#also re: the guy it doesn't help that he's the one making the weird comic about charlie that T B Q H pales in comparison to llb

[ghostinthegallery]

Re-reading Twice Dead King, the character I was most struck by on a second viewing was Mentep. Now there’s a tragic figure. Simultaneously a mentor, an ally, an antagonist, someone so terribly understandable who I want to smack upside the head for being a lying liar who lies.

Ultimately, Mentep is a penitent. He has committed terrible acts (that we only get scant details of) and he wants to redeem himself. Thanks to his tampering with his own memories, he doesn't fully know what he is repenting for, which puts him in a bind. However, he knows that he played a role in creating the flayer curse/longing sickness, so he goes to a planet where a high concentration of them have gathered and works on his cure. He's respected, he's able to do his work with only occasional interruptions from the local angsty youth. Things are good-ish (until the armada shows up.)

Mentep and Oltyx have a weird relationship. Despite being his normal asshole-teenager self, Oltyx does respect Mentep more than most. Trusts Mentep enough to let the guy perform experimental brain surgery on him. Twice. And Mentep is able to be much more candid with Oltyx in return. He's one of the few consistently calling Oltyx out for his bullshit. On the surface, it is a standard mentor relationship, but what got me on a second reading is that there is hardly a single conversation Mentep has with Oltyx where he isn’t lying to and/or manipulating him.

It starts early with Yenekh. Mentep knows Yenekh has been suffering from the curse, he hasn’t told Oltyx, and when he finally has to tell him, he conveniently does so right before distracting everyone with the “oh btw, we’re all gonna die to a giant human armada” news. This is done with the best of intentions. Mentep wants to protect Yenekh (and Oltyx, in his way), so he delivers the news this way to get the bad news out of the way and then both of them on the same side. But it is the start of a pattern.

Which we get again when Mentep fails to mention a that Antikef is a flayer den ruled by a “We have Illuminor Szeras at home” Vizier, and boy does that end badly for Oltyx (see the last 60% of Ruin). Naturally, Mentep has a good explanation:

But it is another lie, one that costs Oltyx dearly (put a pin in this, I am coming back to it.)

There's some little fibs and ommissions along the way as they go to Carnotite, but it all builds up to The Big Lie. The one that sends Oltyx spiraling and gets Mentep killed. Because you know what really helps with paranoia? Finding out your mentor and your best friend have been hiding a secret blood pit in your basement! Again, it makes sense why Mentep is lying about this! He has every reason to believe Oltyx would have rejected the flayed ones he and Yenekh were sheltering (he in fact does exactly this), and Mentep's entire goal is to cure the curse to atone for his role in its creation. However...

I think Oltyx is correct to call Mentep out here (Oltyx is wrong about most things, but not this). Somewhere a long the way he became a means to an end for Mentep. Mentep was focused on The Curse and not the person in front of him who was cursed. He used Oltyx's friendship with Yenekh, his need to save his kingdom, his trust, his fears, all in service of admirable goals, but he was using Oltyx. Is it any wonder this is where it ended?

The lies were Mentep's undoing from the start. Remember the lie about Antikef? The one that led to all the events of Ruin? Yes, Oltyx and Djoseras did talk and avoid a civil war, but Oltyx also went through hell. He saw his home turned into an abbattoir, his father reduced to barely more than an animal. Oltyx was literally vivisected and almost consumed by his own dysphoria. And then committed regicide after leaving his brother behind to die. Antikef is where Oltyx truly learned that compassion was weakness and saw how horrific the flayer curse could become. So how was he ever going to accept the flayed ones as Mentep wanted him to? Oltyx experienced the comically perfect combination of traumas to ensure that would never happen, thanks in part to Mentep's manipulations.

I cannot stress enough that Mentep's individual lies all made sense at the time. May have even been the best option, at the time. But the consequences piled up, and even as he is dying he still refuses to give Oltyx even a scrap of the truth. That is the core of his tragedy for me. Well, that and this:

He bases all of his manipulations on his understanding of people's psyche's, which are usually accurate, but it also traps them. It gives them no room to grow or surprise him or for outside factors to come in and intervene. Contrast this with Zultanekh, who is upfront to a fault. He gives Oltyx advice and resources, but what Oltyx does with those things is up to him. Even when he is screwing up royally, he's allowed to make those mistakes. Mentep causes ones of Oltyx's darkest hours (the secret blood pit), while Zultanekh lifts him out of another (the Blood Angel's attack). In the end, Zultanekh is the one who sees Oltyx's true growth and witnesses the birth of his kingdom. A birth that comes not from curing the curse but embracing it.

There was never a sickness to be fixed, which means Mentep never would have achieved his redemption because he was focused on the wrong things. Which does make his death and rebirth as Xott a bit of a reflection of Oltyx. He was too burdened in his first life, but in his second he (or at least a version of him) was able to witness the people he hurt reaching a place of peace.

#warhammer 40k #necrons #twice dead king #oltyx #mentep #shit this one got long #I have a lot of thoughts about the sad robots okay #pro tip: maybe constantly lying to the paranoid teenager with anger issues isn't gonna end well for anybody #side note I do wonder if Mentep's habit of manipulation came from his time on Carnotite #That place got scary man #learning how to work people may have become a survival tactic that he just internalized #poor yenekh stuck in the middle #my boy did not deserve that #zultanekh repeatedly proving that he is best

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Tbh, timeline is the least of my problem with Miraculous. I was born around the time Detective Conan released and 20 smt years later the he's still first grade elementary, so yeah, I'm so used to the whole comic book timeline. My problem is with how fast he "fell in love" with Marinette, the girl who he rarely talk to because she always got tongue tied in front of him, the girl who he think is hated him in pupetter 2. Which also the episode the writers claimed to be the episode when Adrien fell in love with her.

Anyway, Adrien get over Emilie's death in less than a year is weird yet he's also a character who tend to keep everything bottled inside and also an "actor". I think many people already write about how good of an actor he is. The fact that we rarely get his POV also doesn't help in grasping his thought about his mother's death.

In special (I watch FR dub) though, we got an implication that he hasn't truly move on but he tried to. When asked by Griffe Noir about why he never try to get the wish despite knowing it could revive his (our) mother, he admitted that he has thought about it. It's the price that he wouldn't want to put to anyone. Life for a life.

“I resumed my life, trying to be happy just like what she would've wanted. I have friends who support me. I'm alright now. ...well, as alright as possible anyway."

I read the line as Adrien being "fake it till I make it" and he haven't fully move on, he's just good at hiding it. Which is pretty in character for him imo. The thing about being "easy children" is that everyone tend to think you're always alright, that you have no problem and with a parent with emotional immaturity like Gabriel being an easy children is a must, or punishment awaits him. So the combination of "what Emilie would like him to do" and Gabriel parenting who hates when Adrien being emotional, we got this child who tried to be okay and griefing alone.

I agree that the timeline isn't a huge deal, it's just kinda fun to point out how nuts it is. Adrien falling in love with Marinette is far less fun to talk about because I don't buy it for a second. Especially since it's literally the episode after Jubilation. You know, that episode where Chat Noir and Ladybug got married and had a bunch of kids? That's the thing that makes him give up on Ladybug? REALLY???

And then they have the audacity to claim that Marinette is the one who is lying to herself about her crush flip:

Alya: You're lying to yourself anyway, you’re in love with Adrien. (Elation, S5E9)

Because Marinette giving up on a guy she barely talks to after her crush lost her all of the miraculouses is totally ridiculous, but Adrien giving up on his partner who he's closer to than ever before makes perfect sense. Right.

I mean, I know crushes don't have to make sense, but this is a story not real life! This is not how you tell a convincing love story!

Re Emilie, you make a fair point about the special actually acknowledging Adrien's pain. It was a nice moment and I agree with how you say Adrien should be played. I just don't think that's actually what the writers are going for since season five has Adrien never talk about Emilie and ends with her statue destroyed so that Adrienette can have a new makeout spot. I really think we're supposed to read Adrien as fully moved on, possibly from both of his parents. It's really gross. Unless season six surprises us and Emilie is back, which might actually be enough to make me watch it. I really doubt it, though.

[yifftwiceplz]

rambling about daves timeline under the cut

this info has been touched on but a little more in depth

so i couldn't decide what age dave i wanted to RP and came up with some weird bullshit to be able to jump around impulsively but i have a general timeline for my dave

16-17: beats sburb, moves onto earth c. i DONT care about the endless isekai plot i want my boys to be happy B( i support anyone strong enough to stick with it, but personally i am rewriting it in my head the strilondes move into a duplex with roxy and rose on one side, dave and dirk on the other side. they do this because it seems like the healthiest option for all of them to live with their siblings and help each other grow and heal

dirk and dave have a lot of shit to work out both with dirk's chronic isolation and impossible standards for himself, and dave having been raised by a basement dwelling abusive dick. it's a little rocky at first especially with dirk's messiness and dave's clinginess but they push through and the strength of their relationship grows

neither of them has a job at first but they both piddle around with comics, youtube channels, and side projects until they both start messing with crypto scams. namely scamming crypto bros out of their money. it's around this point where they somehow get the rights to interdimensional twitter, which is a silly meaningless side plot but a fun one.

i probably won't play him at this age too much, but if i do the main things to look out for would be that he rambles way more and makes weird run-on sentences, like a full paragraph of metaphors, and still lives with dirk / the fam. he's also quite scrawny and still wears his god tier jammies most of the time.

around 22-23: dave moves into a house with karkat, funded by dave's youtube channel, karkat's job as a marriage counselor, and help from dirk, who's sad to not be living with his bro anymore but is very supportive and pointlessly rich.

he's at home pretty much 24/7, just casually working on youtube videos, comics, whatever he wants really. karkat is fine with being the breadwinner and household leader, dave is fine with being bossed around and he likes to clean. he has very few priorities to deal with so he does what he wants (mostly troll you all here)

this is his current "real time" age, around 25, so after he's lived with karkat a couple years already. he doesn't ramble as much, usually in a good mood and lets things roll off his back. he is also chunkier and doesn't wear his god tier outfit much anymore; he got tired of the style. he does still wear the pants around the house.

around 30 is when dave really makes a name for himself on youtube and makes his first movie, which is relatively low-budget and simple. his career kind of explodes from that point and by 35 he's in the middle of making his second movie, which is a genuine hollywood affair. he loses quite a bit of weight due to stress / being busy, usually has a 5 oclock shadow, and his outfits are usually pretty dumpy (unless it's a premiere or a press tour).

he and karkat are mostly long distance at this point, which dave stresses about more than he should. karkat is fine letting dave do his thing, but dave is beginning to overthink the fact he's going to far outlive karkat. he eventually decides to bring dirk on, which he was reluctant to do because dirk really needs to work less and get out more. but dave accepts he needs help and dirk is the only guy who can do the job properly. and dirk is happy to live his childhood fantasy of being on set with his bro

things to look out for would be his hair has a nice fade, he wears his shades less, he's usually scrawny (unless he's on break back home to be re-fattened by karkat), and he uses punctuation/rambles less

he's really busy most of the time so until i get some more things worked out he's like a little old man treat that i sprinkle to you guys like goldfish pellets in a pond of giant koi

around 40 is tbd but chunky hairy homebody dilf-with-no-kid dave supremacy.

#editor's note #lore tag tbn #weight stuff is because of editor's own fluctuating weight #around 40 is when he stops actually ageing sorry to the god tier keeping you young forever deal #i want to see that man old and grizzled and domesticated

[jvstheworld]

The Buffy Re-watch: S2E11 (part 2)

Ted

Trigger/Content Warning still in effect for this episode just in case.

Buffy, Joyce and Ted have dinner, Buffy is sent to her room, then Buffy goes out to patrol. She was probably out for about an hour at the minimum, maybe up to 2. So how long as Ted in her room for to be able to read her diary before she got back? Also, 'Vampire Slayer' kind of explainable there Ted.

The threat of being in a mental institution is something we kind of see happen in the comics. During the transition between LA and having just moved to Sunnydale. We see in 'Normal Again' in season 6 what it would have been like if she did end up there.

Buffy in shock after killing a 'human'. It's a massive difference between her reaction and Faith's next season.

I don't like the questions the police ask Buffy during the interrogation scene. If her hit her first, which he did, couldn't that be grounds for self-defence. My knowledge of criminal law is lacking since I haven't done it in a while (I was originally a law student at university before switching to journalism. Still had to learn law for journalism but it was less intense and more focused on legal matters like defamation and copyright).

Yeah, Giles would understand the guilt that comes with murder. I'm surprised Buffy even went to school, I would have just avoided everyone.

The gang wants to help while Giles takes over patrol. Luckily Willow notices Xander's change in behaviour after eating the cookie and knows that something is sus with it.

Ted drugged it. How much of the food he cooked did he drug? PSA: don't drug people or their food. It's illegal. I talked about this before in 'Reptile Boy' this is just a different circumstance, but it still stands. Just don't do it.

Cordelia coming through with the research on Ted. We appreciate her help.

Jenny may have been harsh to Giles earlier in the episode, but she needed to do what was best for her at the time. Her apology just comes at a bad time when vampires are around.

Where did Ted come from? Seriously. He comes from the side of the room where Buffy's bed is. It would have made more sense if he came from the side where her closet, because he could have been hiding in there, but the implication is that he was hiding under her bed waiting for her.

Jenny, use the stake, not the crossbow. Because you could hit Giles.

Ted is a robot/android reveal!

Cordelia's sense of style coming in to hep find hidden doors to secret basements of horror.

Ted has literal skeletons in his closet, from his first four wives. That he kept locked in there. And probably could never leave. Holy fuck.

After seeing Ted glitch, Joyce gets wise to Ted's weirdness.

Cast iron skillets- they make good weapons, just watch Tangled.

Joyce forgives Buffy for what happened after finding out about the other wives and the attempted kidnapping. Does she not know that he was a robot yet? Because Joyce knows by season 4, but it seems like she doesn't know here and Buffy is trying to cover that up.

jenny and Giles are back together again. We like to see this, but it won't last long unfortunately. It makes Cordy and Xander happy too, at the very least.

Robo Ted is a nightmare of a character. His victims deserved better than the life they were subjected to because of him. The terror they must have suffered knowing that one wrong move and he could hurt them or kill them. The worst part is knowing that things like this happen in real life. The only fantastical element to this episode is the fact that he is a robot. How many horror stories have you heard of women being in abusive relationships and not being able to leave because the man they are with won't let them, because they control so much of their lives. Not being believed about the things you have suffered due to them because they put up such a good front of being the nicest guy around to everyone but when you're alone with him, there is nothing stopping him from showing you his true side. Joyce was lucky that she had Buffy to see through Ted's bullshit and to stop him before she ended up another one of his victims. Not everyone is so lucky to have that support behind them. I know in my own circumstance, while nowhere near as extreme as this, or many other stories you might find out there, I didn't have the support needed to be able to get out of it quick enough before plenty of damage was done. And years later I am still dealing with what happened. I hope any of you reading this never have to suffer this, and if you have, I am sorry that happened to you and I hope you are able to get to a better place in your life.

I'm going to leave it here. This turned into a heavier episode that I thought. Tomorrows episode will be a bit lighter.

#buffy the vampire slayer #buffy summers #rupert giles #willow rosenberg #xander harris #cordelia chase #btvs s2 #buffy rewatch #tv show thoughts

[hawkogurl]

Thank you for that post about the ableism and saneism in the TASM films, especially around Curt and Harry! I have really mixed feelings about those movies, but it's frustrating how much those issues and the weird 'eugenics is real' core of the worldbuilding gets swept under the rug by the fandom. Both of those characters are among my favourites in the comics, and while there are issues there too, it's like, idk as someone whose Spidey niche interest is Connors/Lizard, I'm continuously frustrated that THAT version of the character is the most popular one and the fandom romanticizes the eugenics and ableism in the writing for him - it's not a good critical analysis of internalized ableism if it's never challenged by the narrative, among many other issues; you said it all, re: Harry in your tags, so I have nothing to add there.

god, im glad to hear this. helps me think im not insane for thinking these movies are really tone deaf in this regard. I think its obvious from all my posts that I'm biased towards Harry in the same way you are Curt, but its also the sort of thing where I don't feel as at liberty to speak on it as I do Harry. But reading this was like seeing all my thoughts on Curt put into words.

Even if I find specifically TASM2 uncomfortable to the point I avoid watching it, I don't like, think people shouldn't enjoy them or even that they have to be publicly critical of them or whatever. I think the thing that bothers me most is seeing these very ableist and saneist writing choices and tropes being used as angst fodder with little to no critical thought, just making these really in poor taste writing choices into a weird form of torture porn because the tasteless writing in question doesn't really effect them. (and I think a lot of people can be somewhat oblivious to the fact that although struggles associated with anxiety, depression, adhd, autism are very real, it does not put them at liberty to make calls on or decide if something is offensive when it targets personality or psychotic disorders.) I really don't think you can get more on the nose than literally trying to cure all disability and having your protagonist nod along with the character's ableist ass speech because he needs to be a Smart Guy, or having your character who's canonically schizophrenic in the comics go insane, kill an innocent person, and end up in a straight jacket in a mental institution when it comes to ableist writing. It feels like its parody sometimes. And that's not even getting into TASM Harry and chronic or terminal illnesses, though thats another thing I don't feel super qualified to speak on.

idk if this makes sense, i just got off an eight hour housekeeping shift, brain broken.

#harry osborn #curt connors #tasm #ableism #ableism tw

[crowtrobotx]

The set up: I wrote a fic where Chris proposes to Mia... like 3 hours after Ethan dies because in his mind "This gives me an excuse to protect Mia and Rose without anyone asking any questions as we know people are after them." So far, so good! EXCEPT! Ethan had a family. A family that were already a bit frustrated at how Ethan had to suddenly cut them off in weird ways. And Erica had already lost someone to weird government stuff before. When she was about 9, her best friend's family moved to Raccoon City and then suddenly died when it exploded. Erica never got answers so growing up, she spent her time trying to figure out what exactly happened. And the name "Chris Redfield" popped up quite a bit... So she doesn't trust the BSAA, she never trusted Chris and Jill when they showed up to support Mia during Ethan's (Very delayed) funeral. (Cover story was Ethan fell down a chasm while hiking and they never found the body. Erica wonders if Mia murdered him) and because of all this she becomes a reporter. (Elliot is an accountant and a foodie. Never figured out what Ezra did) She gets sent to Paris to do a bunch of journalism at once, including interviewing Claire Redfield. This is also when Mia and Chris' "Honeymoon" arrive in Paris. She obviously never told them, and they never told HER they got married - let alone that it was fake. This drives Mia into having.... a really bad night while Claire tries to smooth things over by taking Rose and Erica out for the evening. Dropping Rose off the next day with Claire and seeing that Mia and Chris were... not as lovey dovey in Paris as one would think, she asks Mia for the Truth. And she gets it. All of it. How her brother was no longer human. how he REALLY died. What Chris was doing. What Rose was. And with that Erica joins the little Conspiracy of Chris, Mia, Claire, Jill, and Leon to figure out who the heck wants Rose, what the BSAA are doing, and why. I'm not very good at creating OC's. I look more for gaps in the story or abilities that they need to fill, and I honestly really like Erica. She's suspicious but not paranoid. She's tough but she listens to things. She plans ahead as much as she can but she goes with the flow too. She got a pet lizard the holiday after Brittany died because her family didn't know what to do and decided presents was SOMETHING and she named the lizard Brittany. She uses her jouranlism skills to help them in the end. (the fic is "As Long As You Should Have Lived" and I wish I had an excuse to go back to the world since I've finished it. But it ends nicely with no need. I do feel like Erica and her family are still kicking around in RE unless Capcom declares Ethan an only child Orphan. While the relationship between Chris, Mia,duty, grief, and guilt is the core of the fic, Erica is her own angle on those themes too. I love her. She also looks like Ethan's female twin for the most part too. Or a 30 year old Rose)

WHAT this sounds so interesting!! I really like this because I think there is a significant lack of information about what on earth happened between RE8 and the SoR DLC (I don't buy the half-assed "explanations" they give in game at all.) Erica sounds so cool, I love her. I am partial to OC's who are reporters (Kris is a journalist in Chrysalis) so I already love her. What kind of lizard is Brittany?? I think creating OC's is genuinely quite hard when working with existing material and it doesn't get appreciated enough. Like, sure, you can just make any guy and shove them into the story, and honestly sometimes that is very fun and turns out well, but having them actually feel like they fit and belong is sometimes a monumental task. I think looking for gaps and someone to fill them is a great strategy! And frankly even if Capcom canonized Ethan being an only child, I would ignore it lol. They are so, so bad at consistency in their own lore and it's borderline comical.

#asks #haveievermentioned #i'll need to check out the fic for sure!!!

[meyerlansky]

truxi-twice replied to your text post

haaaa, hoo boy, i actually kind of know that feel. Not from him, but...yeah. (Some of the local comic guys are gross, but also professionals in a v. small industry.) Hey, not quite related, but remember when Vito from Mob City found gangster tumblr and was all confused?

it's annoying as fuck tbh, like a. keep that stuff to yourself, but b. it is... super alienating to non-men following you for your professional work to see that the only tweets from not-men you interact with are when they're sex objects for your consumption. idk i'm ticked off about it, not least because it's pretty likely that no matter what i do academically i'll never be taken as seriously as dudes with bad behavior doing the same work.

anyway.

OH I REMEMBER believe me i alternately laugh and stew about that whole. thing. on a weekly basis. god what a ridiculous situation that was

#AND MOTM WASN'T EVEN ANY GOOD SO WE ALL SUFFERED FOR NAUGHT #truxi twice #replies #also re: the guy it doesn't help that he's the one making the weird comic about charlie that T B Q H pales in comparison to llb #so i'm already just scrolling my twitter feed like 'I should retweet truxi's stuff and show these gangster fanboys REAL COMIC ART'

[transneonneko]

Things from Archie Sonic that I would love to see return in the Mainline Games and/or IDW Sonic!!

Recently, I decided to read some of the Archie Sonic Comic, from like issue 186ish up until the first MegaMan crossover and the reboot, mainly because there were some gaps in my knowledge of those stories. Mainly Issues 198 till 235, which I never got to read as a kid and, I have to say, there were a lot of really interesting concepts during Ian's run of comics before the reboot that I really loved. There was a lot of really interesting concepts I love after the reboot too. I wanna celebrate that. A lot of these concepts and story idea I feel really deserve another chance.

So I wanna make this list of stuff I wanna see return in either for stories in the Mainline Games or the IDW Sonic comics. Before we start, I do wanna add somethings. This post isn't meant to be shitting on IDW and being like "IDW would be better if they did this". I really love the IDW comics and universe. I also know that some of these concepts likely can't be done due SEGA Mandates and I'm not gonna include stuff like "Bring back the Freedom Fighters" because I feel asking to bring back characters isn't gonna be very productive, as much as I would like to see their return. Anyways, let's begin.

The Fate of the ARK

One thing that really inspired this list was this scene right her. We'll talk more about Silver's Future later but for now, let's focus on the ARK. I'm gonna assume anyone reading this knows the story of the ARK from SA2 and Shadow. Sadly, the ARK hasn't really been revisited in the main canon since Shadow, despite how iconic of a set piece it is. In the Archie Comics, we get a look at Silver's future and one of things that may have been the cause of how bad things are is the ARK crashed. Sadly, Archie got rebooted before the writers could go more into it but, from SA2, we know that the ARK was set to crash into the planet if all 7 Chaos Emeralds are placed into it, wiping out all life on the planet. This could be an excellent premise of another Silver adventure, whether it be in the comics or games, where Sonic, Silver and some friends have to stop someone from making the ARK crash into the planet.

Expanding the Eggman Empire/Egg Bosses

Something I've always found a bit lacking in the game canon is how the Eggman Empire itself has been presented. In the games, the Eggman Empire is usually just made up of Eggman, Metal Sonic, Orbot, Cubot, a bunch of robots and (recently) Infinite. It's not really an Empire if it's just one guy and a bunch of robots. The main goal is the conquer the world but we hardly see Eggman actually see what happens when Eggman conquers a place, like what happens to the people who used to live there, besides like Colours and Forces, where the Wisps and Mobians are usually just seen being imprisoned. The Egg Bosses are the perfect solution to this and adds so much to Sonic's World.

The Egg Bosses are Mobians who, either willingly or unwillingly, aligned themselves up with Eggman for whatever reason, becoming commanders of the Eggman Empire. This usually comes about when Eggman has taken over a part of the region and the people living in that region have no choice but to join the Eggman Empire, for their own safety. Not only does this make the Eggman Empire feel more than just one person but it also makes Eggman more a villain himself. It able to portray Eggman as someone to be feared and, I mean, this is a dictator and genocider who is pretty much declaring war against the world.

It also brings up some interesting thoughts about the world. Characters like Maw, Thunderbolt and even Nephthys to a degree joined up with Eggman because they felt it was the right thing to do for the sake of the world, or in Nephthys case, to stop things getting worst later on, meanwhile characters like Grand Battle Kukku are plotting to usurp Eggman, with Clove and Beauregard only working for Eggman to protect family or close ones.

As I said before, having these Egg Bosses also makes Eggman look more threaten, both because he's able to look like a "bigger bad" next to these villains he has command of and, because almost all the Egg Bosses hate Eggman's guts, they are cyberized, a terrifying process in which those who work for Eggman are focus to have parts of their body replaced with cybernetics, with either bombs which will blow if they decide to leave or a locking mechanism that will paralyze their entire body, ready to be locked up.

If either in the game or the IDW comic, I would like to see the Egg Boss concept return. It doesn't even need to be the same characters or use the name "Egg Boss." It would help expand the army of the Eggman Empire, as well as provide some fun bosses for the games I think.

Mobians and Humans living together

This was always a weird hangup I felt the series had. In the case of games between Sonic Adventure & Unleashed, Sonic and friends were the only Mobians, humans made up the NPCs while Mobians were reserved for main characters. Then in Forces and IDW, Mobians made up the background characters, so then Eggman is the only human. I really prefer it when they have the two living together, it makes it seems more normal and, honestly, a better solution than the whole "Two Worlds" explanation.

Eggman Seemingly Defeated

Can I just that I love Issues 198-200? In these 3 issues, Sonic and friends Eggman's main base, the Egg Dome. This including fighting on the outside of the base, involving fighting hoards of the Dark Egg Legion soldiers and Eggman in the Egg Phoenix. After dealing with the outside, Sonic and friends raid the Egg Dome itself, taking different directions, with the Dark Egg Legion seemingly retreating, until they reach the center of the base, where they are blocked off by a barricade, which only Sonic can pass through, giving a "Point of No Return" vibe, Dark Egg Legion soldiers lining up and saluting Sonic. Then Sonic reaches the center and finds Eggman in the Egg Tarantula, starting their final battle which Sonic wins. This defeat is enough for Eggman to lose his sanity, seemingly ending the war Sonic and the Freedom Fighters have been fighting their entire life.

Of course Eggman returns but, god, it's just such a memorable couple of issues. There's a real sense of finality to it. I would a sequence like this in the games, something that feels like truly ending the Eggman Empire and defeating them once and for all. Of course, it wouldn't be the end, Sonic games are always needing to be made which would lead to...

The New Rulers of the Eggman Empire

In the comics after the defeat of Eggman, the Eggman Empire is taken over by some of it's Commanders, the Iron Queen and Iron King, who rules the Empire as their own until they are defeated and Eggman's return.

I love the idea that even if the Eggman, there will always be someone there to take his place. The games could do this by having Neo Metal or Infinite take his place. Hell, IDW did have Neo Metal take over but I think what made that less interesting was that Neo Metal wasn't doing it for himself, he was doing it for Eggman. I think this would work well if a concept like the Egg Boss was introduced in the games, maybe have one of the characters part of that group take over OR have a lot of the more ambitious Egg Bosses war against each other to take command, until eventually Eggman returns and puts them in line.

Silver's Future

Silver is one of the most recurring characters, who always joins the gang when his future is in trouble. The problem is that we never see his future besides 06. We have no idea what Silver's future is currently until it's in danger and, even then, we never see it.

We see Silver's Future in both continuities of the Archie Comic, with two different takes. Pre-SGW has a destroyed city vibe, like 06 but less lava. Post-SGW brought a whole new take where people are ruled by a corrupt council where people are put into class groups, and security robots will arrest if you are not at your job at the right time. They even re-contextualize Silver's bracelets as cuffs that the robots can activate. With Silver being my favourite character as a kid, I remember being obsessed with this new world and story, wanting to know more.

I'm not saying they would need to copy this world exactly but it would be nice if they gave us a concrete and consistence look for Silver's Future.

The Heroic Metal Sonic

Right before the SGW, we were introduce to Shard the Metal Sonic. His story is that he was the original Metal Sonic, the one that raced Sonic in Stardust Speedway. He appeared later in the comic, where Sonic made him realized there was more to life than just being Eggman's killing machine. He seemingly died, but was rebuilt to serve as a member the Secret Freedom Fighters.

This one would be tricky to be included. It worked in the Archie comic as they had been many Metal Sonics throughout the series, each one getting destroyed. Meanwhile, there's only officially been one Metal Sonic in the games made by Eggman (two if we count Classic and Modern). Admittedly, Gemerl fits Shard's personality and does need to be used more in the games but having it be Metal Sonic is just a cooler concept.

I think a solution to this is that we have Metal Sonic 1.0 made by Eggman and, in Rivals 2, we have Metal Sonic 3.0 by Eggman Nega from the future. But what about Metal Sonic 2.0? I think we could have a game where after Metal Sonic fails, Eggman builds a replacement, being 2.0, which would give reason to Metal Sonic wanting to revolt, which could lead to a redemption? While I am loving the IDW comics, I do really miss a lot of what both Archie continuities offered. I haven't mention the some other concepts and stories I liked that really focused on certain characters such as Naugus, Geoffrey St. John, Dimitri etc. Maybe I'll talk about that another day...

#Sonic #sonic the hedgehog #archie sonic #idw sonic #pre-sgw #post-sgw #sega #eggman #eggman empire #egg bosses #shard the metal sonic #silver the hedgehog

[majingojira]

Nico Minoru's Magic Part 2

Continued from Here.

So, Avengers Arena.

Avengers Arena is a story told by a writer who has no idea how the genre works and only a fair grasp of how the characters function at best.

This is easily demonstrated by what is established as Nico's status quo for the next few years in this book.

First off, Nico died. She casts a spell for help, and BOY does she get it.

In addition to once more supposedly 'bosting' her magic. She also gains a generic magical blast-attack without incantation, and the Flying Brick standard superhero package. A low end version. Marvel Universe grid method, she'd be at 5's for Strength, Speed, and Durability. Putting her in the same class as most of the 'bricks' in Marvel like Carol Danvers (uncharged), Teddy Altman, and Sif for Strength. Firebird or a basic Power Armor (Iron Man, Iron Heart) for speed, and Luke Cage, Rage, and Emma Frost for durability.

If that seems wholly generic, let that set the tone for the rest of what Nico has to go through for the next few years.

Fun Fact, the preview pages for this issue were actually released BEFORE the preview pages for #11 because her death caused that much backlash online.

Man, even re-reading it about a decade later still gets my stomach all twisted.

So, why should I suffer alone?

Avengers Arena #12

As you can tell, Dennis "Hopeless" Hallum (he chose the nickname for himself) really wants to try and be like Joss Whedon, but lacks the wit.

Having already established that Nico draws her power from negative emotional experiences -- Pain and Suffering, we have that wiped away for Blood. Gamifying the entire system. Now, we can keep track of her health bar (which they had in this series) and correlate it to her overall power access.

But here's the thing: Why should anyone believe Arcade?

In this series, he doesn't even make this Murdeworld, he commissions someone else to do it for him! And what occurs already fits in with multiple things of what is established (Pain/suffering fueling magic, the "Help" spell she cast with her dying breath). So it's REALLY easy to dismiss Arcade here as talking out of his ass.

I mean, this is comic books, we're used to stupidity ("I'm sealing up the fault lines, this is a good thing!"), but not with its own BS as much as this is.

So, it's easier to dismiss Arcade's claims as warrantless, because, really, why would you believe him? He's not just a liar, he's an idiot.

Especially in Arena, despite assertions to the contrary.

The next tidbit we get on Nico's new Magic Staff and Magic Arm of Super-Powered Disability doesn't come until the sequel series Avengers Undercover.

Because it makes dismissing Arcade as an idiot harder.

Avengers Undercover #7

Yes, Alex came back with this series. No, it was actually worse than Arena because it's hook was underwhelming by comparison.

Anyway, while the reliance on "It's totally blood magic now, you guys!" dumbing down of Nico's power, the idea that she's coating in a magical energy field to explain her Strength/Speed/Durability is a pretty viable one.

But the Arm of Disability Super-Powers earns its name rather... handily.

And I am not sorry for that pun.

The analysis of Nico's combat strategy is ... also deeply lacking, but that's another topic.

Once Dennis Hallum was done (Fun Fact #2: Hallum fought for this issue's topic specifically even though by this point, he knew he had only 4 issues left to finish the series), Nico was put in Limbo... until A-Force.

Where interviewers noted that her inclusion was weird because of her... being nearly Hawkman'd.

No new Magic, but Nico continued to display Super Strength in the Secret Wars volume. Why?

Because she took down an Asgardian. Physically.

Not just that, but a MEMBER OF THE THOR CORPS!

A-Force Vol. 1 #4

Arcadia Nico is ... Broken. Flat out Broken.

Anyway, when A-Force is formed in 616, Nico has a Power Up that is actually intelligent after the dumbing down of Dennis Hallum.

A-Force vol. 2 #2

Here, we have Nico taking down a cosmic being in a word, growing in power with her pain and suffering in-line with the Vaughn and Whedon run, AND the most logical expansion of her powers: Linguistic Advancement.

In the series, she is shown speaking fluent Japanese, and using Estonian as a "Heal" word. With 6,500, she has a lot to go with!

Another clever use of her powers comes from using coordinates to teleport.

A-Force vol. 2 #8

Elsewhere in the series, she gets to show off her powers by ... laying out She-Hulk, Captain Marvel, a Dazzler-Thor, and the rest of her teammates multiple times. Depowering them, knocking them out, etc. She also got to fight hard against mind control and subvert the worst of what her controller could do.

A-Force Nico is Peak Nico in terms of raw power.

But it does have some limits. She can keep multiple spells going at once, but doing so is hard for her. This may be an energy thing, but it may be a focus thing as well.

A-Force vol. 2 #6

She does get to punch out the lady mind-controlling her later on, and in One Punch no less.

But after choking out a Valkyrie-Thor, that's pretty pat.

The next really big change to Nico's powers comes in the current Runaways volume (5) with the reveal of The One, a sorcerer who was turned into the Staff and made a deal to use his magic to the benefit of the original caster.

But this is still developing as a story, the 'rules', basically allowing him to parasitize her senses (and probably take full control of her body, you know how these things go). Is also alters the history of the Staff from an implicit long linage to starting with the Witchbreaker.

Which has once again made her more powerful, but it's a much worse deal.

And...it's still developing. I'm hoping it reveals to be her grimmshape, but only time will tell.

So I won't go into as much detail with this. We'll see where it goes.

#Nico Minoru #Runaways #Avengers Arena #Avengers Undercover #A-Force #Nico's Magic

[bai-zewarrior]

So I finally nailed down my designs for the black heart characters (except colossus, perry/predator and Madusa I'm still massing with them) along with some head canons! The characters might look a bit weird next to each other, I didn't draw them all on the same canvas. I know I'm suppose to but I was lazy and didn't want to re draw the refs on one canvas. I also appologize for this being so long.

I'm hoping to start a comic with these guys. I always end up saying no to projects like this because I don't think my art is good enough but I think I'm going to put my foot down this time!

Hal:

Can talk(unlike my version of Cyan)

Pretty laid back but knows when he needs to be serious

Will curse you out

Thinks Aura and Nautilus are cute together

His cape works as his "soul meter"(idk what to call it). It has 3 squares on the back that represent Hal's souls. The cape becomes tattered and ripped when souls are taken.

He just wants 5 minutes of peace without someone trying to take his souls, please give him his 5 minutes of peace.

Really hates colossus

In the context of black heart I don't consider him a nano bot. He can bleed and stuff like that.

When he sleeps his body starts to heal any wounds and mend his cloths. This leaves him defenseless as he will remain unconscious until it's finished. He tries not to sleep out in the open and often uses caves and trees as temporary shelters when he needs to sleep. This can also activate when he is knocked unconscious but in cases like with Colossus the healing part is stopped.

He can change colors but he prefers red. His cloths don't change colors with him. Just his skin and his cape.

Again, in he context of black heart, I imagine Hal just kinda woke up somewhere with a bit of knowlage about himself and that's about it. Shortly after works he ran into Aura and Nautilus for the first time. He considered the battle a joke.

Nautilus:

Has glowing markings all over his body. He can cause them to glow at will

Can only breath air for around 10 minutes( this time can decrease with some conditions such as heat or cold. This is because his gills need to be wet for him to breath air, so if it's really hot out his gills will dry out faster)

Has a stutter due to the N.A.T.U thing, among other things. Like trust issues when Xero is around

Is euryhalinr(this just means he can breath any kind of water)

His suit adds about 100lbs to him (material, water, and special boots to help with balance when moving around in the suit)

Likes to make jewlary with shells and stuff

Loves Aura to death. Would litterally die for her.

His teeth work like a shark's. One falls out? You've got plenty more to fill the gap! He has given pretty much all his friends breif heart attacks when he casually spits one out after they hear the loud bone cracking noise of a tooth braking. He keeps all the teeth.

Runs on all fours for some reason. No one knows why, including Aura.

Aura:

Learned all her magic from her parents

Her parents lived like hermits because they believed people still hold witch hunts. Aura hated this because she snuck out a lot and knew that this wasn't the case.

Can be a bit forgetful with spells so she always keeps her book with her at all times

Love Nautilus to death, would die for him too.

Can't swim, her body it denser then water so she just sinks. Nautilus is almost always with her when she's near water for this reason.

Aura's wand is broken but she just keeps fixing it with tape because she doesn't know how to make a new one. She also doesn't want to ask her parents because they wouldn't let her live it down.

Made the headphones Puffer wears so he doesn't have to worry about Siren trying to mind control him, again.

Aura has a secret garden. She uses it to grow her magic plants. It has a defense system that even Jestar can't get past. Only those she has given permission can enter, but those people can give temporary permission to others. Only Nautilus, Puffer and Solario have permission to go into the garden.

Has gotten use to the weird things Natalie can do.

Puffer:

A bit of a hermit, but will open up when he trusts someone

Always has his eyes closed because he thinks his eyes look scary. He can still see for some reason? (Like Brock from pokemon, idk how he could see but he traveled like 3-4 regions like that)

Changes colors depending on emotions. Blue is calm and happy, purple is upset and sad and red is anger and frustration.

Puffer can create lots of spikes all over his body if needed as well as a set of claws. He doesn't do this often.

Likes to cook but keeps it a secret from everyone. (Aura and Nautilus found out though, they just kept the secret)

He really doesn't like Siren after what she did to him, but he will talk to her and hang out with her if someone else he trusts is around.

Really wants to apologize to Hal but he hasn't gotten the chance to yet.

Is really self conscious.

He's not very good at swimming but Nautilus teaches him when Siren isn't around or in Aura's secret garden.

Siren:

Likes to sing for no reason

Has a not so small army of skeleton fish

Is litterally heartless (she doesn't like to talk about it)

Has a crush on Puffer but she doesn't know how to fix the bridge she burned with him

Plays chess with Myst a lot(and wins a lot, much to Myst's dismay)

She can shape shift her tail into a pair of legs. This was a "gift" from Jestar to help her be a better assassin for him

Thinks Xero is a prick

Likes to steal Xero's alcohol sometimes

Can water bend. She can't blood bend though. She's tried.

Likes rock and country music for some reason

Nautilus likes to play with her fish some times.

Knows a bit about necromancy. She doesn't like to talk about it though. She never does it in front of anyone besides her fish army

Myst:

Doesn't like to talk about his life outside work

Is well over 100 years old( he lost count)

Is very protective when it comes to Shade

Doesn't really understand Shade but will support her regardless

Likes to smoke when he thinks no one is around

Can create an umbrella to protect himself if he is caught outside when the sun comes up

Likes to play chess

Is basically a dad to the other assassins

Rarely opens his third eye. This usually only happens when he gets frantic, scared or extreamly angry

Does not have any remorse over killing Parry

He doesn't eat in front of others if it can be helped

Myst told Nautilus about Shade once. He had a bad feeling and asked that if anything happened to him Nautilus would take care of her. Only problem was no one thought about the address of Myst and Shade's mansion. He found her though, don't worry.

When he is exposed to sunlight it will immediately cause him to get sunburned. If he doesn't leave after about 30 seconds- 1 minute he will start to die slowly and painfully. He has taken a lot of tea baths because of the sun

Solario:

A big dork

Very loud and bubbly

Is a prince from a kingdom galaxies away from where black heart takes place in

Was suppose to marry the moon from the moon is getting away level (haven't given her a name yet) but she unknowingly broke Sol's heart so he left. He wanted her to be happy and he clearly couldn't give her that happiness.

Doesn't understand "mortal" things but wants to learn.

Nautilus taught him the word yeet and now he won't stop using it

I headcanon that his voice actor would Gary LeVox(lead singer of Rascal Flatts)(don't ask why, I can't change what has happened in my brain)

Will stop at nothing to see his friends happy

Likes hanging out with Aura, Nautilus and Puffer

Can make himself hotter or colder at will. He tends to stay at a heat that won't hurt others when the go near him, but not cold enough to cause himself harm.

If he gets to cold he can die. He also starts to become extreamly cold or extremely hot before death. The direction his tempature goes in is dependent on what he was doing before hand. (Example: reading a book, gets shot, starts to get colder and colder. Attacking Hal trying to get his soul, shapeshifts so much he almost blows himself up, gets hotter and hotter)

Can be a bit over dramatic sometimes

He is incredibly strong. He can lift both Puffer(who whieghs roughly 230 lbs) and Nautilus when he's in his suit(so about 250 lbs) with no trouble. He forgets about his stranghth some times and has accidentally thrown a few things before quickly trying to fix it.

His shapeshifting isn't limited to just objects, he can shape shift small things about him self like his cloths or his entire body into something like a dinosaur. He doesn't do it often though. Mostly just the cloths thing.

Jestar:

Yells a lot

Thinks everyone is incompetent except Xero, for some reason

Accidentally took Puffer when Siren joined do to a confusion about Sirens powers. He refused to send Puffer home.

Colossus is basically just his pet

Xero is the only one who can get away with yelling at Jestar. No one really knows why but they hold really long arguments about all sorts of stupid stuff

Did I mention he yells a lot? I did? Well I’m saying it again. He yells A LOT.

Can shapeshift in to anything

Does not know how to handle baby Madusa. He doesn't know how to handle people in general, and he thought creating a baby was a good idea.

Xero:

Smokes and drinks a lot

Has a German accent(I can’t un heard it, I’m sorry)

Has a wrapped sense of humor

Calls Natilus “shark boy” after natilus bit him(this is related to what happened before N.A.T.U)

Calls everyone a nicknames besides Jestar.

Makes more robots then he needs and holds robot death battles at night.

Wants to dissect Siran after he found out she’s litterally heartless.

Is drunk 90% of the time but that's when he works best. He doesn't care that he has a problem either

Dressed Madusa up is costumes a lot during the 2 weeks it took him to grow up. He created a scrap book with photos of them too.

Can actually be a really nice dude when he wants to be. He doesn't normally want to be nice

90% of his robots are idiots

He's left handed

Colossus:

Is basically Jestar’s pet

Doesn’t speak a language anyone knows

Is basically a king without a kingdom

Starts out really tiny but gets really big for a short period of time once he has infected someone

Shade:

Has trust issues

Is only like 16 years old

Has normal(ish) ghost powers because she was born a ghost

Drives Myst nuts with her edgy stuff

Likes talking to Perry(she meets him after the Funk Hole level)

Can bounce between having a ghost tail to having normal legs.

Her flower is technically apart of her but she doesn't consider it part of her.

Perry:

Kinda skittish around people who look scary to him(so 90% of the black heart cast)

Has a crush on Shade but won't admit it out loud because he's scared of getting bitten in half by Myst, again.

Around 18 years old

Left home because his mom and brother suck and he wanted to be a ghost hunter like the ones he saw on tv. He got his wish for like 2 hours?

Transforms into Predator during the full moons and special moons. Special moons can have different effects on his transformation and mental state. Like a blood moon causes him to become more blood thirsty but a blue moon causes him to actually retain his normal mental state.

He has a habit of spiraling about everything

Predator:

Can't say anything understandable

Each part of his head has a brain so they agrue sometimes

Around 5X the size of Parry

Acts like a dog sometimes

Would have probably just ate Hal instead of taking the souls.

Madusa:

Can breath underwater and air without issue

Doesn't like the fact that he looks like Nautilus

Hasn't figured out how to swim fast like nautilus yet but won't admit it

Calls Jestar dad

Actually gets along well with Xero

Xero calls him Moccasin

Has markings like Nautilus but they only glow in the dark and they aren't as bright

He's allergic to shell fish

Actually had about a 2 week period where he was a kid. Xero and Jestar just gave him a special serum that caused I'm to grow up faster.

Most of his teeth ended up like Aura's but his canines are significantly sharper then they would be. Xero also found an extra set of teeth under Madusa's adult teeth.

Doesn't like the idea that his whole life rests on a tiny, easy to brake, stone on his head but just rolls with it.

Scared Jestar and Xero a lot during his first few days of life. He not only descovered his allergy to shell fish but almost got himself caught by the others a bunch of times.

All these guys belong to OL666 except Hal, he belongs to vitamin games

#art #bai zewarrior #my art #project arrhythmia #project arrhythmia puffer #black heart project arrhythmia #nautilus project arrhythmia #project arrhythmia Hal

[fly-pow-bye]

DuckTales 2017 - “The Depths of Cousin Fethry!”

Story by: Francisco Angones, Madison Bateman, Colleen Evanson, Christian Magalhaes, Bob Snow

Written by: Christian Magalhaes

Storyboard by: Stephanie Gonzaga, Vaughn Tada, Brandon Warren, Jason Zurek

Directed by: Matthew Humphreys

Not really that deep.

The episode begins with Huey nerding out over tree rings, and wanting Dewey to experience it. Bath be damned, he has to show him this amazing thing that only a nerd like him would be interested in. But why wouldn't he be interested, this tree managed to live through three leap years in a row! He then starts to lick the log to get resin samples, because that wouldn't be funny enough if he just used his fingers.

After that necessary scene, a can starts saying "brrring, ring ring ring" in a really annoying way. Scrooge and Donald, who show up only in this scene, tells the boys that this is just their "coo-coo bananas" Cousin Fethry. To discourage the boys from, Scrooge decides to tell them he lives in a deep-sea laboratory, and he likes to go on fool's errands that lead to unnecessarily dangerous adventures...

...and they’re already coerced Launchpad to steal Scrooge's submarine, singing that it's the "best waste of time ever". Huey immediately realizes once the theme song ends that they stole the submarine, and we immediately cut to the theme song. The best we get is that we hear Scrooge call Launchpad about why he's driving the submarine, and Dewey just takes the receiver, breaks it, and throws it on the ground.

Launchpad eventually reaches the lighthouse, bumping into it before parking right next to it to remind us that he's Launchpad, and a voice calls out to the boys to meet him at the top.

As for Launchpad, he hears the call of Oceanika, a siren who used to be his lover. Do not worry if you never heard of her, because I do not think you are supposed to. I am sure we'll cut back to him and whatever adventure he goes on.

After the boys, we finally get to see Fethry, showing off his anti-pirate decoy. Right from the beginning, the boys get to question this guy's sanity.

Dewey: Do you get a lot of pirates?

Fethry: Never! He’s that good.

Dewey: Eh.

The sad thing is that this is about as good as the humor surrounding him gets. In fact, they don’t even add a beat after this for the audience to laugh at it. I could say It’s a bit more dry than a lot of the humor in this show. Huh, this ocean-related episode is a bit dry. How ironic.

This is the animated debut of a character that I had no familiarity with before his name popped up in the upcoming episodes. Originally, I thought this was because I'm not that familiar with the Barks-era comics, but it's really because his origins are in the European Disney Duck comics.

I did a little research and found this image. I decided that was the best research I could do for this guy. I’m sure he had some other character traits, like his love for getting into the latest fads, but I could say this perfectly explains why Donald acts he way he did when his name is involved. One thing I can say is that he's not going to age the show by referencing a current fad. I mean, he's not into Gummi Bears Go or anything like that.

Turns out, he lives in the Sealab, long before 2020. Or 2021, for that matter. Actually, it's called the McDuck Sublab of the Future. The joke is that it was made in the past. Going down the Aqua-vator, man’s niftiest invention, they go to the McDuck Sublab of the Future. The joke is that it was made in the past.

There’s a joke about an outdoor jai alai court, which isn’t as popular as the indoor one. Because it’s a sport that involves bouncing a ball against a wall. Also, outdoors under the sea? I have a feeling they came up with this joke before the concept of this episode.

Meanwhile...okay, I guess it's not the time to say that yet. I'm sure we'll eventually see what Launchpad is doing, right? Fethry tries to show off the world's best kept secret: the ocean. I think the joke is that we're expecting him to talk about that amazing thing that he just saw. Huey and Dewey use this spotlight to try to find who could it be, this animal that Fethry did see. Can they help guess this mystery?

Unfortunately, the first thing the boys see is a blobfish. Instead, Huey and Dewey get scared by a blobfish. Fun fact: blobfish are only ugly like that when they're above water; their bodies are meant for the deep seas, and once they get out of it, they become that ugly. This show will not teach you that. Huey continues his defense of Fethry, and it's not just because he liked his hat. He argues that maybe he's an eccentric genius like all of those geniuses on TV...

...as he imitates this turtle and later imitates a shark! And then he disgustingly licks the radar, which totally justifies the log licking from earlier! Get it, he's weird, and Huey's weird because he's such a nerd! There's quite a bit more grossout in this episode than any other episode of DuckTales 2017, and it's not that great of a look on this show.

There’s also the occasional scene where he seems creepier than usual, possibly trying to instill in our minds that this guy is actually evil. I mean, why not, he's practically a stranger even if he is family. For example, once they get to the Tulley Observatory, Fethry gets out a crowbar, and for second he looks like he’s going to crowbar these poor children. But no, that never actually happens. Expectations subverted!

However, we do get to see tentacles squeezing all three of these characters thanks to Fethry's actions. Okay, these are actually giant sea worms, mutated from the toxic vents as Fethry explains. There's hints, and then there's outright giving away future plot twists, and this is squarely in the latter.

Fethry does have a plan because he's used to these worms: just convince the worms that they're not threatened, as they smell fear and are very happy to try to squeeze it out of them, by being affectionate towards them. See, it's completely nuts, but it ends up working as his compliment ends up loosening its grip. Huey does it, but Dewey doesn't seem to have a clue. Huey has to do something, and it ends up being...

...this. Yeaaah, I don't really have anything to say about this kiss scene. The other worm that's squeezing Dewey just gives up after this. I would, too.

We're finally get to see the crew, and if it wasn't for that kiss that is now etched in my memory, I would be just thinking to myself "it's not going to be people, it's not going to be people, it's not going to be people..."

Big surprise, it turns out to not be a crew of people Fethry could talk to and expect an audible answer. Instead, it's a crew of glow in the dark krill. Huey still believes he's a genius, even though Dewey points out he seems to be singing to them. Don't worry, there's a point later.

If one hasn't noticed, there is a duo dynamic here with the two nephews they use. Huey is still clinging on to what little respect he has, while Dewey is desperately trying to convince Huey to see the obvious. Dewey also sees something Dewey accuses Huey of being exactly the same as Fethry. They’re both nerds, they’re interested in things no ordinary kid would be interested in, and they both wear red caps that they never take off. They

Fun fact: this is actually an reference to his debut comic in Europe, where Fethry gave that exact explanation for why he always wears this hat. Okay, I did do more research. I also know he apparently wasn't very well liked among fans of the comics outside of Europe, which isn't that surprising. Speaking of which, Fethry is glad to be with a fellow “Chucker“.

Huey: I’m not that into the Junior Woodchucks. It’s more of a part-time hobby...

Unlike the original, the Junior Woodchuck is his one thing in the reboot that separates him from the others, so he’s clearly lying here. Before this becomes obvious, a large thud happens. They turn to Fethry, only for him to say "end of the line" in an ominous voice.

But it’s actually because some sort of monster cut it, as we see this shadowy colossus cut it down. My only guess for these “could he be evil” scenes is that DuckTales 2017 episodes tend to have outright villains, and I don’t feel like I’m giving anything away by saying this is not one of them. I mean, it is scary that these two kids are now stuck with this guy who’s clearly nuts…yeah, let’s try not to think about that too hard.

While getting into scuba gear, they have to swim across the vents. We do get to learn that Fethry’s “crew” may be a bunch of krill, but they are trained krill. All he has to do is sing a song to them, and he’s able to command them to do formations to help them towards the place to see all of those. See, the singing isn't him being nutso after all.

They finally get to Fethry's own living space. I didn't get a screenshot here, but there’s a ripped poster talking about the symptoms of Ocean Madness in the background. I feel like that's another hint towards a twist that never actually happens. Fethry directs the boys to the window where this amazing thing will show up, even overselling it by calling it an amazing creature. Mangatsika!

Do I even need to say what's going to happen next? He continues to delay the completely expected by asking them if they want a sandwich, but Huey and Dewey tell him to get on with it. They're practically echoing my sentiment, too.

NOTHING! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Well, okay, there’s some krill that light up into the colors of the rainbow, continuing his utter obsession with krill, but that pretty much sums it up. This was the very kind of thing Scrooge warned the boys about.

Huey, on the last ounce of respect for the man, decides to outright ask Fethry if this is some sort of scientific breakthrough from a genius scientist. He responds that he just thinks it's cool looking, and says he's not even a scientist...he's just the janitor.

This is the last straw for Huey, and Dewey didn’t even have any straws to begin with. Anyone can get where this scene is going, especially when the sad music starts playing. Fethry walks towards the window, crestfallen that nobody really cared about his krill as the nephews decide to leave and tell him he won't be seen again in a really rude way that wouldn't be that unchararactistic of them. He then turns around and tells the boys that they're not going anywhere...

...because the giant monster is here. I am honestly surprised we never use this "could he be evil" gag inbetween commercial breaks. Honestly, that would have made this gag worse.

Meanwhil...oh, come on! We're still here? Yeah, there's no real B plot here, it's all A. Actually, it's a C plot so far, and that bell curve I use with these reviews isn't going to take kindly to that. Hint, hint. This is another case of "this adventure was just too cool to show you", and I'll detail that a little bit later in this review.

Huey is still going through the motions of the mistunderstanding scene, though. Even though we totally understand it. After a chase scene where they have to rush back to the aquavator while avoiding getting mutated by toxic fumes themselves, we get a scene where Huey accuses Fethry of leading them into an adventure that could get them killed. They never repaired that line, but that's not going to get the explanation.

What's worse is that the aquavator and the rest of the Sublab is getting torn apart. They're knee deep in ocean water. Suddenly, the bulb in the spotlights burns out, but don’t worry, just replace the bulb with the jar filled with the krill crew to it, and the glow ends up making the spotlight work again. Don't doubt the krill, I guess.

In the end, Huey ends up singing to it via the aquavator’s loudspeaker. Dewey says he must have gone sea-mad, while Fethry just stands there and realizes what's happening. It’s because the spotlight has proven that it’s just an oversiZed glow in the dark krill, mutated by those toxic vents.

While it seems like I'm just picking apart every flaw of this rather flawed episode, one part I can’t really fault is its sense of scale. At no point do we ever see this prawn's entire massive being in frame.

They get saved by the giant krill in the end, and Fethry ends up going away standing on its colossal figure in glory. Even better, Dewey gets to call it the Dewnificent Krilldebeast. Gag over.

There were similar patterns with some of the other characters, especially with the already mentioned Gladstone Gander. Also, Glandstone Gander didn't have to have random scenes where he looks evil because we already hate him.

Finally, right at the end of the episode, we see Launchpad. He must have had quite the interesting adventure than the rest of the cast. Again, I have to unfavorably to The House of Lucky Gander, because they did the exact same thing in that episode. He only sums it up with “sea stuff”.

All is well, Dewey even manages to accept that this wacky uncle was cool to be with. But what about telling Scrooge about the stolen submarine, and how his Sublab is now in ruins? Dewey has a plan for that, in the very last line of the episode.

Dewey: Let’s go home and convince uncle Scrooge this was Louie’s idea!

Yeah, remember that kid? He probably would have added nothing to the episode, but hey, a reminder that he existed.

How does it stack up?

Guy is nuts, nephews react with disgust, everything turns out well in the end. Rinse and repeat, add a cliched misunderstanding, and you get this episode. There are some neat touches, but in the grand scheme of DuckTales 2017 episodes. A lot of the problem stems around the fact that I just didn't find Fethry that funny.

Sure, it's still better than the worst of other cartoons, but this is the first time I put my foot down and give this rating. Alas, while they hoped it was the best waste of time ever, I honestly thought of only three of those words.

I'm sure there's people who would disagree with this assessment. I fought myself with earlier episodes to give this rating and ending up just giving them Neutrals. However, Terra-firmians had cool Lena scenes, and Other Bin is too important to the overal arc and I ended up liking some of the scenes I did not like after future viewings. This doesn't have any of that.

Next, we get to learn what happened to Flintheart Glomgold since The Shadow War. Okay, there’s only been two episodes in this season, but that does seem like a long time for this reboot.

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