trials and the changing of the guard at the Assembly... All were things it would have been so fun to have all the PCs react to and explore together, and instead they were fleeting encounters in the latter half of a seven hour finale.

Is all this, from Molly not really coming back to Trent being a finale side plot to the Nein continuing on their individual journeys, potentially realistic to how these fantastical things might go down in real life? Sure! But that's not necessarily a good thing.

Stories THRIVE on conflict and resolution. That’s what makes them FUN! Conflict isn’t nearly so fun in real life and resolutions are often frustrating question marks, so no, past a certain point I don’t WANT stories to be realistic. I want stories to be SATISFYING.

And campaign 2 has fallen far short of the mark.

I haven’t spoken... Basically a word of this for most of the campaign, because as I said I’m a firm believer that you can’t necessarily judge something until it’s over, and because I ALSO firmly believe that being negative WHILE trying to enjoy something is counterproductive. I have had no interest in spoiling or naysaying the fun of the campaign for anyone, least of all myself.

But it's done now, and all I can say is... I really have had fun. I love the characters. I love their relationships. I’m pretty okay with where they’ve ended up. I’m not mad, really, and I’m still going to think of this campaign with a lot of affection. But it hasn’t been a satisfying story, even though for a week following episode 140 I thought, despite all the brushed over story threads, it might be.

So... to try and reclaim some of that satisfaction for myself, I might ignore some aspects of the finale proper. Namely Kingsley specifically. Taliesin's choice -- but to me, it's pretty clear that who we saw at the end of 140 was Molly, and the tags on my posts will reflect that, just as my 141 tags will be for both Kingsley and Molly, for clarity's sake. I personally want to believe Molly did come back, however others might want to interpret it. The victory in 140 that meant so much to me is hollow otherwise, and it just kind of hurts that we would lose Molly after everything. I was okay with him being dead -- I'm not so okay with his resurrection being stolen.

Kingsley will always be canon, but Molly is what I choose to acknowledge. I get if you don't like that take, and that's okay! I didn't care for canon's in the end. That's the good thing about storytelling, is that no one can stop you from making your own versions.

For the people who are hopefully hyped for campaign 3, heck yeah have fun! I’m on the fence. My investment, which... I think I can objectively say was pretty substantive as this blog will attest, doesn't feel rewarded, so I’m not convinced I can faithfully keep up for over three years all over again with a strong possibility that I will once again be left disappointed. It's been a huge chunk of my life, and... yeah!

I’ll take a break, probably, view (and liveblog, if people want!) campaign 1 when I’ve had a mental stretch and vacation, and then... I might start campaign 3. I definitely won’t be able to put the same time in it I did campaign 2 (my first love no matter what), knowing that it’s likely to not be so vindicated, in the end.

I swear I’m actually writing this in fairly good humour, but I totally get its always disappointing when the people you come to for fandom enjoyment just aren't sharing your fun. Honestly I’m half tempted to write all those frigging AUs I have sitting around! But I wanted to say my piece, and try and logically outline why this ending has been lacklustre for so many people, ultimately myself included.

Episode 140 felt right because it felt like a natural conclusion -- these disparate people coming together and finally being whole, finally soothing the hurt that MADE them so long ago. Episode 141 spat on that sentiment -- they all scattered to the winds, not as happy people to live out their dreams, but as confused people chasing up loose threads towards an unknown future, with the friend they thought returned still lost to them, ultimately.

It doesn't feel like the ending we should have gotten for the Mighty Nine, who were finally, finally all together. Until they weren't. So to me? I choose to acknowledge that they were, even if I have to force it to happen post-epilogue in my head.

#critical role #cr spoilers #c2e141 #c2e140 #ramblings #long post #first time i've used that tag but i figure people should be able to block this if they want to! #molly #kingsley #trent ikithon #the mighty nein